Demand exceeds supply for commercial vehicle technicians 11 October 2012

Recruiting commercial vehicle technicians is currently one of the biggest headaches for dealerships, according to motor industry specialist jobco-op.

Director Derek Webb says that the problem extends across the whole of the commercial vehicle market but is particularly pronounced with heavier and specialised vehicles.

"CV technicians tend to have more specialised and hard-to-find skills than their car counterparts, often need to offer greater flexibility to meet the needs of 24 hour workshop opening, and generally stay longer in each job," comments Webb.

"At the HGV end of the market, with requirements to be able to work on often very specific and sophisticated items of plant, the problem gets even more acute," he continues.

"There is a limited pool of talent [and] we find that, in most cases, there are fewer quality candidates for each job than for any automotive dealer role."

Webb reports that half of the 83 dealers that have signed up to the jobco-op automotive recruitment site during the trial period since its launch in May are commercial vehicle specialists.

"Dealers are keen to try new ways of resolving issues and interest from this part of the dealer sector has been very high during the first few weeks of operation. We have already signed up two major CV dealer groups for in-depth trials."

jobco-op automotive is currently in its trial phase ahead of its official launch later this month (October). Dealers pay a £175 monthly fee to join the platform and, when they need to fill a role, sift through the online candidates with the help of an account manager.

"We can already see a buzz developing around the platform and there are more dealer groups who would also like to sign on for the trial," states Webb.

"However, we are using this period of time to ensure everything is fully debugged and working smoothly before fully opening up the system ahead of its official launch."

Author
Brian Tinham

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