NADA tackles service tech shortage

SAN FRANCISCO — NADA Chairman and longtime dealer Charlie Gilchrist is determined to do something about the retail auto industry's shortage of service technicians.

After all, technicians are quitting or retiring far faster than training programs can provide replacements. Yet seats in automaker-sponsored training programs go empty.

"Our industry is experiencing a dangerous shortage of technicians," Gilchrist said in his Jan. 26 keynote speech at the National Automobile Dealers Association Show here, announcing what NADA calls its Workforce Initiative. "This is not a can we can afford to kick down the road."

The problem is not new. But NADA's approach reflects a twist: The NADA Foundation, which is more typically associated with charitable contributions and emergency relief from natural disasters, is leading the Workforce Initiative.

"The need is so great," said Annette Sykora, chairman of the NADA Foundation Board and a Ford dealer in Levelland, Texas. Sykora said that like other dealerships, her store is constantly on the lookout "everywhere" for new technicians.

"One of the best ways is to encourage kids to get into the industry," she told Automotive News.

The foundation is leading plans to promote careers in the retail auto industry and help would-be dealership technicians find training. The initiative supplements the recruiting efforts of individual brands, state dealer associations and technical schools, which historically have worked independent of each other.

According to NADA, U.S. technical colleges and training programs graduate approximately 37,000 service technicians annually, but that's not nearly enough. NADA says the retail auto industry needs roughly 76,000 new technicians every year to keep pace with jobs being created, plus retirements and replacements for technicians who leave the industry for other reasons.

The net result: The industry is experiencing an annual shortage of 39,000 trained technicians, said Gilchrist, who represents Detroit 3 brands plus Nissan, Volkswagen and Mitsubishi through his Gilchrist Automotive in Weatherford, Texas.

"If you could, would you hire a trained technician today?" Gilchrist asked his NADA Show audience. Hundreds and hundreds of hands went up, in an auditorium full of dealer principals, dealership managers and employees, family members and industry service providers.

Filling those empty seats in automaker training programs is an immediate goal of the new NADA program. It includes an interactive map on nadafoundation.org, where would-be trainees can find all automaker training programs in one place. The site also allows prospective technicians to search for jobs, scholarship opportunities or other information about careers in the industry.

"Toyota is only interested in where the Toyota centers are. Ford is only interested in where the Ford centers are. Chrysler is only interested where Mopar is," Gilchrist said. "Everyone is ignoring everyone else's programs."

Separately, FCA US announced on Jan. 25 it was expanding its technician training program and launching a networking campaign called "Assemble Your Future." The goal is to get students together with potential career opportunities at dealerships, at FCA, and with Dodge SRT and Mopar-sponsored professional racing teams.

The NADA Foundation also announced an initial round of donations for the Workforce Initiative, including $50,000 from the National Auto Auction Association, $50,000 from truck manufacturer Paccar and $25,000 from Porsche Cars North America. The NADA Foundation has donated an additional $250,000 to the effort.

Promoting dealership careers is a big part of the new NADA initiative. According to NADA, the average dealership technician in the United States makes $61,067 in salary, plus benefits. Experienced technicians at franchised dealerships can make more than $100,000 annually, and service managers even more.

"As an industry, we're really, really bad at telling our story, for why you would want to work in the industry at all, let alone at a particular dealership. Yet every dealership has a story to tell," said Scott Brinkman, vice president of product at Hireology. The Chicago vendor helps small businesses, including dealerships, hire employees and manage human resources needs.

Brinkman said it's essential for the industry to recruit technicians from outside auto retail, but there's a "reputation tax" to overcome, because the industry is known for long hours and dirty, difficult work.

He said Hireology identifies candidates in "adjacent" businesses where employees likely learned some mechanical skills, such as quick-lube locations, trucking operations and the military. Recruiting is focused on newcomers, he said. "You're not going to find a master technician with 20 years of experience who doesn't already have a job if he wants a job," Brinkman said. "You're just not."