Two surveys — one of Collin County, Texas shops and another of Collin College students — revealed that while the industry says there’s a technician shortage, some shops don’t want to hire entry-level techs.

Collin College Collision Technology Professor Raven Hartkopf told Repairer Driven News her students can’t find jobs.

“There’s a real disconnect here of what the industry says they’re needing,” she said.

Hartkopf conducted the survey to determine if there is a shortage, and why. She asked 70 shops to participate and 15 responded. Seventeen students took a separate survey with questions aimed at their expectations for working in collision repair.

“What people fail to say, at least from what I can tell, is that there’s not a technician shortage; there’s an experienced bodyman technician shortage,” she said. “I have plenty of entry-level folks that are ready to get hired. They just don’t get hired because the only thing that shops want are these guys who’ve been doing it for 5 or 10 years and have all the experience.

“A lot of the shops say, ‘We need technicians but we also don’t want to train anybody and get them to where they need to be. We just want somebody now.'”

The majority of responses were from shops that employ 11-49 employees ages 35-44. Most had open full-time positions at the time and were looking for technicians with one to three years of experience to fill entry-level positions. They also wanted techs to have I-CAR credentials.

The average starting wage at most of the shops ranged from $15-$19.99, and average flat rate pay from $20-$29.99.

Students that were surveyed were 18-24 years old, most of which work 20-40 hours a week making $15-$19.99 an hour. That pay range is also the least amount most said they would work for.

“I’ve had students who said, ‘I went to so-and-so shop and they offered me $10 or $12 an hour,’ which is higher than minimum wage,” Hartkopf said. “But because we live here in Collin County, everything is really expensive. The average rent for a 600-square-foot studio is $1,200. You’re working more than two weeks before tax is taken out just to pay for that apartment so a $12-an-hour wage is just not feasible.”

Going out and meeting shops provided visibility for the collision repair program that some didn’t know existed at Collin College, and led to some students being hired, she added.

“They gave us a good feel for what the industry is for the county,” Hartkopf said. “I wanted to do the survey to show what it is that the industry really wanted because we’re here to serve the county.

“It’s unfortunate because you’ve got a whole group of folks that willingly want to be in school then there’s always that stigma of, ‘You don’t learn anything in school, just come work in a shop.’ It’s a little backward but I understand where they’re coming from.”

Students were surveyed to give Hartkopf an idea of what their expectations were.

When asked what workplace benefits are important to them, flexible hours was No. 1 followed by extended leave, a health care plan, and training and development.

Training, mentorship, and flexible hours around school schedules were also high on the list:

The college previously tried the Collision Engineering Program — a two-year associate degree model in which students rotate between classroom instruction and a paid apprenticeship in a collision repair facility.

Hartkopf said the program didn’t work out at Collin College because shops didn’t like the rotation taking students back to the classroom and away from the shop floor.

Images

Featured image: A Collin College student works in the paint booth. (Provided by Raven Hartkopf/Collin College)