As dealerships continue to find new ways to overcome the challenges facing their business, one key challenge continues to loom large: retention and hiring. New digital technology helps you deliver for your clients, but your team will always remain your number one revenue generator. Dealertrack DMS has partnered with Hireology, the experts in HR Solutions for automotive, to bring integrated offerings to our dealer partners. We reached out to their team to better understand what dealers should know about the new trends in automotive hiring.
Technology’s Influence: How is technology shifting the way dealers fill roles?
We’ve seen technology become all the more important during the past eighteen months, especially in the retail automotive industry. Dealers who were able to quickly pivot their operations to online selling, for instance, thrived when the initial lockdowns from COVID-19 took effect.
Additionally, using recruitment software can help you attract a much larger number of candidates to your open positions. You can utilize more sourcing avenues, run employees through the process much faster, and get new hires up to speed, resulting in a more immediate impact on your bottom line.
The Great Resignation: How concerned should dealers be about this?
It’s a far-reaching reality. We saw over 4 million people leave their jobs in August, the most we’ve seen since 2000. You should definitely be concerned, but that doesn’t mean you should panic. You must change the way you think about employee and applicant demands and meet them where they are. It’s an applicant economy right now, meaning the ball is in their court, so you need to step up offerings (like benefits, pay, culture, etc.) to make your dealership a place they want to work.
Retention: How can dealers improve retention?
Turnover will never become obsolete, but you can curb it. Feedback is the number one way to really gauge your employees’ happiness. Anonymous surveys are a great way to do this, but you also want to encourage management to have conversations with their direct reports. There needs to be an environment of trust and open communication, and when you receive feedback, it should be addressed and changes should be made. That’s the way to keep people around.
Talent expectations: How can dealers meet and exceed candidate expectations?
Our recent State of Hiring report, where we surveyed nearly 5000 recent applicants, revealed exactly what candidates want and some actionable ways to make your dealership meet their needs. We heard from those individuals that candidates want to be valued by their manager and their organization, find a place where they can grow their skills, have flexibility, and a good work-life balance. Of course, they want to be paid competitively, but bigger picture, there are other adjustments companies need to make to attract and retain great teams.
To learn more, READ THE GUIDE FOR FREE, ONLINE: REDEFINING TODAY’S RETAIL AUTO EMPLOYEE: WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN TOP RETAIL AUTO TALENT—AND WHAT THEY EXPECT FROM YOUR DEALERSHIP.
