The June 2018 issue of Canadian AutoJournal is now available online. You can flip through it here, but first, a few words from the Editor in chief of Canadian AutoJournal, Jack Kazmierski.
The Trouble With Good Help
It’s often been said that good help is hard to find… and perhaps even harder to keep. That’s especially true when it comes to a certain demographic of today’s work force who aren’t interested in blind loyalty. Instead, they’re out to learn as much as they can from their employer, grow their experience, and then move on when the next opportunity to grow or learn comes their way.
Some would argue that the challenge to both find and retain top talent today is greater than ever. Not only is the economy doing well, which means employees have lots of options, but dealers are competing with many “sexier” industries for talent. Let’s face it, not everyone grows up dreaming of working for the local dealership, which means dealers have to work a bit harder to attract and keep good people.
Your HR team
Some dealerships, especially those that are part of a dealer group, address these challenges with a dedicated and full-time human resources department. This could be a single individual whose job it is to find and retain top talent, or in some cases it could be an entire team that cares for the needs of perhaps hundreds of employees.
Whether or not your store can take advantage of a dedicated HR team, is something you’ll have to decide. And as you do, we hope some of the insights and advice we managed to cobble together for this issue of Canadian AutoJournal will help you along the way.
Jobs for sale
One of the common threads that emerged from our research as we put this issue together is the fact that finding good people is not something dealers should do in a panic, when someone leaves or is let go. It’s a process that needs to be kept in mind on a regular basis.
Nor is the hiring of good people an accident. In fact, it’s something you need to plan for, and it begins with something as simple as your website. While you may think of your website as a way to sell vehicles, it’s also a great tool for attracting good people.
With that thought in mind, when you look at your dealership’s website, what about your site tells visitors that your store is a great one to work for? What tells them that you care about your employees? What says, “You can enjoy a great career in the auto industry with us?”
If you’re like most dealers, the answer to these questions is simple: Nothing! Your site is there to sell cars, and to a small degree service, but it’s not designed to attract top talent, and that’s a shame.
You can never tell when a car shopper could be a great sales person, your next marketing guru or a top notch automotive tech. They’re visiting your site, shopping for cars, and you can bet that if they thought you were a great employer, they might just reach out to see if you have any positions available.
That’s just one of the many tidbits you’ll find in this issue of Canadian AutoJournal. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed preparing it for you!
Click here to read Canadian AutoJournal June 2018
