Store staffers and repair center owners are enthusiastic about the wide selection of educational opportunities provided by Advance Auto Parts. The technician training programs can benefit a shop’s bottom line with heightened revenues, and the in-house product- and sales-oriented instructional offerings steer Advance employees along an upwardly mobile career path.
“There’s huge room for advancement at Advance Auto Parts,” according to B.J. Gray, a “commercial parts pro” working behind the counter at the Advance store on West Patrick Street in Frederick, Md.
“There’s drivers who are now district leaders; there’s people who came in as inventory specialists who are (now) trainers. It’s a growing company, it’s a great place to work,” she reports.
“You have to keep a level head,” Gray points out. “You have to be able to multi-task. This is customer service – that’s all it is.” If you possess these types of attributes the company’s training programs furnish the necessary knowledge to obtain a steady pattern of on-the-job success, promotions and personal workplace satisfaction.
“It’s amazing,” says Gray, extolling the virtues of the ongoing training she has received. “There’s a wide variety of different categories” of instruction. “It educates you on the value of the different product lines,” which in-turn enhances the ability to confidently discuss the technical aspects of auto repairs with your professional customers – and thus they are inclined to consistently grant your business first-call status.
Filling in the gaps
“If you can get the job done faster, time is money,” asserts Kathy Lee Senft, vice president at A-1 Auto Service in Quincy, Fla. The shop regularly purchases parts from Advance, and the business has increased its profits by taking advantage of Advance’s educational courses.
“We appreciate it very much! It’s not like the fly-by-night training that comes along” from other instructional offerings geared more toward selling products rather than imparting useful repair knowledge.
In addition to her management responsibilities at A-1, “I am a technician first – I’ve worked on cars my entire life,” Senft reports, reflecting on the virtues of Advance’s training: “It’s made me a better technician, it filled in the gaps, and you learn how to run the tests.” The education focuses on clearly explaining “this is why you do what you do. It helps us to explain it more clearly and confidently to the consumer.”
A-1 was so impressed with a particular Advance instructor, the late Steve Evanoff, that he was hired to provide onsite training, delivering the “hands-on with all the toys to do the job with,” says Senft, who is still praising Evanoff’s expertise as a gifted teacher and his lasting contributions to the continued success of the business.
From entry to retirement
“Training is in our DNA,” says Bob Cushing, executive vice president, professional at Advance’s headquarters in Roanoke, Va.
“We are constantly listening to our professional customers to make sure Advance is delivering the training resources that give a shop the edge in providing great service to their customers,” he tells Aftermarket Business World.
“The input from our customers helps us constantly innovate new courses and materials at Advance,” according to Cushing. “For example, in 2017 we have already launched new courses specific to OSHA certification standards, advanced hybrid motor diagnostics and Ford EcoBoost platforms as well as a full slate of late model repair and diagnostic classes.”
Founded in 1932, the company has 5,189 company-owned stores and 127 WORLDPAC branches with 74,000 employees in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It also serves about 1,250 independently owned Carquest stores, including international Carquest outlets located in Mexico and the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos, the British Virgin Islands and assorted Pacific islands.
Carquest and WORLDPAC were acquired by Advance in 2013, joining Autopart International, which was purchased in 2005. The operations have been integrated to present a unified product assortment, technological capability and an enhanced training environment for its staff members and commercial clientele.
“At Advance we offer professional customers the most robust, customizable training solutions in the automotive aftermarket,” according to Cushing. “Our team of more than 80 qualified instructors lead regional training efforts that regularly occur at shared locations or at vocational schools in the respective regions we serve across the U.S. and Canada.”
Destination training courses are also hosted at its 9,000-square-foot R+D Center in Raleigh, N.C. “Many shop owners and technician groups work with Advance to cross-leverage the expertise and offerings of CTI (the Carquest Technical Institute) and WORLDPAC Training Institute (WTI) to build a custom solution or course – for example, existing regional CTI courses may see a special need for technical training on late model import applications, which can be adapted from WTI’s strong import-focused curriculum and offered to serve the shop’s specific needs,” he explains.
“Our focus is on creating a structured career path for the industry from entry to retirement,” says Cushing. An onboarding program that this company is developing “will help a professional shop bring a new graduate of a vocational program up to speed quickly, recognizing that one of the leading reasons for new technician defection in our industry is a lack of initial investment in that individual’s career.”
ASE test preparation is another emphasis, as is advanced or master-tech courses for technicians with more experience. “Advance’s instructor-led programs, online resources and destination events are focused on helping independent shop owners, service writers and automotive technicians stay up-to-date with the latest business strategies and vehicle technologies,” he says.
“At the end of the day, our business is a service industry,” Cushing continues. “Did you provide a service that met the standards of what you promised me when I walked in your door? The only difference is we’re selling auto parts. When you view the industry that way, the benefits, opportunities for career growth and advancement, exposure to hi-tech equipment, the technological revolution we’re witnessing related to transportation, plus the freedom to innovate are all attractive factors.”
Attracting younger people into the industry is a key goal. “We know we have an aging workforce. By some estimates,” he says, “as many as 50 percent of the automotive technicians employed today will be retired within the next 10 years.
“At the same time, vehicle technology is becoming increasingly complex. Filling the pipeline with talented individuals that can problem-solve and work with their hands and computers and technology will be extremely important to the success of the independent repair facility market in the near future,” says Cushing.
“We believe that each and every one of us in the aftermarket has a part to play in helping recruit, train and advance the career opportunities available in our industry,” he notes. “Ensuring that we as a company are testing new training methods and exploring new technologies that will be relevant to help instructors and technical schools better do their jobs is extremely important if we want to stay competitive.”
The company is supporting the TechForce Foundation and its FutureTech Success campaign, a collaboration among the overall automotive and transportation sectors to raise the profile of available career opportunities.
“As an industry,” urges Cushing, “we absolutely must be developing new platforms to leverage our training expertise and tap new technologies to grow the automotive category.”
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