Open the door to a new career

By Dominic Luddy
Wednesday, 30 April 2008

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There are opportunities for women across all aspects of the sector, from the production line to the boardroom

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Apprenticeship: Fact vs. fiction

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What are these?

You are just as likely to plug in a laptop as pick up a spanner in today’s automotive industry.

The retail motor industry is big: it is worth a staggering £130bn a year. Over 500,000 peoplework in the industry for around 70,000 businesses. Employers are mostly small – only one in 20 has more than 25 employees – but if you fancy working for a big name there are a number of major players. Not always household names, some of the biggest are the companies who run the main dealers: Inchcape, Pendragon and Sytner, for example, with Pendragon alonerunning400siteswith a £5bn turnover.

Technical times

Sarah Sillars, chief executive of the Institute of the Motor Industry, describes the need for talented new recruits. “With rapid vehicle evolution, a shifting retail landscape and intense scrutiny from consumer groups, we need to attract and retain highly capable young people to make a career in what is a credible, professional vocation,” she says. Technology is making a huge difference to the skills that businesses require. Technicians – no longer called mechanics – are just as likely to plug a laptop in to your car as pick up a spanner. The same applies to satellite navigation, parking sensors and on-board computers: every gadget you benefit from needs someone to fit it and fix it when it goes wrong.

You’ll be familiar with the huge-budget car adverts on television. They may be impressive, but they do not mean that staff at your local showroom can just sit back and watch the sales roll in; it is a really competitive market and dealers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in how they reach customers and keep in contact after the sale.

Women's business

They need to be able to tune into the customer and work with technology to make the most of every prospect. The industry is booming, but it does need to attract more women – only around one in five workers are female. That shouldn’t be the case according to Yvonne Cubbage, general manager at Hartwell Ford in Oxford. “I’ve been in the motor industry for over 20 years and I firmly believe that there are tremendous opportunities for women within our sector,” she says. “If staff are made to feel happy in their environment and are well managed, then the business will be more productive. If customers receive excellent service they will comeback and our business will grow.” It makes sense: there are as many female customers as male customers buying vehicles, so why aren’t just as many contributing to their production and sale? Companies such as Kwik- Fit have been advertising in women’s magazines to get the message across.

Apprenticeship

So is it a career for you? Whether it is or not, as a consumer you’ll be pleased to learn that to work in this business you need qualifications or relevant experience. In fact, the Institute of the Motor Industry runs an accreditation scheme for technicians, so you know they’re qualified to work on your pride and joy! “

The motor trade is a good one to be in at the moment,” says Sally Graham, technician and a former Porsche Apprentice of the Year, “and an apprenticeship is a real alternative to going to university.” She should know, and any 16-year-old readers who are thinking about their options should also know that they have access to a range of apprenticeships covering most areas of the automotive industry.