Jaguar Land Rover teams up with Gorillaz to find staff

Jaguar Land Rover is teaming up with Damon Albarn's virtual rock band Gorillaz to hire 1,000 new engineers.

The UK's biggest carmaker, which is ultimately owned by Indian conglomerate Tata, announced today it is hiring 5,000 new staff on the back of a record year for sales, says The Guardian.

Of these, 1,000 will be "electronic and software" engineers, a role for which the UK currently has a "chronic skills shortage".

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To address this, an innovative recruitment tool on Gorillaz's "mixed reality app" tasks users with assembling a virtual Jaguar I-Pace car and completing a series of "code-breaking puzzles", says the BBC.

Alex Heslop, head of electrical engineering, said: "We've found an engaging way to recruit a diverse talent pool in software systems, cyber systems, app development and graphics performance.

"It will be the first of its kind."

Coming on the day the Brexit talks begin in earnest, Jaguar's announcement is a boon for ministers as the majority of the new jobs will be UK-based.

The Jaguar I-Pace car will be built in Austria, but bosses said they would "like to make such models in the UK if conditions such as support from government are met", adds the BBC.

All three of the firm's research and development facilities are in the UK, along with assembly plants. There are also production facilities in India, China, Brazil.

This is the second time Jaguar has teamed up with the Gorillaz - the band's guitarist character Noodle is its Formula E Racing ambassador.