PERSONNEL FILES

By Alex Baylon

LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR?

Finding Mr. Goodwrench Is More Like It!

While it was a commercial success earning $22.5 on a production budget of $2.5 million and garnered a couple of Academy Award nominations, the 1977 movie Looking For Mr. Goodbar was a real bummer! A school teacher’s search for something more leads to a downward spiral of bad hookups and ultimately — spoiler alert — gets her killed. Because of her family and her job, Diane Keaton’s character has to lead a double life as she desperately tries to keep her career from colliding with her desires…

That was 1977 and you have come a long way baby (for those of you old enough to remember Virginia Slims ad campaigns of that era). Employees no longer have to worry about leading a double life when they check out career opportunities and employers can post help wanted ads without panicking staff. And face it, with the Internet being what it is, there is no such thing as a secret any more.

This story started a couple of months ago with a Google search to see if there are any companies/employers always looking for employees even if they don’t need them at that moment. The results were interesting. It is not a career killer to check out other opportunities! If fact, there are a million articles about why employees should always be keeping an eye out for a new job. Giving reasons like pay, clarification, knowing your value, staying on top of interview skills and so on. However, I could not find a single article on employers always looking for employees even if they don’t need one. This doesn’t seem right to me.

This got me thinking, wait a minute! This is a perfect case of “what’s good for the goose isn’t good for the gander.” Remember the days when you were concerned about your employer seeing your resume online? Well, those days are long gone with the advent of LinkedIn — the business social networking website — helped make it more acceptable. At MIJ we started working on changing stigma for employers in the motorcycle industry. Let’s talk about why this is so important first then we will get to the how.

MIJ is in its 17th year in business and one of the things that has always remained consistent is the need for good mechanics. I think it’s safe to say it has always been our top job category and will continue to hold that spot strong for at least another 17 years. Women or men wanting to get into the powersports business can fast track their career and write their own ticket by learning to spin wrenches.

One of the biggest struggles for MIJ is the expectations employers have when posting a “help wanted” ad for techs. The vast majority of employers posting on MIJ assume they will be flooded with perfect Master Technicians and “A” Level candidates. Talk about looking for Mr. Goodbar! I always say that request is like trying to find your soulmate on Match.com in 30 days or less. Actually, I believe the Match.Com odds are in your favor more than hooking up with a dream tech! Finding experienced employees that meet your needs and criteria, specific to the brands you carry is never an easy task. This is why recruiters make thousands of dollars searching for them.

So why isn’t it okay for employers / dealers to always be looking, given the near astronomical odds of finding the perfect tech? And if you do have an A-level Master tech on the team, wouldn’t two or three be even better? This perception that it is bad to be looking is what we set out to change with MIJ. We encourage all dealers to always be looking!

Whether you are looking for mechanics, sales, or parts people, we offer services to allow you to always be looking. When employees decide to give their 2 weeks notice, employers should have a backup file of potential candidates. Certain job titles are easier to fill depending on the experience required. However, getting a replacement employee like a master tech could take many months to find the right person. For that reason, I’m recommending and encouraging employers and especially motorcycle dealerships to always be looking.

Whether your dealership has high turnover or not, you should always have resumes in your back pocket ready to call. Maybe someone showed interest in the position a few months earlier and it would be easy to assume they are employed now and don’t want to work for you. But do you remember our story a few issues ago about Assume and Presume? Don’t assume they are employed. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. And maybe, just maybe, they still are very much interested in the position still. Always assume that.

The chances of the candidate having a job are likely very high, but if it’s okay for employees to always be looking then, it must be ok for employers to also always be calling candidates to see how they are doing in their current job. Right?

Richard Branson for Virgin said it best when he said, “Train your employees well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” It is not a matter of distrust or unhappiness with your current employees to be looking for future employees. It’s simply wise to be prepared in a world that moves quickly these days. And yet in that world that moves oh so quickly, the process of finding great employees remains a slow and tedious process. Don’t wait for the gate to drop to think about putting on tear-offs on your goggles and gas in your bike!

It’s unfortunate that service techs are getting harder and harder to find. But that makes it all the more important to be proactive in your approach to how you find them. It’s not financially wise to wait for there to be an empty service bay, let alone two, to start worrying about who will occupy it next. The same story rings true for all positions.

You are not looking for Mr. Goodbar here, you are looking for Mr. Goodwrench — or Ms. Goodwrench in the future!

MIJ Industry #PROfiles

Dealernews is honored to work with Motorcycle Industry Jobs to recognize the people who make up this great industry. “When you start reading the Industry #PROfles, you will notice that 80-90% of them get their start at a motorcycle dealership,” says MIJ founder Alex Baylon. “The dealers are on the front lines and have always been the heart and soul of the industry. Without motorcycle dealerships, most of us wouldn’t be where we are today, so part of our message is always going to be ‘support your local motorcycle shop.’”

In addition to recognizing industry pros, Dealernews is also working with MIJ to create a job ticker tape of the latest positions opening in the industry at the Dealernews.com site. Check it out at: www.dealernews.com/Industry-Jobs

“Tell us your story,” adds Baylon. “We would love to feature you! Click here to fill out the questionnaire:

www.motorcycleindustryjobs.com/industry-profiles/

MotorcycleIndustryJobs.com founder Alex Baylon has been hiring and firing people in the powersports industry for 25 years.

Currently with a major distributor, he has also been with Dragon Alliance, Ceet Racing, MX GP Services in Europe, Acerbis USA, Motonation/Sidi Boots and Scott USA. He started MIJ as he saw a need in the industry for people who are passionate about the motorcycle industry to have an employment outlet. The motorcycle industry like many others has always recycled employees from one company to another and it has always been done by word of mouth. MIJ allows companies in the industry to post their openings and give others in and out of the industry a chance to apply and insert new blood and fresh ideas in the many opportunities in the motorcycle industry.