When finding the best auto repair shop employee, mechanic, technician or service advisor, it’s important to pay attention where you’re looking. I like to think of this as if I’m trying to catch a big fish – the more hooks (or advertisements) I have in the water, the better chance I have landing the best one in the pond. There are several different places where an ad should be placed.
CareerBuilder is an excellent online tool. There’s a special technique with their service. We’ll touch on that as we go. As an online ad, you can use a lot of verbiage and a lot of text. You can also use keywords related to what your future super star employee is searching for. Make your ad pop out. It’s the same with newspaper ads, you’ve got a limited amount of space to make it stand-out.
You can’t just have it in one place. There are plenty of other job board sites such as Monster and Indeed. And even specific job board sites for the automotive industry such as NeedTechs.com
You’re typically going to want to run an ad that’s got to ‘pop.’ Even putting it in the newspaper in your area during the biggest day of the week, many newspapers have online versions of their paper, increasing the visibility of your ad.
When your potential employee is looking for the best fit for them, don’t think that people won’t look in Craigslist. Sometimes you can get the candidate you’re looking for right there on Craigslist, which is inexpensive in most areas and sometimes it can even be free to post an effective ad.
Utilizing as many online tools and job boards as possible will be important in finding the best auto repair employee available. There aren’t but a handful who are looking for work, many of the best ones are already employed.
Sometimes, desperate times might call for desperate measures. Some of the best auto repair employees in the industry come from and are dragged away other shops. Repair shop owners often take their personal cars to other shops, just searching for that all-star technician or service advisor.
If you find an employee from another shop that intrigues you, write down his name, give him a call and just let him know I want to give you an opportunity that can change your life. Let’s face it the best people are typically working somewhere else.
One other piece of advice is to never underestimate the power of a help-wanted sign. Put one around your shop and on the highway near dealerships. Make it appealing to the eyes and watch your shop’s phone ring.
Generating the most work interest for your auto repair shop before the interview process can be essential in long-term success in your shop. Come interview time, your shop and management will benefit from having so many talented employees to choose from.
