We often talk about attracting more young people into automotive as though the challenge begins with the young person. Do they know about the industry? Are they interested in it? Do they understand the careers available?
They’re all important questions. But at AutoRaise’s recent Alliances event at Eyebox in Coventry, we turned the conversation around. We brought people from across automotive together in a World Café session to look at the barriers that can prevent an interested young person from turning that interest into a real career opportunity.
The discussions covered practical barriers, operational capacity, financial risk, perceptions of automotive and gaps between different parts of the system.
What emerged was less a list of isolated problems and more a picture of how closely connected they are. And perhaps the clearest message of the day was also the simplest.
Responsibility belongs to all of us.
Wanting to employ an apprentice and being able to are different things
For smaller employers in particular, taking on an apprentice represents a significant commitment.
There is the immediate question of cost, but the discussion went much further than salary. Businesses have to find the capacity to train and supervise somebody while continuing to meet the demands of their customers and day-to-day operation.
Investment in the future can be difficult to absorb today.
Participants talked about limited resources, the availability and location of education provision and the support employers need throughout an apprenticeship. Retention also emerged as a concern: for a small business, investing significant time and money in developing someone only to lose them once they become qualified can feel particularly difficult.
That raises an important question for our industry.
How do we help more employers feel confident enough to create the opportunity in the first place?
One suggestion was greater pooling of resources at regional level and stronger networks around employers. There was also discussion about creating a stronger overall offer for apprentices -including recognition, rewards and the everyday things that help a young person feel valued and want to stay.
These aren’t challenges individual employers should necessarily be expected to solve alone.
We need to get better at demonstrating the value
Return on investment appeared repeatedly in the conversations.
For a business considering an apprentice, particularly a smaller one, believing that developing young people is “the right thing to do” may not be enough. They need to understand the business case too. What does the investment return? How do we measure its impact? How do we demonstrate value over the longer term rather than focusing solely on the initial cost?
Participants felt the industry needs a clearer pitch, and one which makes the tangible return of developing people easier for businesses to understand.
That doesn’t mean reducing apprenticeships to a spreadsheet calculation. It means recognising that employers operate businesses and that asking them to invest in the future has to come with credible support, evidence and understanding of the commercial realities they face.
Helping an employer say yes starts with understanding what might currently make them say no.
Automotive still has a perception problem
The tables also returned repeatedly to the way our industry presents itself.
There was a feeling that automotive needs to do a much better job of showing young people – and their families – the best of the modern industry. The old stereotypes remain remarkably persistent. One participant summed up the image problem rather neatly as “male dominated/Phil Mitchell.”
It got a laugh, but there’s a serious point behind it. Modern vehicles are increasingly sophisticated pieces of technology. As one table put it, they are effectively “computers on wheels.” Yet the image presented to young people can still owe more to an old-fashioned garage than the increasingly technical, innovative and diverse reality of automotive.
There is also a much wider automotive ecosystem that young people rarely see. Body repair is part of it. So are paint, parts, ADAS, data, technology and numerous specialist roles throughout the supply chain. If we only show one narrow version of automotive, we shouldn’t be surprised when young people fail to see where they might fit.
And the same message won’t necessarily work for everyone.
One of the practical points raised during the session was the need to communicate differently to different audiences – using imagery, references and messages that are relevant to the people we’re actually trying to reach.
Education needs opportunity too
One of the most important points raised during the World Café concerned education providers.
We can talk about employers needing young people and young people needing routes into automotive, but education providers sit in the middle of that relationship. They need employers willing to engage. They need students coming through. And they need sufficient support and demand to make courses viable.
Participants highlighted limitations around provision and resources, and specifically raised the need to support education providers so they can continue delivering the courses the industry depends upon. Lose that provision locally and the problem becomes considerably harder to reverse.
The pipeline between education and employment therefore has to work in both directions. We need young people prepared for employment, employers prepared to create opportunities and viable education provision connecting the two.
Perhaps the biggest gap is between us
There was another theme running through virtually every discussion: fragmentation.
Employers face one set of challenges. Education providers face another. Young people encounter their own barriers. OEMs, insurers, suppliers, repairers and other organisations each see the issue from a slightly different perspective.
Individually, each part of the industry can make a difference. Together, we can potentially remove barriers that no individual organisation could tackle alone.
Participants called for more collaboration, stronger networks and opportunities to share resources and expertise. They also identified a role for AutoRaise as a conduit — helping create a clearer voice, raise awareness of the challenges and connect the organisations capable of doing something about them.
That is exactly why bringing these conversations together matters. As Simon Smith, Chair of AutoRaise and Managing Director and Aviva Repair Lead Solus ARC, observed:
“What came through very clearly was that no single part of the industry can solve this alone. We all have a role in making it easier for employers to create opportunities and for young people to build lasting careers. The value of conversations like this is turning that shared responsibility into practical action.”
Turning discussion into opportunity
A World Café won’t solve these challenges in an afternoon, but it can expose something important. There isn’t a single moment at which our industry either succeeds or fails to bring a young person into automotive – there is a journey.
A young person has to discover the industry. They need to see a place for themselves within it. Education and training have to be accessible. An employer needs the confidence and capacity to create an opportunity. The young person then needs the support, development and sense of belonging that gives them a reason to stay and progress.
At every stage, something can get in the way, and at every stage, somebody within our industry has the ability to make the journey easier.
Perhaps that’s the most valuable conclusion from the day. We don’t need to spend all our time asking why young people aren’t coming to us.
We need to keep asking what we can change to make it easier for opportunity to reach them.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the session, and to our sponsors Morelli Group and National Assistance, our host Steve Fowler, our wonderful guest speakers and our AutoYouth Alliance members who spoke so passionately about their careers.
Also, huge thanks to our 20/20 Circle members whose investment gives AutoRaise the capacity to bring people together, listen to what employers, educators and young people are telling us, develop new approaches and keep pushing those conversations towards practical action.
If you’d like to contribute to the next session, we’re at Bodyshop Magazine Live on October 15th on the mezzanine, where we’ll be discussing The Opportunity Gap.
