Dealerships participate in Texas school auto tech competition

Scouts popping up at Texas high school football games on the lookout for standout talent is practically a ritual. It shouldn't be a surprise then that some Lone Star State auto dealerships are using the same strategy to recruit future technicians from their own backyards.

In December, 117 high school seniors competed in the North Texas Automobile Dealers Auto Tech Competition. The troubleshooting contest and career fair wound up attracting about 700 students, dealership and automotive industry representatives, educators and public officials.

The competition was held at the Texas Motor Speedway, a fitting stage as 40 teams from North and East Texas, each trained by a dealership sponsor for several weeks leading up to the event, raced the clock to debug vehicle glitches noted in the service tickets. Prizes for the team members from the top three schools included Snap-on tool sets, employment offers and advanced training underwritten by the Carroll Shelby Foundation and North Texas Automobile Dealers Auto Tech association. Competitors also were offered ride-alongs around the oval track where IndyCar and NASCAR drivers battle.

"You could see the enthusiasm of the young people as they put their minds on how to solve the issues they were trying to fix," said Tony Pack, vice president of Sam Pack Automotive Group in Carrollton, Texas, and chair of the association's 12-member automotive education committee. "The competition is one of the best ways to give them a chance to get real-life experience. It takes a lot more education than it has in the past. Technology's going to drive this business."

There will be about 73,300 openings for auto technicians each year over the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. While the vocational pipeline at events such as the one in North Texas may be running at full speed, the talent pool faces significant leaks as graduates find work outside auto service.

"We lose 21 percent at graduation and another 20 percent after two years," said George Arrants, vice president of the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence's Education Foundation.

The industry veteran, who has worked closely with the association on its technical competitions and is a member of the group's education committee, said dealerships need to pay closer attention to their technicians' input and be ready to mentor young hires.

"The first day on the job we expect them to be productive. We expect them to be able to do things they're not ready to do," Arrants said. "They have knowledge but no experience. If we're not mentoring these people, growing them into that company's culture and teaching them how the organization does things, we're just eating our young."

High school senior Jakob Holzer has become a highly recruited student — not because he can catch a pass but rather because of his ability to turn wrenches. He was a team member from the competition's winning school, LaGrone Academy in Denton, which was paired with Toyota of Denton.

"My instructor got calls from all over the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex stating a dealer would have a spot for me," Holzer said. "I grew up with Hot Wheels cars and fell in love with cars and trucks. I had that natural-born passion for them, and I love turning a wrench."

Toyota of Denton Service Director Tim Dorweiler said the dealership is committed to ramping up its student involvement, including having LaGrone Academy's auto tech students visit the dealership regularly so they "get a look at what the real world is experiencing." Dorweiler said he hired a LaGrone student in 2019 and again this year.

A young, certified technician should make between $70,000 and $80,000 working full time, he said.

One of the outcomes of December's tech competition is LaGrone's auto students will have extensive access to Toyota's proprietary T-TEN technician training program.

Dorweiler is passionate about mentoring students and sees himself in many of them.

"They're like me. I was never going to be a college student, but it didn't mean I was stupid," he said. "I took a trade class, and it worked out in my case. I want to give back."

Joe Laubhan, service director at Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine and a member of the association's education panel, did mock interviews to evaluate students' engagement. In recent years, he said he's hired a total of four students from the competitions. Two are now certified technicians, the third is on track to earn GM's elite world-class tech certification and the fourth is an apprentice and close to becoming certified. Classic Chevrolet also hired a student from the December event.

"We have close to 60 techs," Laubhan said. "Many of them have been with us for 20 or 30 years. As they retire, we want to be ready and never miss a beat. We could use another 10 techs, but I just don't have room for them."

None of the young troubleshooters at the auto tech shootout were female. Like other educators and association leaders, Arrants said service departments need to increase recruitment of female technicians.

"Two percent of the [tech] work force is women, but they make up 50 percent of the population. We at [Automotive Service Excellence] are trying to increase that number," Arrants said. "Women make great technicians. They're process-oriented and, frankly, they're better than males."

Doug Adcock, the auto tech instructor at LaGrone Academy and a veteran Ford technician, said he currently has two female juniors who plan on doing auto service for a living.

"This isn't just a guy profession," Adcock said. "By far, females have more patience than the males do."

He also said too many male service advisers talk down to female customers. But most women run the household, including taking the family vehicle in for service.

"A female adviser can explain things, and the female will take their advice," he said.

As for dealerships wanting to recruit high school students, Adcock has a simple tip.

"My biggest advice to dealers who want to add young talent is be involved with the students," he said. "We have dealers right now calling for our students, but they won't show up and be visible and show they care about them and really want them."