Body and Paint skills under threat

At a time when the generation and skills gap is widening, the perception is that Employers still want the "off the shelf" technician, who is ready made and able to hit the ground running. Reality is, so does everyone else and so the bidding war continues, with golden hellos, promises of promotion, huge salaries, added benefits such as life assurance, private health care and the list goes on. We talk about Amazon being a disruptor, in truth we are causing the disruption ourselves.

Why? Well we keep banging the drum about EV Technicians, its all about Technology and yes we do have a shortage right now, but by focusing just on these roles will not help the Body and Paint disciplines within Accident Repair. Talk to any College and they will tell you that MET disciplines are more popular and so are we creating the demise, the death of Body and Paint?

Well Body and Paint Technicians will always be needed, but we are in danger of losing qualification routes in for young people. If Colleges cannot fill the courses , if they are unable to place students the measure of success is weakened, they are likely to lose funding and close the doors for new talent.

Aftermarket do not embrace Work Experience - it's put in the "too hard tray". Citing health & safety as one of the reasons why it can't be done, poppycock (always wanted to use that word in an article), my background for the last 30 years has been health, safety and education of young people through apprenticeships/traineeships. Then the old, well we don't have time, they can't do anything apart from clean up or my best Technician won't be productive as they have to look after them - please stop putting barriers up. These views are antiquated and don't belong in the technological revolution which Automotive now is.

Stepping Stones is for school and colleges to prepare young people, it is only small in comparison to what T Skills will bring and as an Industry we rarely offer placements to students at School and College. T Skills will become one of the main choices for Students after GCSE's, along with apprenticeships and A levels and includes work experience hours.

40% of young people drop out of Automotive apprenticeships because it's not right for them or the employer, they may feel they are mistreated, the workplace culture is poor, they may feel unsafe and unsupported, their expectations were not met or they are simply not learning. This is our chance to change this revolving door of Technicians and Talent moving on.

If you want any more information about School of Thought (Automotive) or the Stepping Stones programme contact julie@ready4work.uk

Nothing to lose (except new talent) and everything to gain.