RWMC: Russell Richey Encourages Shop Owners to Reach Out to Young People
In a lunch presentation on Friday, September 22, at the Ratchet+Wrench Management Conference, Russell Richey of Endeavor Business Intelligence spoke to attendees about the various perspectives the parents have on the automotive trade.
Richey pointed to a growing negative trend spanning the past 10 years of young Americans choosing tech careers. The data correlated with parents who encourage their kids to pursue four-year degrees. In a slide, he shared that more than 45% of parents talk to their kids about college versus a little over 8% who discuss the trades.
When it comes to selecting which trade to pursue, automotive was fifth after electrical, HVAC, aircraft repair and plumbing.
“The perception of the auto repair industry hasn’t changed over past decades,” Richey said, sharing that parents have stereotypical views of the industry. “People don’t know how much the auto care industry has changed."
Some of those misperceptions come because many parents don’t know how advanced vehicle repair has become—40% of vehicle costs are attributed to electronics—that there is a strong STEM component to automotive and that auto repair shop owners aren’t looking for just manual labor, but analytical minds.
According to IMR research, the perception skews more positively when a family member works in the trades. Beyond that, he explained that many parents are blind to the cost savings and income potential that the automotive trades offer—tuition costs of $10,000 to 25,000 vs. $103,000 on average with an average income range for technicians between $33,000 and $84,000 annually.
When it came to women in the trades—only 9% of techs are female—the perceptions of what opportunities were available skewed lower.
Helping parents of young Americans requires that the industry get involved in educating on the trade. Richey says shop owners should be present where young people are—on various social media channels—to address these misperceptions by offering a behind-the-scenes look at how the automotive trade works. He encouraged shop owners to show younger generations the life of a technician visually. To use social media platforms to entertain and inform.
He also advocated for using word-of-mouth when the opportunity arises. Messaging should be frequent and consistent, he said, and not focused on overcoming the negative stereotypes, but on showing the positives, particularly STEM opportunities, tuition cost savings, income potential, career avenues, job security and the potential for women in the industry.
