Page 18 - On The Move - Volume 16, Issue 4

This article originally appeared
on the NADA Blog August 2nd,
2019 and is published courtesy
of the NADA.

OVE OVER MILLENNIALS: a new generation is entering the workforce and they are increasingly attracted to
Mcareers in the automotive retail industry. Generation Z – people born between the mid-1990s to early-2000s–
are significantly interested in working for dealerships, according to Cox’s “2019 Dealership Staffing Study.”

technician/
just like
repair
vehicle cars Good
sales
marketing/ Pay
advertising
positions

The study, released in July, found that younger millennials and
Generation Z are showing higher levels of interest in working at a
dealership than other generations. Thirty-two percent of Generation
Z workers and 36% of younger millennials said they were interested Telling the Story of Dealership Jobs
in dealership jobs. This interest is nearly 10 percentage points higher
than interest shown by older millennials in their late 30s (21%) and Local dealerships provide over 1.1 million jobs in sales, service
Gen Xers in their 40s and 50s (19%). and management with payrolls topping $66.5 billion in 2018 – in
fact, dealerships employ more workers than auto manufacturers
An Opportunity to Build a New Workforce operating in America. NADA’s MyDealership.org initiative promotes
the benefits of all dealership jobs. Launched in 2017, MyDealership.
Attracting and hiring this new generation of workers could be org includes a website and social media channels and features
significant for the automotive retail industry: Generation Z workers videos of real consumers and dealership staff voicing the benefits
are just exiting school now and entering the workforce. By 2020, of local dealerships in their own words.
20% of the workforce will be made up of Generation Z workers, a
number that will only increase in the coming years. In addition, the NADA Foundation’s Workforce Initiative promotes
the benefits of dealership service jobs and makes it easy for
“With approximately 61 million members of Gen Z starting to enter interested individuals to learn about the training opportunities
the U.S. workforce, dealerships have a chance to build a culture that that are available to them locally. The online platform includes an
attracts and retains this younger, tech-savvy talent,” the study noted. interactive map of training and scholarship opportunities as well
as video stories and Q&A interviews with working technicians like,
The types of dealership jobs Generation Z workers were most Lance La Croix.
interested in were fairly evenly split, with 31% of respondents
saying they were interested in each of the following three positions: The 22-year-old began working in automotive sales in 2016, but
technician/repair, vehicle sales and administration. An additional always knew he wanted to be a service technician. “I had always
29% said they were interested in marketing/advertising positions. thought about being a tech, but I did not think it was a reasonable
Their top reason for interest in a dealership jobs was the opportunity idea. I didn’t think it would pay very well and I knew tools and school
for good pay (40%), an exciting work environment (38%) and would be pricey. Eventually, I decided I was going to do it anyway. I
because they “just like cars” (34%). had heard from a few different people that there is plenty of money
to be made as a technician, as long as I had a good work ethic.”
“To attract and retain employees in this highly competitive job
market, dealerships should understand which benefits and cultural Today, he’s a service technician at Walser Honda in Burnsville,
attributes employees value most and take action to effect positive Minnesota and says his career is helping him pursue the lifestyle
changes within their store,” said Isabelle Helms, Cox Automotive’s he wants. “I am glad I chose this career and I love that the learning
vice president-research and market intelligence. never ends,” the Gen Z-er said. “Everyone has their good days and
their bad days, but in this industry, a bad day means you had a tough
project or a big obstacle to overcome. That means you learned
something new. Is that really a bad day? Being an automotive
technician is both exciting and rewarding.”
16 www.maada.com