The issue of auto collision repair staff shortages has been discussed and publicized extensively in recent years. It’s a painful situation for most of us. I can recall the darkest days of the recession 10-12 years ago when it seemed anxious job seekers were dropping off resumes every week. I had a stack on my desk and when a hiring need arose I could simply review them and start making calls. Fast forward to today and the opposite exists. It’s common that we place ads on the most popular sites and responses are few and far between. Many that do respond lack experience or even the most basic attributes to be considered. The pipeline of people coming into our industry, especially through the typical paths such as technical colleges, has been reduced for many reasons. Many active people in and around our industry are working hard to change the trend by bringing attention to the values of technical colleges vs. four plus year colleges, the values of careers in the trades, and by seeking innovative ways to attract new people. Yet with rare exceptions, there are no new ideas that fix the issue. Certainly none that cure the issue for the industry overall. Instead we find ourselves ‘rolling up our sleeves’ and working harder than ever to bring attention to our industry and individual businesses. We provide offerings, such as signing bonuses and better benefits. We use talking points, such as job stability and income possibilities and minimal student loan debt, all to cause new people to join us.
The concept of offering career paths is not a new one. The military has used it for hundreds of years. Especially in the mechanical world internship and apprenticeship programs have been around for decades, even more so in places like Europe. Close to our industry Enterprise Rent-A-Car has been a leader in hiring college graduates and offering a tiered path of advancement through various levels of location management, regional management, followed by corporate management.
While there has always been an implication of potential advancement in our industry I believe we haven’t done a good job of offering a clearly defined, structured path of new opportunity. At this time of staff shortages structured career paths are a tool that MSO’s can utilize in harmony with their size and resources to get people and, perhaps even more importantly, to keep people. We know that common traits among the younger generations include less inclination to stay at the same job for a long time. They are more inclined to see a job as a stepping stone and they have less allegiance to companies, probably due to seeing past generations’ jobs eliminated through cut backs, outsourcing, and new technologies. It is up to us as employers to give them a reason to stay.
Structure
Having a true career path should include a structure that can be provided to an employee or potential employee that gives clarity in terms of what opportunities are available and what steps are required to advance. It should include documents, paper or electronic, that describe the company’s staff/leadership structure, job descriptions (or profiles if you prefer) that describe the nature and tasks of the position, experience requirements, training/education requirements, necessary skillsets, and compensation ranges. It should also be made clear whom the individual would contact and work with regarding questions and to express a desire for advancement. Those working on advancement should be provided a key contact person to help with coaching and monitoring progress.
Company Structure/Organization Chart
A typical organizational chart is a helpful tool to help our entry level people understand what positions there are and how they rank in pecking order. Here is a very basic generic example of an MSO organizational chart.
As you can see it’s a nice visual to understand company structure, pecking order, and potential career opportunities.
Job Descriptions/Profiles
As part of structure it is one thing to understand the organization chart, but quite another to understand the full meaning of each of the positions within the chart. Job titles only go so far. Therefore having a formal job description, or profile , gives specific insight into specific responsibilities, education requirements, experience expectations, and what attributes are required (or at least helpful). Here is an example for an assistant shop manager position:
Assistant Shop Manager Profile
Supervisory Responsibility
Employee Responsibilities
· Responsible to assist the Shop Manager to Increase employees effectiveness by training, coaching, motivating, redirecting, and praising good performance
· Guide and coach employees, alongside the Shop Manager, to achieve goals and enforce action plans based on company goals
· Communicating values, strategies and objectives
· Employee Development and Training by maintaining professional and technical knowledge, attending educational training, and attending SOP Training
· Follow, enforce, and promote company policies, SOP’s, and corporate vision consistently values consistent with company culture
· Create and maintain an atmosphere in which employees willingly produce at maximum capacity
· Assist the Shop Manager in staff discipline with written warnings
Process Responsibilities
· Ability to prepare and conduct required meetings
· Assist Shop Manager to complete and administer yearly employee reviews for all staff
· Assist Shop Manager with billing inquires to get all RO’s billed when the vehicle is complete
