Tesla secretly makes a major change to its job postings

Tesla  (TSLA) has reportedly yanked over 3,000 job postings from its job board that were located in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico, according to a report from Gizmodo. Currently, there are now only three U.S. job postings left on Tesla’s website.

The three positions that are available in the U.S. are located in Nevada, California and Texas, and they’re for jobs in the company’s manufacturing department. The move from Tesla comes as the company has begun to lay off over 14,000 employees over the past few weeks in multiple departments due to over hiring during “rapid growth” period in recent years

“Over the years, we have grown rapidly with multiple factories scaling around the globe,” wrote Tesla CEO Elon Musk in an email to employees on April 14. “With this rapid growth there has been duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas.”

Tesla has been combating low automotive sales and dwindling revenue. According to the company’s first-quarter earnings report for 2024, vehicle sales declined by 8.5% year-over-ear, and its automotive revenue shrunk by 13% compared to the same time period last year. Also, the company saw a 9% reduction in its total revenue year-over-year. Musk has blamed the decrease in vehicle sales on production and shipping delays.

“If you’ve got cars that are sitting on ships, they obviously cannot (be) delivered to people,” said Musk during an earnings call on April 23. “And if you’ve got the excess demand for Model 3 and Model Y in one market, but you don’t have it there. It’s quite a — it’s an extremely complex logistics situation.”

Jim Anderson, AI software CEO of Beacon, believes that Tesla has indeed faced macroeconomic headwinds that has negatively impacted its revenue, but its heavy investment in its Cybertruck may have been another major contributing factor.

Visitors take photos of the Tesla electric Cybertruck on display in a shopping mall on Feb. 27, 2024 in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Wang HE/Getty Images

“The cost of a misstep is high,” said Anderson. “He (Musk) put a lot of energy and money into the Cybertruck, and at least thus far, the Cybertruck has not been a big hit. And so, when you misstep on a model release, or you get things delayed, or you’re not coming out with new models that capture people’s imagination, and you do that in a very capital intensive business, the capital cost of developing a new model of a car or a truck is huge, the consequences are high.”

Tesla began delivering its Cybertruck to customers in November 2023 after years of delays due to production issues. The company also reportedly halted deliveries of the truck last month due to issues with the accelerator panel.

Tesla’s operating income decreased year-over-year to $1.2 billion in the first quarter of this year. One of the reasons for the decline was the cost of the Cybertruck production ramp. The company also produced over 1,000 Cybertrucks in a single week in April. During the earnings call on April 23, Tesla Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy said that the company’s production of the truck is still facing “challenges.”

“Of course, volume production is what matters,” said Moravy during the call. “That’s what drives costs and so our costs are dropping, but the ramp still faces like a lot of challenges with so many new technologies, some supplier limitations, etc.”

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