Where have all the good techs gone?

It’s a question that many, if not most, dealerships are all too familiar with right now. Ask any fixed ops director, and they’ll sigh as they tell you that yes, it’s true – there’s a shortage of (good!) service technicians. It’s unfortunate and frustrating, especially as it coincides with the fact that cars are now more complex and sophisticated than ever. Aside from that, the new car market is slated to see another drop in the coming year, so service departments are becoming an even more critical revenue source for dealerships.

So, why is it that a good tech is so hard to find these days, and what can you do find more and better trained, motivated service technicians?

Nationwide Shortage

Many of the more experienced techs in the industry today are members of the Baby Boomer generation – and they’re retiring at unprecedented rates, leaving dealerships struggling to replenish and keep up. But experienced technicians aren’t the only ones in short supply; even entry-level candidates are scarce. This is due in part to the fact that there is an actual shortage of training schools across the U.S., but it begins even earlier than that: high school vocational programs are few and far between. When financial crisis hit the country at full force in 2008, these programs were among the first victims of budget cuts. Even as the economy improves, their return has been almost non-existent.  

Seek and Find

Despite all these factors contributing to a perfect storm of technician shortages, there are still strong candidates out there – you just have to find them. And therein lies the glitch.

If you’re like most of your counterparts, you’re probably utilizing typical resources such as Craigslist and Indeed as you attempt to fill these positions. Unfortunately, says Tim Dalton at Autodealer Monthly, while you may occasionally get lucky with these, they’re more likely to lead you to applicants “who are disgruntled, have developed bad habits, and are just looking for higher pay.

To expand your pool of quality applicants, try these 3 tips for finding good service technicians:


Buddy Up.  Building and fostering relationships with local and regional tech schools is a great way to find solid job candidates. If you can partner up with their career office, for example, you can offer apprenticeships and credit-earning internships. The huge bonus here is that applicants who have taken the time and effort to go to school and perform well there will often prove to be more motivated than someone you might find on Craigslist.

Penske, a 22-rooftop dealer group in Arizona, has been wildly successful with this strategy:

"Penske prefers to go right to Universal Technical Institute’s (UTI) Phoenix campus and invite a select group of students to come and work part-time to get their foot in the door for about $10 an hour. While they’re still doing coursework, students get a chance to see automotive work from the real-world perspective of a money-making shop while the auto group has a chance to observe which of the students they want to hire full-time."

It’s a win-win situation.


Be Social.  It may seem obvious, but too many dealerships are not utilizing the invaluable recruiting tool that is social media. According to a study conducted by the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), 71% of job recruiters who use social media for recruiting purposes find it to be an effective tool “to decrease time to fill non-management, salaried positions.” And while you might and should include professional networks such as LinkedIn, even simply using Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram can be tremendously successful. You can reach potential applicants directly, but you can also reach their friends and family – you know, the people who know they’re looking for a job as an auto tech.


Offer Opportunity.  Motivated, dedicated job applicants will be drawn to the opportunity to further their training and certifications while on the job. And a dealership that is willing to pay to have their techs educated and certified makes a clear statement that it’s invested in the growth of its employees. If you work for an OE dealership, your OEM more than likely has a training program set up or in the works. OE-certifications have multiple benefits: they come with bragging rights for the certified technician, and they offer more retention value than other certifications, because an OEM-certified tech is more likely to remain with the brand for which they are certified. But even if you’re an independent shop, it’s worth considering footing the bill for your techs to get ASE or similar certifications. If you do decide to offer these types of continuing education opportunities, be sure to shout it from the rooftops in your job listings – and then watch the quality of your applicant pool soar.

Bad News, Good News