Does your workshop spend more time searching for suitable young talent than in customer acquisition? If so, it’s no wonder, because the shortage of skilled workers has now also reached the automotive industry. So the pressing question arises: How can I find suitable applicants? And how do I retain qualified personnel in the long term? We have some tips for you!
Trainee recruitment: Some rethinking is called for
Everything used to be different – including the market for trainees. Today, demographic change and the trend towards higher educational qualifications make it difficult to secure the next generation of employees. In our Personnel Report, we asked trainees and master students what they found important when looking for and applying for a job, and the qualities they wanted to see in an employer. Find out here how to adapt your recruitment approaches to the changing environment, using all effective methods:
Online
The Internet is the most important source of information for trainees and master students (see infographic)! Good platforms for your vacancy ads are e-recruiting sites, the website of the labor agency and even in the eBay classifieds. Your homepage is also important. It’s the first contact point for many potential applicants and it should give them a good first impression of your company – so make sure you have useful and current information about your workshop available there. A presence on social networks like Facebook and Instagram can also be worthwhile.
Offline
Networking, for example, is crucial when it comes to the search for young talent – but locally, and in a targeted manner! According to our survey, local organizations, family and friends play an important role for 35% of all young people who are searching for a job. Get involved in clubs, at career days in schools and present your company at regional job fairs.
Employee search: Show your strengths, convince applicants
When it comes to young talent, you’re naturally competing with industry and trade. As far as salary and career opportunities are concerned, only a few independent workshops can compete with large corporations, but they score in other areas. Flat hierarchies and close cooperation within the team are clear strengths that you should list when looking for an applicant. Smaller companies also offer the advantage of an apprentice being able to work independently at an earlier stage – this appeals greatly to more and more young people, and especially to prospective apprentices. You should also emphasize this in your recruiting and implement it into your daily business routines.
They came, they saw... and they stayed: How to retain good employees
Training apprentices yourself instead of recruiting them is one of the most effective means of combating the shortage of skilled workers. How to do this? Support your apprentices in their professional development. This support ranges from appraisal interviews and joint career planning to binding offers of further training. As many as 61% of those surveyed stated that the lack of promotion opportunities is an important reason for changing jobs. And benefits are also an important point. Even if you can’t offer the same benefits as large industrial companies, you can still use other measures to give your employees reasons to stay with your company. As well as fair payment, you could also offer perks such as accident insurance, for example, or pay the apprentice’s travel costs to your workshop.
Would you like even more tips and advice on the subject of searching for applicants and young talent? You’ll find all this and more in our Personal Report
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