With the all uncertainties of the past 14 months, perhaps the notion of expansion within the dealership hasn't exactly been at the top of the agenda?
Certainly at first when all this kicked off, what seemed crucial was to stay up to date with the rules and regulations, making sure the business kept going. Then when circumstances settled somewhat, it was more a case of keeping up with customer demand. Lately of course, many have been preoccupied with the ongoing difficulties surrounding stocking and supply.
So the idea of looking to employ new recruits for the dealership might not have been the number one priority for many. But is this changing?
In conversations over the past few weeks and in preparing material for the next issue of Service Dealer magazine, we've been hearing from dealers who have been doing just that - taking on new people.
Our current diarist, Chris Gibson of GGM Groundscare in Colne, for example has told us his dealership seems to be " . .constantly busy recruiting both parts advisors and engineers." Chris explained, "It’s always good to freshen things up and bring in new people who match our company ethos as they bring with them new ideas and suggestions from their previous experiences.
"The fact we now have all the team back in the office has certainly helped the induction of these new recruits as well as moral overall."
In assembling the next mag, we've also heard from Battlefield Machinery in Shrewsbury. Director, Richard Evans, talked about recent recruitment activity, saying, " . .having taken on a groundcare technician, we’re now recruiting a groundcare salesman and a second technician.”
Also for the upcoming edition, Irelands Farm Machinery, based in Carrington, Lincolnshire, tell us about how they've actually expanded their workforce during the lockdowns - with their team growing from 29 to 38. Jonathan Ireland explains however, that the process lately has required a revamp due to necessity, saying, "We take CVs in the normal way and then interview by video call to avoid unnecessary mixing; if the candidate looks like a good fit we move to a face to face interview.”
And finally in the news story today of RW Crawford expanding and soon to open a new depot in Hampshire, managing director Wes Crawford, says, "We will be recruiting new team members, specifically technical support staff."
This anecdotal evidence and more, does appear to build a picture that perhaps dealerships are now in the position where they are wanting to look around for new people to join their companies. Which broadly speaking, is a positive place for a business to find itself in.
The hardest of tasks
As we well know though from past conversations, dealers often cite finding new recruits as one of the most difficult tasks they ever have to face as a company. When Service Dealer last asked our readers specifically about how they had been finding the recruiting process back in 2019 (so what feels like three decades ago!), a clear majority of those who responded described it as 'extremely difficult'.
We'd very much appreciate therefore, hearing from as many of our dealer readers as possible today, to see if anything has changed since then. We're running a short survey which we'd love your input on.
We saw a couple of weeks ago, with the results of the LE-TEC competition looking for the Technicians of 2021, the excellent caliber of young people that are potentially out there for the fortunate dealerships who look in the right places at the right time.
Keith Christian, director of BAGMA, acknowledged then the challenge faced though, saying, "As an industry, we face a huge crisis in the skills gap if we do not start to look more pragmatically about enticing a new intake of recruits and then genuinely offering them a progressive career path which recognises skills and competence levels within the technicians’ and customer service-related roles."
Those winning young people that the LE-TEC competition highlighted proved that candidates with no prior industry experience, or those that didn't come from a farming or machinery family background, can prove to be wonderful additions to the dealership team. So is it time for recruiters to perhaps cast their net more broadly? Is this something your company has tried with any success?
Or is recruiting something that you are not even considering this year? Perhaps there is still too much uncertainty for you to consider this. Or if you are, how are you getting your message out there and are you interested principally in attitude or skills?
So please do take a couple of moments to answer our survey today if you can. As ever we'll publish the results and a selection of your opinions and ideas in the next edition of Service Dealer magazine. Thanks in advance for your contributions, they are much appreciated.
TAKE THE SURVEY
