A group of 22 students attended the 9th collision training and tour workshop at Brimell Toyota and its auto body and collision damage repair operations on April 30th.
The Brimell Group has been working with local automotive schools and community training and employment centres across the GTA for several years.
The group of 22 students came from the Tropicana Employment Centre (TEC), a division of Tropicana Community services.
Tropicana Community Services is a non-profit employment centre, serving the Scarborough community since 1988. TEC is a division of Tropicana Community Services, a United Way member agency that provides counseling, youth leadership, educational, daycare, recreational and employment services. TEC also provides support to assist job seekers and employers to achieve their employment-related goals.
Program speaker, Mohamad Shahzad (Dr. Shah), Automotive Engineer and Doctor of Motors, took the students through a two-hour classroom training session where he explained the future scope and opportunities of the automotive service, sales and collision repair industry.
“More than 300 million people around the world depend on the automotive industry for their jobs. In Canada, more than 20 million people rely on their automobile to earn a livelihood, and approximately 35 percent of our workforce works in the automotive sector,” explained Shahzad.
Following the classroom presentation, the students were taken on a tour of the Brimell Paint and collision operations by collision centre Assistant Manager, Kyle Marsh. The students had the opportunity to see actual repairs carried out, ask questions and speak with collision technicians about their careers.
By the end of the program, these students were able to understand the basic operation of an automotive dealership operation from sales, to service, to collision repair, and were able to categorize the many career opportunities within this segment of the automotive industry.
Dylan Ramcharron, a graduate of the TEC program, was introduced to Brimell over a year ago and is now a level one apprentice with Brimell Toyota. “I started with Brimell in the detailing department, and they soon offered me the opportunity to get my license to do bodywork,” said Ramcharran.
For Jordan Cardinell, one of the students on the tour, it was his first exposure to the opportunities the automotive industry has to offer. “I had no idea there were so many different jobs in this industry,” said Cardinell.
Shavon Millon has eight years of experience working on the mechanical side of the industry and is now interested in moving into the collision repair side of the business. “I am particularly interested in the pre- and post-scan segment of the repair process,” explained Miller.
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