GM recognizes the value and skill that certified technicians bring to the service department and the impact the nationwide shortage of technicians is having on the industry. Retaining and recruiting talent to sustain the quality of work being provided to customers is critical to the success of GM dealerships.
GM’s Bring Us Your Talent campaign puts the spotlight on technicians while highlighting the opportunities available to those who may be interested in an automotive repair career. (Fig. 16)
Fig. 16
Focus on Skilled Trades
The campaign kicked off in May with a particular focus on Skilled Trades Day. Understanding that half of the labor force in skilled trades is near retirement age, the campaign is geared at raising awareness and highlighting the potential of an automotive service career at a GM dealership.
The bringusyourtalent.com website has been created to help promote the benefits of the technician trade, and provides details about potential training programs, such as the GM Automotive Service Educational Program (ASEP). (Fig. 17)
Fig. 17
Sponsor an ASEP Student
GM ASEP offers customized automotive service training with hands-on access to the latest GM technology along with real-world dealership experience. In the program, students alternate between classroom training and hands-on work experience at a sponsoring GM dealership. Students can earn an Associate’s Degree in Automotive Technology (or similar) in addition to the GM required technician training in as little as two years.
With fall semester classes beginning soon at the 50 GM ASEP schools across the U.S., now is the perfect time to inquire about sponsoring an ASEP student. For more details about GM ASEP, visit gmasep.org (U.S.) or gmasep.ca (Canada).
Recruiting Resources
To help dealerships with their recruiting efforts, a helpful activation guide on GM GlobalConnect outlines available marketing materials, various resources and best practices for maximizing technician satisfaction and retention. (Fig. 18) Marketing assets and supporting materials are available on GM Asset Central. Lastly, dealerships are encouraged to create or update a careers page on their website that incorporates the benefits of working at the dealership as well as training and career path opportunities.
Fig. 18
For additional recruiting information, go to bringusyourtalent.com.
– Thanks to Eric Kenar and Brittani Bridger
Seems strange that an industry now has major loss of labor when the actual labor force has been taken advantage of for decades.
The corporate accounting division has been on the assault to create cost effectiveness at the expense of the franchise. The costs that are incurred onto a technician to provide adequate resources in order to provide proficient and competent repair procedures. The investment into such a poorly compensated business structure financially has depleted the working pool. Flat rate effectively makes a a technician a subcontract worker with none of the benefits that arise from being that. Having an analyst in a controlled environment allocating labor rates does not reflect real world scenarios. Furthermore, as skilled technicians harness their skills and invest in resources (Tools) to enable greater efficiency. That wealth of experience gained and investment is penalized by reduction in compensation. This happens routinely and its of no surprise it has come to pass. Perhaps it is time for a course correction and learn the advent of the three C’s
To the Editor: If you want people to work by contract (flat rate) then you have honor the rules of contract law.
so there seems to be a conflict between wanting talent and keeping talent .
To the editor. You are way off on the times for injection pump jobs. It really doesn’t matter what we say.
We appreciate the feedback. GM is committed to improving the Service Information we develop and ensuring that our labor times our accurate. In every time study, we only utilize hand tools and add an additional multiplier to our overall clock time. If you encounter a labor time that you feel is inaccurate, please ask for a review.
Why would I try to recruit new talent into a trade that is bent on slashing wages by cutting warranty times and forcing us to use inferior diagnostic equipment?
Start paying a fair time and you will see more techs no one wants to work 8 hrs and get paid 6 hrs