BARCELONA, Spain -- “You can now go anywhere in the world and see excellence.” This fitting statement made by Conference Director David Lingham at the start of the 2014 International Bodyshop Industry Symposium (IBIS) sums up the philosophy behind the annual world conference attended this year by more than 350 body shops, suppliers and various stakeholders.
Held each May, the IBIS conference delves into vital industry issues impacting collision repairers, and serves as a global networking opportunity for attendees. Thought-provoking presentations of all sorts packed this year’s agenda, and delivered best practices for consideration.
The 14th IBIS kicked off with a presentation on recruitment by Lori Blaker, president and CEO of TTi Global, a training organization with 23 offices worldwide and headquartered in Rochester Hills, Mich.
“If we don’t start to attract younger people into our industry, I don’t know what we’re going to do when baby boomers start retiring,” Blaker told the audience. “We have to do a better job of glamorizing (the industry).”
Blaker explored the need for improved brand image of the collision repair sector in order to win the recruitment wars with other, sexier market segments. In order to recruit effectively we must find creative ways to make collision repair appealing to the younger generation.
“We do a really poor job in our industry of promoting careers,” she said, adding that we all need to work harder at putting our industry in a much better light and mapping career paths for newcomers.
Reaching a younger crowd not only demands speaking on their level, but also speaking to them where they currently communicate. She noted the use of mobile phones by job seekers (65 percent search for jobs using cell phones, per CareerBuilder) and the value of a mobile-friendly career portal or recruitment hub within a shop’s website.
She also pointed toward the increased use of social media as job-hunting tools. According to Blaker, the number of Americans who found their current position on the big three social media sites has skyrocketed. In recent years, 18.4 million people found their current jobs via Facebook, 10.2 million connected via LinkedIn and 8 million located their new position as a result of connections made on Twitter. Shops can’t ignore these social media numbers as they recruit talent and they have to be visible in these arenas, she said.
Lesley Upham, commercial director of Thatcham Research in the United Kingdom, echoed some of Blaker’s points related to recruitment. In her presentation exploring the future makeup of tomorrow’s collision repair market, Upham explained that traditional skill sets won’t work in the near future. Shops must change to raise the level of their shop repair capabilities. Techicians, for instance, will have to handle in-vehicle IT issues based on the growing number of computer modules and enhanced electronic systems in vehicles.
Shops also will encounter ongoing techological changes as carmakers continue to adapt their products to meet region specific rule changes, such as CO2 reductions. Lighterweight materials, for instance, will be more common as vehicles become more complex to reach stated environmental goals, said Upham.
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