In this episode, we talk with Kim Hickey, Client Fulfillment Director, Coach and Trainer at the Automotive Training Institute. Kim moderated the panel on the Future of the Automotive Workforce and raised some of the thorniest issues we face as an industry in attracting, developing and keeping the technical talent we all need now and for the future. From the evolution of what it means to be an automotive technician, to facing our own shortfalls in taking direct action in meeting the challenge, in many cases we have no one to blame but ourselves for the situation we find ourselves in today. Hear all about it as we explore what we don’t know, what we need to change and what we need to do to ensure that we’ll have the business and technical talent we’ll all need to survive and thrive in the 21st Century.

In this episode, Kim shares her thoughts on how the Future of the Automotive Workforce panel came about and how it explored the most challenging issues facing show owners today. Hear all about it as she discusses:

• How Kim got started in the automotive service industry with her own shop in Arizona and found her calling as a coach, mentor and trainer with ATI.
• How Kim personally works to train the next generation of trainers in the industry.
• Why there’s a shortage of technicians and people getting into our industry.
• What the industry is doing to address these shortages.
• Where we’re falling short in cultivating the talent we do see coming into the shop.
• How the requirements for becoming an automotive technician have evolved.
• What we need to do as an industry to help the educational system increase the supply of new technical talent.
• The biggest barriers to those thinking of entering our industry and the cost involved in education, training and tools.
• How the competition for the technical talent we need goes far beyond our own industry and who those competitors are.
• Why we’re not doing nearly enough to tell our story about how the automotive industry can offer a rewarding, secure career with opportunities for growth and advancement that remain largely unknown and unappreciated by parents and career counselors.
• For more information, you can contact Kim at khickey@autotraining.net