· Assist Shop Manager with billing inquires in order to close all RO’s within 24 hours of vehicle completion
· Assist with miscellaneous daily, weekly, monthly reports to audit and manage in order to achieve company goals
Customer Loyalty:
· Ensure all customers receive courteous and efficient service from all employees
· Promote, including by example, outstanding customer service
· Assist Shop Manager with CSI and unresolved customer satisfaction issues
· Assist Shop Manager with customer complaints and customer warranty repairs
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
· Versatile leadership abilities with the ability to avoid staff indifference
· Ability to take over Shop Manager supervision responsibilities when the Shop Manager is absent
· Ability to contribute to developing and improving process, including SOP’s
· Problem solve and have conflict management skills
· Work independently without direct supervision
· Ability to work well with all levels of management and employees; including corporate leadership, subordinate management, and business line departments
· Ability to negotiate
Profitability and Sales
· Provide continuous support, at the direction of the Shop Manger, to achieve sales goals
· Provide continuous support to achieve gross profit goals
Vendor Relations and Performance
· Develop and maintain relationship with our Parts and Sublet Vendors to maintain the preferred vendor programs
· Monitor Parts/Sublet performance
· Develop and maintain dealership relationships to increase volume
· Develop and maintain relationships with additional departments to increase utilization, efficiencies and increase sales
Safety and Maintenance
· Conduct safety Meeting to maintain compliance
· Report, document, and manage all safety related incidents
Education and Experience
· I-CAR training required
· Vo-tech college formal training is an asset
· Any accreditation from I-CAR, AMI, or vo-tech is an asset
· Experience in estimating is required
· Experience in parts dept. is an asset
· Experience in production management is an asset
Of course profiles for other positions such as parts manager or production manager should be structured in a similar fashion for reasons of consistency and comparison.
Coaching
Anyone who interviews, hires, and/or administers periodic performance reviews should be familiar with potential career paths within the company. But beyond that it may be helpful to assign responsibility for coaching to a specific person who can help those who express a desire to advance themselves on a career path. The coach may be a shop manager or assistant manager. It may also be someone from upper management. The key would be having someone with intimate knowledge of the company and industry. It should be a person with patience and understanding who is willing to listen and help develop a plan based on the individual’s desires and attributes. The coach should be honest and candid in describing what it takes to succeed in various positions. Gaining trust is a critical component in helping create a career path. With adequate trust going both ways it is helpful to give some insight in terms of compensation ranges for various positions. The coach should be someone that is expected to be accessible in the long term. They should also proactively follow up periodically with the individual on the career path.
Summary
Developing career paths doesn’t have to be difficult, but to do it well it does require setting up and adhering to a structure. Discipline, persistence, patience, and understanding are required. It is also helpful to ‘think out of the box’ at times. One example of a success story comes to my mind. In my role as President of Operations for LaMettry’s Collision I received an application for a detailer position about five years ago. The applicant had virtually no automotive experience. Based on her application she was educated and owned her own small business. In a phone interview she came across as bright and energetic. In a face to face interview she indicated she was becoming disillusioned with her business due to extensive administrative and regulatory requirements. She said that she wanted more physical activity, including working with her hands, at this point in her career. Due to her attributes, and despite her lack of experience, we elected to take a chance and offered the job. She accepted. She learned quickly and soon excelled. Since then she advanced through positions in one of our parts departments and entry level estimating. She has since learned blueprinting and has managed some DRP’s. I asked her for a brief statement and this is what she said:
“I’ve been with LaMettry’s Collision for five years and I started with no background in the auto industry. I came out of a four year university with kinesiology degree and after a while of working in that industry, I decided to change careers. I found a detailer position at LaMettry’s and I’ve had four promotions since starting. I would not have been able to succeed without the ongoing training to stay on top of the ever changing industry and technology, as well as having a mentor to guide me along the way.”
While not every effort will result in such a great success, when they come along it is rewarding for all involved and proves the value of creating career paths. Obviously well worth the effort for the company. And frankly as a manager I find there are few rewards greater than helping people advance themselves within our industry.
