General Electric to create 1000 new jobs in France

General Electric, in accordance with its previously stated commitments, will create 1000 jobs in France by 2018 following the French government’s approval of their acquisition of Alstom's energy activities. Mark Hutchinson, President of GE Europe, announced at a press conference on Monday, December 7^th that he was now in a position to "finally provide details. " The jobs will be created in four different sections.   The first sector will be in IT, where GE will create a software "Centre of Excellence" in Paris, which is expected to employ 250 people. The company expects this to serve as a centre for research and development with the aim of "Being close to its major European customers."   The second major component is the increase in French students recruited from schools by GE. The company hope to increase the number of school-leavers recruited for its leadership programs from 20 today to 240 in 2018. "50% of our top management, including Jeff Immelt, come from such programs. The French will take their place among the future leaders of GE! " claimed Mark Hutchinson.   The third aspect of this job creation process will involve the consolidation of support services for all existing GE entities in Belfort and Paris, which is expected to create 200 jobs.   Finally, 310 "highly skilled" jobs will be created in the manufacturing sector, including the Belfort site, which already employs 4000 people and is one of the largest industrial sites for GE globally.   This job creation scheme is made possible by the integration of Alstom within GE. Mark Hutchinson concluded his announcement by stating "complementarity between Alstom and GE will allow us to win more contracts. We bought Alstom because we believe in the energy market."