A day in the life at automotive recruiters

Glen Callum Associates were honoured when Aftermarket Magazine requested to join us for a “day in the life….” article.

Alex Wells the editor of Aftermarket magazine is a familiar face in the industry. Prior to joining Aftermarket he ran a number of magazines in the industry including Garage & Bodyshop Professional and Automotive Industry Magazine as well as BODY Magazine, covering the crash repair sector.

Alex says: “Aftermarket is a great publication. I’ve greatly admired it as a reader over the years and I’m delighted to be its editor. There are many challenges ahead for the sector and it is vital that the leading publication in the industry covers the serious issues facing garages and suppliers. I will make sure Aftermarket continues to be the destination publication for news and views in our industry.”

He adds: “I’m looking forward to getting out and seeing everyone with my new Aftermarket hat on.”

And that’s exactly what Alex did when he joined the Glen Callum Team!

Alex spent time throughout the day with various members of the team, gaining an understanding of recruitment for the aftermarket sector and what’s required by the team on a day to day basis.

The full article is in the October edition of the Aftermarket magazine and can be viewed here…

Below is a snapshot of Alex’s article to wet your appetite…..

The Start

…….Glen and Kerrie started the company 18 years ago, Glen had worked for other recruiters and had a sales management career within the automotive aftermarket, so was well placed to understand the industry. “The aftermarket presents a very particular challenge, and a recruitment business working in the sector needs to truly understand it and appreciate how it works, and how to work with it………..”

Training

To put me through recruitment bootcamp, I am placed in the hands of Kayleigh Bradley who is in charge of training at the company. She took me through the whole process. “When we get a brief from the client they will give us a job spec. We will speak to them about it, going through it to find out what they really want, which enables us to create our branded job advert. We use most of the major job boards……” Kayleigh talked about the way the team works. “We like to build a rapport with all our candidates, understanding what they want. It’s never ‘Are you on the market? Do you want this job?’ We wouldn’t work like that”. Kayleigh has been with the company for 7 years. She is now an expert in the sector, but even in that relatively short time she has seen changes. “keeping up with social media is a full time job. Also, people are more adverse to answering the phone” Kayleigh is in charge of training so she whipped out her dual-controlled phone and put me on learner-listener while she contacted a potential candidate. It was a bit like a driving lesson, with the instructor behind the wheel…….

Advertising and Marketing

I sat in with Harry for the post-lunch check. When the company creates a job advert for a client, it will be posted in a number of places “It goes on our website, on our App, called Autojobs and our multi-poster that links to 70 job boards, on all the main job boards and via social media. This includes Facebook, Twitter and Linked-in………..”the job ads are written with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in mind and Harry showed me some of the tricks……

Technical Specialists

Glen putting the team through their paces in the training room

Moving on from the online world……Everyone has their specialism and Greg Knuess is the team’s OE and Tier one expert. “I look after the technical roles, from highly skilled shop floor staff to director levels……..It’s rewarding…..you have the sense of helping to shape someone’s life for the better”.

The Future

Finally finishing with Glen…..Looking forward at where recruitment is going…”there are 8 of us and every day utilises all of our time….to drive efficiency in recruitment you need to harness new technologies and skills in candidate engagement. Recruiting in the future will become somewhere between a science and an art”…….

View the full article either online or in the Aftermarket publication which drops through the industries’ letterboxes in early October!

https://www.pmps-digital.com/aft/2017/10/50/

Contact the Glen Callum Team on 01384 485274 to find out how we can assist with your recruitment requirements. Client or candidate alike our friendly and knowledgeable team are happy to assist!