Now more than ever, dealerships need help to fill roles and retain top talent, like technicians. But you may be surprised to learn it doesn’t always come down to money for job seekers. Hireology’s State of Automotive Hiring Report found that things other than pay could make all the difference. On today’s edition of Inside Automotive, we’re joined by Adam Robinson, the CEO and Co-Founder of Hireology, to elaborate more on the report and solutions to fill roles.
The annual application survey conducted by Hireology aims to evaluate job seekers and retain their wants and needs related to finding employment to aid dealership employers with today’s recruiting and retention challenges. Hireologys’ most recent survey interviewed 450 retail automotive job seekers across all department roles and focused on the following:
- Expectations for ease and convenience in the application and hiring process,
- What are applicants looking for in a job? The study highlights that behind pay, what motivates applicants to choose one job over another.
- What keeps employees loyal?
Contrary to popular belief, Robinson asserts, “Job seekers are really eager to work.” In fact, in the survey, it found:
- 40% of job seekers applied to over 11 roles in the same industry.
- 34% of job seekers expect to be interviewed for the job they applied for within 48 hours of submission.
- 61% expect to be interviewed for the job within 72 hours of submittal.
- 49% will ghost employers if they don’t meet those expectations.
- 60% of job seekers accept the first offered job they receive.
Furthermore, “If you’re not meeting those expectations as a dealer, you will have difficulties hiring since you missed out on 61% of the desired market,” says Robinson. The industry currently has these heightened expectations for speed in repose and interviews. Robinson states, “When looking to improve hiring results, you don’t need to spend more money or stretch your resources; you just need to get faster, manage it closer, and be quicker.”
Pain points:
The lack of convenience or ease, the survey found:
- 58% of job seekers didn’t apply because the application asked for repeated information.
- 50% said the same as the above statement due to the process requiring a login or cover letter.
- 31% said the max time they want to spend filling out the application is 15 minutes.
- 51% of seekers ghosted an employee they interviewed due to a lack of communication and transparency.
Robinson underlines that job seekers who don’t prioritize pay are more concerned with seeking jobs that fulfill schedule flexibility, career growth, and valued work or good culture.