 It's an interesting experience, having a fifteen and a half year old in the house. Suddenly, the dynamic of the parent-son relationship has changed. Brandon can now legally drive (with an adult in the car of course) and thoughts are turning both to what kind of car he will buy when he turns 16 and, further down the road, what career path he will choose. The car question is not as cut and dried as you might think. He has an eclectic taste in cars. Most he won't be able to afford to either buy or insure but he doesn't limit himself to Mustangs. Fairlanes, Galaxies, F-series trucks have been talked about. Even Toyota and Nissan 4X4's have been discussed. As it stands now, he'll drive the Mazda Protégé and like it. But that's another story all together. His career choice is supposed to be the subject of this column. Brandon has told me that his goal in life is to become an automotive technician. He has a love of cars and seems to be very mechanically inclined. A few weekends ago we had lunch together at Taco Bell and discussed his anticipated career path. I am the parts manager at an import automobile dealership (yeah, I know. I get grief both at work and in the Club). I have worked there for five years now and our turnover is amazingly low in the shop. Our store employs only six technicians. Of those six, four have been there longer than me. One man has worked there 29 years! The other two positions have been filled by a procession of less than competent and committed individuals. So why is it so difficult to find a good employee in this field? Work skills are one factor of course. A skilled technician is a very prized commodity and the competition for his or her services is always intense. But the thing that is the most difficult is finding someone that you want to hire that has a decent driving record. Our insurance carrier will not insure a technician (or a lot attendant for that matter) with more than three tickets in a three year period. Period! If we have an applicant who is an ASE Master Technician with 15 years of experience, two speeding tickets and a failure to yield the right of way ticket and is willing to work for free, we can't hire him because he's not insurable. That little tidbit left the boy with an open mouthed stare for a few moments. A few of the driving rules that we'd been setting down started to make some sense. In all seriousness, I completely support the boy's career choice. I have worked in the industry for most of my adult life and it has been good to me. It's a great place to meet other "Car Guys" and make some money doing it. Right now, the demand for technicians has never been greater. The days of the local service station being able to do anything except warranty work are long gone. With the computerization and modernization of late-model cars, it takes a lot of education and specialized training to understand them. Many of the young men that have traditionally been candidates to work on cars have been going into the computer field. With the lack of qualified workers, the wages being paid to keep the ones we have are going up accordingly. In our shop, I have seen our top technician's wages increase over 40% in 5 years. To combat the shortage, several automobile manufacturers have implemented college level training programs all over the country. Brandon is hoping to get into the Ford ASSET program at Renton Technical College. Ford ASSET is a two-year college program leading to an Associate in Applied Science Degree in Automotive Technology. It is a joint effort of Ford Motor Company, Renton Technical College and a sponsoring Ford or Lincoln Mercury dealership. The ASSET program utilizes specific periods (approximately nine weeks) of classroom/lab instruction alternating with specific periods of full-time work experience at a Ford or Lincoln-Mercury dealership. The placement rate for this program is 100%. A typical starting wage for a graduate would be twelve to sixteen dollars an hour. That's a pretty good wage for a twenty year old guy just out of school with a desire to work on cars. In keeping with the spirit of getting young people interested in going into the automotive field, the Island Classic Mustang Club and Skagit Valley College are getting together. Starting in April of 2001, our annual Show and Shine will benefit the scholarship fund at SVC. ICMC will donate 50% of the profit from our show to the college. In return, the club will use the Oak Harbor Campus parking lot for our show. It's a win/win situation for all involved. The college gets a very nice donation to entice kids to the school, the Club gets a permanent home for the show and you, the attendees, get a beautiful location to which to come. Check out the photo gallery for a picture of our new, permanent location. I am hoping that Brandon's dreams pan out. It will be nice to know that, if he can't be a starting pitcher in the major leagues making millions to support his mother and me, at least there will be a skilled and educated technician waiting at the Ford dealer to work on my Mustang. That's my two cents for this month. I hope you're all enjoying your summer. Dave  View Previous "2˘" Articles Copyright © 2002 Island Classic Mustang Club. Last modified Saturday, 08-Jul-2000 18:12:07 PDT. |
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