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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Transportation
They are talking about this topic: Experience & Credentials
The quotes below are about this issue:
Employers are looking for entry-level technicians with two-year technical degrees, preferably with manufacturer-specific certifications.
| "Q: Well, let me ask just as a follow-up, the data suggested that a lot of these jobs require just a high school diploma. Are you hiring anyone straight out of high school? A: With a high school diploma, you can change oil. But when you get underneath there and you do a safety inspection, they don't know what they're looking at. They need to have some type of understanding of what this vehicle does and what it's supposed to look like. I mean, yeah, you can go through it and you can train them in that. But when you're dealing with multiple technicians, you don't have the time to stand there and watch each one of them." |
Central |
| "I currently have three technicians who do not have a degree. One is limited as far as what he can do and really wants to do. One is relatively new and we're not sure exactly what he can do. And one that's been with us for a while and we're trying to train him and bring him along. But you just don't know where their basic knowledge is, so you almost have to start training them from scratch, and that's tough to do on the job. My personal feeling is that that applicant walks in with the credentials that says, 'I've been through that program.' And these programs have been here for a long time. We've had great success with them. And out of 13 people, 10 of them have been through some type of program, most of them locally here. And we've been absolutely thrilled with what we've got and being trained from that point." | Central |
| "I think what we're seeing too, is the two-year degree we're seeing for the new folks it tells us that they have a little sense of dedication. They come with some tooling. They've made an investment in themselves. They probably have some debt from school or they've worked hard to get through school. And so that in and of itself with what the school has taught them is great. We already know we're going to have to teach them our system and the systems that we work on. They have tooling. They have an investment in themselves." | Central |
| "Q: So you said you don't look for the associate's degree necessarily? A: I want a certificate that says they've been through an automotive program. I'm not as concerned, necessarily, about whether they've gone through another type of non-automotive program. Let's put it that way. There are certain people that have gone through that and can go from being a technician to maybe service writer or service manager. They're probably going to need some other skills other than just the repair part. Because as someone who runs a shop you need to know about the repairs, but you also need to understand some business communications and that type of thing. But for the average technician, if that's all they want to do, that's what I'm more concerned about. Q: So if they had a high school diploma and the right kind of certificate to show you they'd had that training? A: I haven't seen a high school program that gets them involved in it. I want to see someone who's doing it at a public program, one hour a day, five hours a week. Without additional factory training, that's an entry-level position. So we will analyze them and see if they have potential, but I want to see more than a two-year, I want to see an associate's and I want to see some factory training. I want to see, possibly a mentorship program, but without that, they'll be changing oil for a while." |
Central |
| "I'm looking for [a technician] that has graduated from tech school. I'm not as concerned about whether they have a diploma or not. As long as they have the certificate and they have the training. Then, at least I know that they've gone through the program and they're capable of doing it. They've seen the basics. They have some type of understanding of the theory of what they're going to be working on. And, I mean, they go through 160 hours a year in training just to be in the store. So, you can bring them along it as you get them. But they've got to understand the basics." | Central |
| "Unless I plan on making a four-year investment into this particular applicant that showed me something when they worked for me in high school?that's about the only time I'd be able to [hire someone without a two-year degree]. If they started for me part-time in high school and showed they had that commitment and that desire to learn, we would move them into a tech spot, a tech type position, send them to school and pay for their school. Like I said, it's a four-year investment for us, so it's expensive. And it's a gamble, but because of the lack of quality coming in the door, you have to make that investment for the future." | Central |
| "I think my situation where I have regular class D drivers; we'd [hire them] with a high school diploma." | Central |
| "Upon graduation, they're pretty much turn-key, and turn-key for an employer means that they're going to be productive. They can come in. They understand the product. They understand a dealership facility because they've done an internship. Three months in school, three months in our shop and so when they're graduated, they're ready to go. That's what I'm looking for, someone that's ready to go that can be productive. You can't afford to take somebody out of high school and hope that you can match them up with a technician and maybe two to three years down the road, they're going to be productive. You cannot afford that. You have to have training." | Metro |
| "Somebody asked the question earlier, are we willing to hire people with just a high school diploma? The answer is, no. They have to be trained further than that before they're qualified. They need a second-year associate's degree." | Northwest |
| "So, I guess, even if you have a student that graduated from a computer program getting into a dealership atmosphere, you're still starting from ground one. You're still investing the money. You're still going through the whole two-year process of trying to get what's required by manufacturers. Q: So it would help you out if people would have that certification coming in? A: Definitely. Q: And then you'd look at hiring them over someone else, possibly? If they had that certification? A: Oh, definitely. But, it would be difficult for any school to prepare a particular student for a particular brand." |
Northwest |
| "Q: Are there specific things that you're looking for when you bring people in? A: Manufacturer specific certification." |
Northwest |
| "[Technicians] need that additional training right from high school. They're not getting that in high school." | Northwest |
| "Well [commercial drivers] have to have a Class A license...it's really critical." | Southwest |
| "We really have no choice in hiring drivers without two years verified work experience. So you end up with these kids that are coming off the farm and they're trying to work, sometimes we can get them on probationary status, double up drivers, if you will, and they'll do their own training, that's probably the best case scenario right now. But, you know, truck driving is not the fanciest job in the world." | Southwest |