Recruiting technicians is difficult when everyone is hiring.
It’s time for shops and dealerships to think about recruiting differently. Recruiting is more than just posting on job boards.
At WrenchWay, we work with shops and dealerships across the country, and we know the shops who are successfully recruiting technicians in today’s challenging market are fully embracing employer marketing.
What is Employer Marketing?
Employer marketing is telling the story of what it’s like to work at your organization to help attract and retain employees who will thrive there.
Employer marketing for shops means SHOWING technicians why their shop is a great place to work. Anyone can say they are an “amazing shop,” but actually demonstrating that to potential candidates is another story.
Technicians form their opinions of potential employers based on a number of factors, including:
- Culture of a shop
- What technicians who work there have to say about it
- The impression they receive from shop management
- Services the shop offers
- Customer service the shop provides
- And more
So how can shops and dealerships use employer marketing to show technicians why they should want to work at their shop?
Using Employer Marketing to Attract Technicians
Employer marketing is about promoting what makes a shop unique, and that often starts with promoting their mission and values. A shop’s mission should be prominent throughout the shop, on their website, on their social media, etc. And there should be no better representation of a shop’s mission and values than through their current employees.
Below are a few ways shops can promote their mission, values, and what makes their shop unique and a great place to work.
Utilize Your Shop’s Website
While a shop’s website is mostly for customers, there should be an easily accessible place for technicians to go to see why they should work there. In fact, research has shown that 61% of job seekers check out a company’s website before applying.
After visiting a shop’s website, a technician should have a pretty good sense of what it is like to work at the shop.
Things to consider including on your website could be:
- General information about the shop
- Types of services technicians are expected to be able to perform
- Photos of the service area
- Videos of technicians, management, and a shop tour
- Answers to questions technicians typically ask in interviews
- Quick links to apply
- Contact information to ask questions
Take Advantage of Social Media
Social media is another place candidates frequently check out before applying to a job. A shop’s social media pages can tell a lot about how a shop is run and how they value their employees.
Here are a few things shops can share on their social media pages that will attract technicians:
- Employee work anniversaries and birthdays
- Photos from team lunches or outings
- Photos and videos showing off new equipment
- Videos of employees talking about what it’s like to work there
- Stories about how technicians have helped customers
Embrace Video
Video is a great resource for employer marketing. It’s an easy way to help technicians picture what it’s like to work at the shop.
The best part is there is no need to be a video expert. Pull out a smartphone and record a real and authentic video about why technicians love to work at the shop. It’s really that easy.
Some videos that shops can share to attract technicians include:
- Shop tour
- Interviews with technicians about why they like working there
- Showing off new equipment
- Interviews with managements about benefits and pay
- Updates about shop performance
- Employee shout-outs
Check out our recent blog article for more tips on using video to recruit technicians.
Get Employees to Help
Technicians trust other technicians. If a technician says they love working at a shop, more people will trust that than if a management says technicians love working at their shop. This is why shops should be encouraging technicians to share their content on social media. Social media posts go 561% further when shared by employees.
Here are a few ways to encourage employees to share your content and help recruit on social media:
- Include employees in your content. They’ll be more likely to share content that they were a part of creating.
- Incentivize them. It doesn’t have to be big, but even offering something like a candy bar to employees that share your shop’s post on social media can boost reach.
- Ask more than once. It’s not a one and done. Shops need to regularly be asking employees to share new content on social media.
Check out our recent blog article to learn how to create a simple employee referral program for your shop.
The Industry is Evolving—Technician Recruitment is No Exception
We get it… Employer marketing is a different approach to recruiting than most shops are used to. However, if there’s one thing that’s for sure it’s that traditional recruiting doesn’t work like it used to for technicians.
The industry is evolving faster than ever, and this means how shops recruit technicians needs to evolve as well. Not only will embracing employer marketing help your shop recruit more technicians, but it will also strengthen your brand, increase customer loyalty, and employee retention. Don’t sit around and waste time, start implementing these employer marketing strategies today.
