Your local vocational school is a great place to start
By Daniel Abramson, HRSource
I just returned from AVB’s Vegas Summit, where members were buzzing about the struggles and challenges of finding qualified service techs.
Here’s an idea: Tap into your local vocational school.
There are approximately 6,500 vocational schools located across the country. You can search this list for the nearest one in your area.
As of 2015, there were 16 million students enrolled in U.S. vocational schools, and that was up from 9.6 million in 1999.
Here’s my advice: Call your local vocational school or Google the name of the placement counselor. You may also be able to track him or her down via LinkedIn.
Make an appointment to visit the job placement staff (and maybe bring along some donuts, based on the size of the team). Offer to arrange an on-site job fair of your own as a recruiting vehicle for graduating students and a forum for a general Q&A session.
You might also consider creating an internship program that would allow select students to team up with one of your service techs. Students would spend a day or two in the field as they ride, shadow and learn from one of your seasoned repair professionals. This would also give your service tech some time to observe and ask questions of his own.
If you really want to be creative, you could also establish a scholarship program for promising students in financial need. You’d need to determine the criteria for the award, which I would set at $500 to $1,000.
Why should you consider doing all of this? Here are four good reasons:
- It demonstrates a commitment to your local vocational school and the community where you serve and live.
- It builds and fosters a relationship with the placement counselor who ultimately has the recommendation power of forwarding the best students to key employers and puts you top of mind.
- You might decide to issue a press release in your local newspaper and business journal explaining your alliance with the vocational school community.
- Hopefully, and best of all, this will help you recruit qualified service techs and create some possible sales referrals to your store as a forward-looking business owner.
Have questions or need help? Call me anytime.

Daniel Abramson is Managing Lead of HRSource, a comprehensive collection of customized employment tools and turnkey solutions exclusive to BrandSource members. For more information, contact Daniel at (540) 535-8484 or daniel@staffdynamics.biz.