Rather than concentrate on the weather and the lack of sales again this week, let's think on to the time when dealerships will be buzzing once more - with workshops packed out and high-ticket items flying out the doors like hot cakes!
The question then is, have you got enough staff to cope? If not, where is the new blood coming from?
It's a perennial issue which the industry is constantly wrestling with. How do you encourage young people to take up a career in outdoor powered machinery?
One route is of course, manufacturer's apprenticeship programmes. And you may have already seen there's some encouraging news about one of those in today's Update. John Deere have announced that their Ag Tech, Parts Tech and Turf Tech advanced apprenticeship programmes this year have seen a 60 per cent increase in participants compared to last year’s intake. That's a total of 54 young service technicians now being trained by the company.
One would assume that number has the potential to increase in subsequent years. And with other manufacturers offering similar courses, there's a decent seam of new, young talent there who'll soon be entering the workplace, with some outstanding levels of knowledge and skills.
Other positive news is that we heard a couple of weeks ago of the LE-TEC organised workshop which was outlining the new Trailblazer Apprenticeship standards. Having suffered from some bureaucratic confusion for a number years, the industry is now clear about the two Land-based Engineering approved Trailblazer apprenticeships. These being Level 2 LBSE ‘Service Engineer’ Apprentice (18 – 24 months) and Level 3 LBSE ‘Technician’ Apprentice (36 – 48 months).
All dealers need to know about each Trailblazer is outlined in two documents, The Apprenticeship Standard and The Apprenticeship Assessment Plan. All the appropriate documents relating to them can be viewed on the IfA website.
Hopefully these standards will mean that more dealers will feel enabled to take on more apprentices. I know some dealers talk of being disappointed with apprentices they have employed in the past, who have moved on to pastures new (and more lucrative), following time and money being invested in their development. It would be great to think that with these new structures in place, departures such as that will become less common.
And of course another route which some dealers find success with is offering work experience placements to young people from schools and colleges. I remember when I was sent out on work experience from school in around 1991 I guess - it was dreadful. I was sat around feeling awkward, with little to no direction from the employer, occasionally given meaningless tasks to simply fill the time.
Those days should be long gone. A wise employer should be well aware if they can engage their work experience student with an interesting and challenging placement in their dealership, from the young person's point of view they could be forging valuable links with a potential employer, developing their industry knowledge and enhancing their wider skills base.
Whilst from the dealer's perspective, if they've got the right candidate, they should benefit from additional resources, a fresh new viewpoint and energy and, hopefully, future talent.
But what are you finding in your dealership at the moment? Are you taking on apprentices? Have work experience youngsters proved successful? Or do you have another means of attracting fresh blood?
It would be great if you could let us know how bringing in new people to your business is working out for you. Please leave a comment below.
