The June 2019 issue of CarCare Business is now available online. You can flip through it here, but first, a few words from the Associate Publisher of CarCare Business, Shirley Brown.

Skilled Recruits Are Out There!

Looking for new staff?

Most repair shops and many jobber stores today are getting very short staffed! People are retiring, and replacements cannot be easily found for them. So what can we do?

Recently I’ve been gathering information from schools, mostly college level, on Skills Canada and the competitions that have taken place over the past few months. These are intense events where students demand a lot of themselves in order to do their best and try to win their particular skills event for their school and themselves. The look on their faces when they learn they’ve won is wonderful!

We have been watching these events, at least the ones close to home—auto mechanics and service; autobody and car painting—and they are very exciting. We watched one instructor place a foreign object into the brake system to test the skill of the competitor. Would he find it or wouldn’t he? That’s the test. Afterwards, how he got it out of there and replaced the system is what all added up.

Serious students

The students involved in these events are very serious about what they’re doing and also very determined. After all, this could lead to a job they’ve been wanting. It’s like watching a sit-on-the-edge of your seat movie. Will they or won’t they get that dream job?

The other information I’m trying to get across to you as jobbers, collision people, and service shops is that these students could be your future employees. They’re at the events in great numbers and with great skills. This could be where you find an apprentice, someone you can teach to work with you.

Skills Canada events have been taking place across Canada, and you can find the information you seek on the Skills Canada website under the Province of your choice. To date we have covered the results from Newfoundland/Labrador; British Columbia; Nova Scotia; Manitoba; New Brunswick, Ontario and Alberta.

These events are open to the public and are great venues for you to maybe find your next valued employee. You’ll never know if you don’t attend. It’s free, it’s open, it’s very interesting, it’s entertaining and who knows, the right person may be right there in front of you.

The Nationals Event

The National Skills Competition was held May 28th and 29th. We don’t yet have the results but will post them on our website when we do along with the schools they represent. A prospective employee may be just waiting for you.

We will post the Skills events across Canada for 2020 just as soon as we get them. That way you can plan to attend an event. Good hunting!

Click here to read the June 2019 edition of CarCare Business