Check out these common mistakes often made by shop owners and service managers when recruiting automotive technicians.
In today's competitive job market, having a strong recruitment strategy is more crucial than ever. As a recruiting company that specializes in helping shops and dealerships hire automotive technicians, we’ve observed and identified several common mistakes made by hiring managers that significantly impair their ability to attract and retain skilled technicians.
In this blog, we'll explore 6 of the most common mistakes that auto shops and dealerships make when recruiting automotive technicians and provide tips to help you avoid them.
1.) Poor Job Description
One of the biggest mistakes that auto repair shops and auto dealerships make when recruiting automotive technicians is providing a poor job description. A job description serves as the initial point of contact between your business and a potential candidate, making it essential to attract top talent and generate a high volume of applications.
Here are some tips to help you improve your job descriptions:
Use a clear and specific job title that targets your ideal applicants, such as "Automotive Service Technician" or "Master Mechanic." Avoid generic titles like "Technician" or "Mechanic."
Highlight the benefits of working at your shop or dealership upfront, including compensation, benefits, shop amenities, company perks, etc.
If you don't offer traditional insurance benefits, focus on highlighting unique perks or amenities your shop does provide
Don’t hide compensation info. Be transparent about the compensation and benefits you offer, ensuring they are clearly stated in the job description.
Create separate job ads for each position instead of cramming multiple jobs into one listing to avoid confusion and ensure accuracy.
Be honest and avoid exaggerating or overpromising to maintain clear expectations for job requirements, responsibilities, and compensation.
2.) Insufficient Compensation
Another common mistake that shops and dealerships make is failing to offer competitive compensation and benefits. Automotive technicians are in high demand and possess very specialized skills, so it's important to offer a salary and benefits package that reflects the value of their work. To determine what wages and benefits are competitive in your market, conduct market research on both industry standards and current local standards of pay and benefits. An easy way to do so is by searching Indeed for the position you’re hiring and seeing what other shops are currently paying those technicians in your area.
In addition, hiring managers should communicate the details of their pay structure clearly and transparently. Make compensation easy to understand and try to avoid making it complicated. Many shops use commission-based pay structures or offer bonuses based on performance, which if too complicated, can confuse candidates and lead to misunderstandings around compensation.
3.) Slow To Contact Applicants
In this competitive job market, you’ll need to act fast when recruiting. Studies show that prospective candidates are off the market in 10 days on average. For top technicians, that number is typically even lower. Technicians looking for a new employer also generally apply for multiple jobs simultaneously and may have competing offers. So a poor follow-up process can result in missed opportunities to connect with high-quality candidates and ultimately lead to losing top talent to another shop down the road.
Another easy way to lose viable candidates is by not explaining and not communicating regularly throughout the hiring process. In fact, 52% of job hunters say a lack of response from employers is their biggest frustration. Keep candidates informed about the next steps and maintain regular communication throughout the hiring process. Furthermore, don't hesitate to follow up more than once if necessary. A potential candidate may not have seen the initial email or phone call, or they may be considering multiple job offers.
4.) Rushing The Hiring Process
When hiring managers need to fill a position quickly, they often speed through the interview process and pick the first competent individual they come across. However, this haste can backfire, leaving you with an employee that doesn't match the business's values and isn't capable of succeeding in the position. Poor performance, lowered morale, and a higher rate of staff turnover can ensue, all of which cost your business considerable time and resources.
To avoid this, take your time before making a decision to ensure that you select the best fit possible and prevent issues down the road. When reviewing each resume and application, look for candidates that fully meet your requirements and have a track record of success in the industry. Take your time to get to know the applicants during interviews and ask pertinent questions about their experience and qualifications. Then, before you make an offer, be sure to properly screen the candidate with background checks, reference checks, etc. This will help make sure they’re being honest and don’t have any red flags that you might have missed.
5.) Posting & Praying
If your technician recruiting strategy solely depends on a single job ad placed on one or two job listing sites, you’re missing out on a lot of applications. This approach severely limits your reach and generally results in a small pool of candidates. Consider exploring other avenues to reach potential candidates, such as posting your job openings on all of your social media profiles, in popular local Facebook groups, in local online forums, or utilizing referral programs. Doing so will allow for increased visibility, ultimately resulting in more applications.
It’s also important to note that there are many employed technicians that aren’t actively looking at job boards but are still open to new opportunities. Using the right approach, you can leverage online platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Instagram to reach these potential candidates, inform them of the position, and engage with them if they’re interested. Just make sure you have a solid understanding of each platform before doing so, otherwise, you will most likely find yourself losing money and receiving no return. If that’s a strategy you’re interested in but don’t know how to do it yourself, let us know! Utilizing online strategies to find new technicians is our specialty.
6.) Lack Of Investment
Another big mistake made by shop owners and dealerships when recruiting automotive technicians is a lack of investment in the recruiting process. To attract and engage experienced technicians in today’s job market, you may need to invest more time and/or financial resources than you have in the past. Whether it’s by investing time yourself or investing financially by hiring a 3rd party, investing in the recruiting process is well worth it and pays huge dividends. Leaving a technician position open for an extended period can cost your shop thousands in lost productivity, missed jobs, and burnout among other technicians. While in contrast, having another technician on staff significantly increases profits, productivity, and efficiency.
Conclusion
Hiring automotive technicians in this market definitely isn’t easy. But with the right strategy, you can still find and hire high-quality technicians. We hope this article helps you avoid these common mistakes and has given you some new ideas on how to find the best technicians for your auto shop or dealership.
If you’re struggling to find qualified technicians for your shop or dealership, don’t hesitate to reach out. Our team of recruiting experts specialize in finding technicians for auto repair shops and dealerships all over the U.S. We work fast, make it easy, and guarantee results. Schedule a quick call today to learn more about our services and how we can quickly and easily help you find your next technician.
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