Tune Up Service Managers’ Pitches to Recruit Techs

To young mechanic Steve Buna, straight talk goes far when car dealerships interview service-department job candidates.

“Technicians want managers who are accountable for what they say,” Buna says during a recent Ted Ings’ fixed operations conference session at which technicians and their bosses share views.

Prospective technician hires don’t want interviewers to make empty promises, Buna says. (Nor does any job prospect, for that matter.)

“You don’t want someone saying, ‘We send technicians back to school all the time,’ and then later talk to a technician there who says, ‘I haven’t done that in six years,’” says Buna. He currently works for the eight-store Wisconsin-based Kayser Automotive Group.

Many youthful job candidates show promise but also display certain indecision, says Shon Kingrey, Kayser’s fixed operations director.

“If you are talking to a 20-year-old kid, they can give you three different answers in three different weeks,” Kingrey says.

In that case, it behooves dealerships to lay out a credible career path.

“Spell it out to get the kid who’s interested,” Kingrey says of highlighting job benefits and mapping career paths.

For example, outline how someone applying for a quick oil-change job can potentially work up to become a certified technician.  

Technician job candidates also want some assurances that, if they get hired, they won’t end up sitting around waiting for enough work.

“I’m not saying I’d want a 40-hour work guarantee,” Buna says.

But he contends that many employers looking to hire technicians tell interviewees there is work aplenty at their shops.

Unlike most other dealership employees, auto technicians are formally ranked by skill level.

Salespeople might hone skills from experience and mentoring, but they don’t undergo formal, certified training like advanced technicians do.

Although an industrywide chronic shortage of qualified technicians continues, some signs indicate more young people are interested in the field.

“Gearheads are coming back again,” says Jeremy Stephens, fixed operations director at Bozard Ford Lincoln in St. Augustine, FL.

For instance, Cannon Clark, an auto technician at Apple Tree Honda Acura in Fletcher, NC, didn’t need any convincing.

“I came to work as an auto tech straight out of college,” he says. “I wanted to do this all my life.”

He credits Bozard with investing time and money in its service department crew.

“I like a manager that believes in you – sometimes more than you believe in yourself,” says Clark.

His dealership colleague, Zane Keever, talks about getting ahead. He’s currently a senior staffer at Apple Tree’s express service operation, which performs light repairs and maintenance.

“There’s an opportunity to grow here,” Keever says. “There’s always an opportunity to learn more.”

The dealership recruits many technicians from training schools but is also “working at growing our own” with in-house efforts, says Robert Migliaccio, Apple Tree’s fixed operations director.          

Qualified auto technicians increasingly will find themselves in demand, says David Vallone, president of Vallone Consulting. “The key to success is a commitment to ongoing education.” 

Ed Roberts, chief operating officer at Bozard, advocates dealerships “set expectations for each position in the store.”

Matthew Phillips, CEO of Car Pros dealership group based in Washington state, tells WardsAuto that his organization offers in-house auto-technician apprenticeships for people who show a good attitude, possess a work ethic and avoid “blowing up any cars.”

Keever hasn’t destroyed any vehicles while working on them. But he likes working at his dealership because “if something happens, they’re not going to throw you under the bus.”