The Garage 347

TRAINING
School of Thought
leading the way
One of the biggest challenges the automotive industry has is a shortage of skilled
people, but there is also a generation gap with young people not considering the
industry as a good career choice.
by Dave Reece
Co-founder of School of Thought
Things we used to do in the past have fallen by the wayside.
The lack of focus on work experience and apprenticeships
for decades, the reliance on a migrant workforce coming in
from the EU affected by Brexit and the difficulties and expense for
companies looking to bring them back.
The final factor was the global pandemic which changed the
employment landscape, bringing different ways of working, more
flexibility and more people choosing to work less hours to improve
their work life balance, with some choosing early retirement. In
addition to the average age of technicians heading towards 50 at
an alarming pace, we have lost a lot of experience and knowledge.
On top of all the increases in costs which businesses are now
incurring, it can appear to be a gloomy outlook.
In 2019 we started to investigate why young people where not
coming into the industry. We listened to a range of people within
different parts of Automotive, all ages, experience and roles,
who cited reasons such as there are more exciting opportunities
out there, young people aren’t interested in cars anymore and
students leaving college aren’t ready for the world of work.
We listened to young people, parents, carers, guardians,
teachers and careers advisors and it was clear they had no
understanding of the opportunities and career paths we have to
offer. It was also clear at the time that schools and students were
not fully aware of apprenticeships who were in some opinions only
for the ‘less academic’. We researched colleges who had students
on automotive courses and also the content that was being
delivered, some of them massively outdated, and it highlighted
that organisations who promote careers in schools and colleges
had no connectivity with our industry. Automotive was ‘invisible’ to
millions of students looking for a career in the industry.
We knew that we had to break down barriers in all areas, to not
only raise awareness about all the opportunities and progression
within our Industry, but to improve perception about the culture
and environment to everyone. The saddest part was when people
working in Automotive said they wouldn’t encourage their own
family to join. What has gone so wrong? We didn’t want to focus
30 THE GARAGE
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