Made in America , No Experience Necessary ?!

 

Don't let this happen to you , make sure the person selling/building your parts has experience !
Published on December 3, 2021
By, Mike Salemme

 

 

I want to share some thoughts about the job market in the automotive industry today. This is a story of what happened to me this week . 

 It concerns me very much not only from a Technicians view but also from a human safety view as well . Cars and trucks are deadly weapons and when I work on a car before and after a repair I think to myself is this car safe to return to a customer ?

 When you bring in your car/truck for service do you consider how much experience the Technician has and do you feel comfortable about it . How much experience do you think a person should have before you trust them to work on your car ? I would say I would want a technician to have at least 5 years behind them to do just an oil change on my car . (That would never happen because I do my own repairs) .

 Or do you care more of what's going on in the waiting room , such as how big the TV set is or how great the coffee is . I know for a fact this is what's going on because I still get emails from General Motors regarding customer feedback from the last dealership I worked for. A customer actually gave them a 5 star review on their choice of coffee.

 2020 -2021 has been a tough year for me , as I left dealership life during Covid . If working flat-rate there is no money to be made . In March 2020 my hours went down to 13 hours a week ! Yikes !  

People are not spending money at the dealer to repair their cars , if it's not covered under warranty they don't want to do it .

 Let me tell you about my background . I'm 46 years old and have 30 years experience in the automotive industry . When I was in high school I worked in a machine shop disassembling engines , I learned how to machine fly-wheels , cut valves and seats and machine blocks . I was 17 years old , what kid at 17 wants to work in a place like this today? This was back in 1992. Looking back , I should of got into computers . At the same time I was going to Bergen Tech, in Teterboro ,NJ for a class called Auto Specialties . I learned everything about engines and drive-line components . I even learned how to paint cars.

 In 1993 I hit the ground running and got jobs at private shops to later dealers in 2002 . I decided I would stick with dealer life and that lasted until 2020. As jobs change you learn everything you can , so I learned the office end and how a shop was ran from behind the counter , also during this time the pay has gone up along the way as well . With time comes experience and trust . Two things that work together .

 When I was 17, I went to lots of job interviews and the big thing was experience and without it they were afraid to take a chance . But when I finally found a shop that took me in and trusted me that's when things started to change and people were coming to me begging me to go work for them . That's when I knew that I had reputation and a following , I knew was doing something right .

 

 I opened my own side garage doing High-Performance work in the 90's , building engines and doing chassis work , I also went to customers homes and worked on their cars in their driveway or garage . Later on health issues caused me to stop the side work but I still worked full time at a dealer . There is so much to tell but I will try to keep it short , by now it's March 2020 and I have 30 years experience fixing things on cars and running a business .

 Now as time went on (Dec 20) I started this webpage about Drag Racing cars because at this point I was unemployed due to Covid, so far things are going well but I'm still trying to make a living at it . 

 

In the fall of 2020 I took 5 online classes on project management and got certified. 

I thought this could help me get a management roll. Last week a recruiter reached out to me on Linkedin and told me that they had a job opportunity that I might be interested in and my work experience fits the job very well. I asked for more info about the job and I felt very confident I could perform said job with ease and I knew the company very well and would love to work for them . I would have to move from New Jersey to their location as it is in B*****g G**** , *Y. 

 I said sure but I would need some help relocating because it was a very far move for me . They were looking for a project manager that also has an extensive background in the automotive aftermarket and repair. I said I could do the job, and I would not say that unless I could , remember I have a solid reputation but they don't know that yet . 

Remember that machine shop that took a chance on a 17 year old? , well this is what I was expecting to happen here . This recruiter made it clear to me that everyone who has applied as project manger has NO EXPERIENCE IN THE AUTOMOTIVE WORLD ! I redid my resume and sent it out asap. 

I was thinking of finally being able to buy a house and finally having a stress free life with my wife . Two days later I got a response from the recruiter and this is what the email said , not a phone call , God for bid a phone call, : " Thank you for sending your resume. I wanted you to know that while you have an impressive background , they have decided to move forward with other candidates who are better matched for this role . Although your performance experience is exactly what they want it is also just as important to them to have candidates with product management experience as well "

  So I guess the people who have no automotive experience get the job ! Needless to say I was devastated because I have the skills for this job and I'm fully qualified , so my question is why didn't I get the job? Do I have too much experience and the other employees might be intimidated or are they afraid that I might want too much money and the company doesn't want to invest in great workers , the number I wanted was way less then what it should have been and I thought because I was looking for some help with relocating it was reasonable .

 The problem today is that company's are either hiring very experienced workers at a lower pay rates just give a person a job so they look good on paper or Newbies at $20.00 an hour just to fill a seat.

 The end consumer needs a reality check ,This company is well over 100 years old and if you heard the name you would know it even if you weren't a car Nerd . I'm not going to mention it out of respect because I consider my self a professional but here is a hint H****Y.

 This has been eating at me since yesterday , all industries are doing this , as I have been reading a lot of posts from different backgrounds . Company's have to stop treating people like numbers and treat them like people . I hope this company sees this because this how I feel at this moment . And I would still like to work for you in any capacity , but please don't snowball me and tell me bluntly I'm over qualified , no one is too qualified . 

 (I never wrote articles before , now I have my own webpage & I'm a Freelance Writer for Power Automedia !) 

 

This job was to help bring to market a new segment of aftermarket performance brakes, this brings us back to experience , would you trust a dentist to change your oil or a kid working at Burger King to replace your brake pads and rotors ?

I didn't think so ! 

Yes there are entry level jobs in big company's for people with little to no experience , but there are people with experience who need jobs , When you hire me you get my 30 years of experience and knowledge , you might not like what I have to say at times but when I work on something, I work on it 100 % until the job is complete and the customer gets what they want , and if I can't do something I say so, and I put the customer in touch with the person that can.

Bring back MADE IN AMERICA , AMERICA IS STRONG BECAUSE OF IT'S WORKERS . 

(I just bought a CD player for my office , on the back it says made in China , guess what , the CD player doesn't play and the volume knob is inop. ) I thought Sylvania was a good company ..It still is but the kid getting payed $3 per hour used it for soccer practice.

 

Remember you get what you pay for , and if you pay $15 bucks an hour to some kid right out of college for this project , and these products make it to market you can be sure I will never buy them .

 

That's my story , Thank You for listening !