Finding & Keeping Great Technicians
Stop competing for technicians on pay alone. Build a shop where great people want to work — and want to stay.
Finding qualified automotive technicians has become one of the biggest challenges facing independent repair shops.
But recruiting is only half the problem.
If your shop continually loses good technicians, finding more of them won’t solve it. The real opportunity is to become the kind of shop that attracts good people, develops them and gives them reasons to stay.
Finding & Keeping Great Technicians helps shop owners look beyond the job ad and build a workplace that good technicians actually want to be part of.
Why Good Technicians Leave
Technicians don’t always leave because another shop offered them a little more money.
Sometimes they leave because they’re burned out. They don’t feel appreciated. The workload isn’t distributed fairly. They don’t see opportunities to grow. Communication is poor. They don’t trust management. Or they’ve simply reached the point where going somewhere else looks better than staying.
Before you can improve retention, you need to understand what it’s really like to work in your shop.
We’ll help you look at your business through the eyes of the people you’re trying to keep.
Become the Shop Technicians Want to Work For
Independent shops have something powerful to offer that many larger operations can’t easily duplicate.
You can create a workplace where employees know the owner, their contribution matters, quality is more important than simply pushing another car out the door, and people aren’t treated like numbers.
That doesn’t mean lowering expectations.
It means creating an environment where good technicians are respected, supported and given the opportunity to do great work.
Recruit Differently
Posting another “Technician Wanted” ad and waiting isn’t much of a recruiting strategy.
Great technicians are often already working somewhere else.
We’ll look at ways to build your reputation as an employer, communicate what makes your shop different, reach potential technicians before you desperately need one and turn your employees and industry relationships into part of your recruiting network.
Your reputation with technicians can become just as important as your reputation with customers.
Hire for More Than Technical Ability
A highly skilled technician who doesn’t fit your culture can create more problems than they solve.
We’ll look at how to identify the qualities you’re really looking for, improve the interview process and evaluate both technical ability and whether someone is likely to succeed as part of your team.
The goal isn’t simply to fill a bay. It’s to find the right person to put in it.
Give Good People Reasons to Stay
Retention starts long before an employee tells you they’re leaving.
Competitive compensation matters. But so do good leadership, fair treatment, communication, training, quality equipment, recognition, work-life balance and opportunities to grow.
We’ll look at the everyday decisions that influence whether your best employees picture themselves working for you several years from now — or start answering calls from another shop.
Develop the Technicians You Already Have
You may not always be able to hire the experienced technician you want.
Sometimes the better long-term strategy is developing the person you already have.
Mentoring, training and a clear path for advancement can help promising employees see automotive repair as a career rather than simply their current job.
Developing people takes time, but it can also create something that’s difficult to recruit from the outside:
A technician who has grown with your business and wants to be part of its future.
What We’ll Cover
Finding & Keeping Great Technicians includes:
- Why technicians leave — and what makes them stay
- Creating a workplace technicians want to join
- Developing your reputation as a great employer
- Recruiting beyond traditional job ads
- Writing a better technician job opportunity
- Interviewing and selecting the right people
- Hiring for skills and cultural fit
- Compensation, benefits and what employees really value
- Creating reasonable workloads and work-life balance
- Recognition, communication and employee engagement
- Training, mentoring and career development
- Building career paths within an independent shop
- Retaining your best employees before they start looking elsewhere
- Learning from employee feedback and exit conversations
Your Best Recruiting Tool May Be the Shop You Already Have
Technicians talk to other technicians.
When your employees feel respected, supported and proud of where they work, word gets around. And when your shop develops a reputation as a great place to work, recruiting becomes very different.
You stop simply looking for technicians and start building a business great technicians want to be part of.
Ready to Build a Team That Stays?
Learn practical strategies to attract the right technicians, create a workplace where great people want to stay, and build a team that can grow with your business.
EXPLORE THE TRAINING →