February 2022

FEBRUARY 2022 AFTERMARKET 13 in the way candidates search for jobs, whilst also understanding candidate behavioral trends and candidate expectations. It’s quite clear that employees strive for a happier work-life balance following the pandemic and the automotive aftermarket will need to adapt in order to attract the best talent. If you can understand the data and trends behind what drives the candidate market, you can improve your proposition, hiring strategy and continually improve your chances of making great hires consistently. “The GCA survey then looked at hiring trends, with vacancies across the sector at their highest but applications from candidates down. When asked about how people learn about new career opportunities, 32% said they spoke with recruitment specialists like GCA, and 30% said they look at social media for updates. So, combining social media with an industry recruitment expert will cover 62% of passive potential candidates.” Looking to help move the sector forward, a new grouping has been formed. Glen observed: “Autotech Group, Glen Callum Associates (GCA) and KPI People have formed The Automotive Recruitment Alliance in a bid to streamline the recruitment process for the aftermarket. Collectively, each company’s recruitment specialism covers the entire automotive aftermarket from temporary vehicle technicians and MOT testers, permanent and interim technical and commercial staff, parts and customer service operatives, sales and marketing, through to senior board positions.” “We’ll be discussing this issue and lots more in our IAAF question time panel, which features a series of discussions and questions from representatives from the Automotive Recruitment Alliance (ARA).” Glen concluded: “With the skills and recruitment shortage really affecting businesses throughout all areas, the webinar will look at what can be done to ensure companies stand out from the competition and the changing trends and attitudes in the recruitment sector, specifically in a post-pandemic era.” Final thoughts It is a tricky conundrum. How do we get enough people into the sector to meet existing demand, when the direction of travel in automotive towards an all-EV future means we will perpetually need more techs, and more qualified ones too? Talk about a moveable feast. The IMI has already said the sector needs 90,000 EV-qualified technicians by 2030. This is on top of the shortages we have in the general market. Is the idea that will make a difference present in the suggestions made here? Who knows. What is important is that we keep looking for an answer, and make sure we are an industry people want to come into, and stay in. We need to seriously look at what will motivate the existing cohort to upgrade their skills, as well as how to attract fresh blood to the sector ” : s Xca a mge eclihe vn tx neeht i m ehp t oshkro r wuoe yvi citsnogai d noitar ene g g rotca s X f ence included (ongoing e subscrip ultiple softwar olvo X oda Octavia, V e Sk pports CAN FD and DoI oid or Linux OS dr mpatible with PCs, note ery work onality in ev and d odular multi-br ehicle d concept in v lic M• th Su • An Co • functi is a m A new eafter) ed ther equir subscription r els with first 12 months softwa tion lev olkswagen Golf mk VIII C 90 and V ehicle models suc P interfaces for new v ws, App indo books or tablets running W onment. shop envir able iagnostic scan tool, configur om He iagnostics, mega macs X fr er h as le, for optimum lla Gutmann ail hgs.support@hel or em e and for a o find out mor e aftersales T ehensiv Compr ging e char • Ind • uctiv Built-in security gateway a ement, ADA • Gu • ided measur la.com ation call 01295 6 FREE demonstr support uthentication ation and e-mobility functions S calibr 62402 available