17 minute read
face hurdles
Women make fi xed ops impact but still face hurdles
About 20 percent of dealership service advisers are women. The numbers go down from there — 6 percent of parts or service managers are women, and just 1 percent of techs are.
Many dealership service, parts and collision departments are short-staff ed. One solu on is to hire more women into these open posi ons — from service director to service adviser to technician.
Current fi gures show about 20 percent of dealership service advisers are women. The numbers go down from there — 6 percent of parts or service managers are women, and just 1 percent of techs are. Here, women who work in fi xed ops share their journeys, challenges and advice for other women considering entering the industry. Continued on Page 7
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ARIANNA AFZAL
Arianna Afzal s ll has her fi rst vehicle: a prized 1984 Chevy C10 pickup that was a gi from her dad on her 16th birthday.
She drove it “pre y regularly” un l about a year ago, when it started leaking oil.
It’s not that she can’t get it repaired — it’s just that she hasn’t taken the me to fi x it herself.
“It’s always the mechanic’s car that’s the last one to get fi xed,” says the 27-year-old master cer fi ed technician at Aus n Infi ni in Texas, where she has worked since 2018. “It’s an oil leak, and I’m not 100 percent sure where it’s coming from. I need to put some me into it to get it up and running.”
Afzal earned her associate degree in automo ve technology at Aus n Community College in 2017 while holding a full- me job at an independent automo ve service shop.
Also during that me, Afzal earned various cer fi ca ons, including the Na onal Ins tute for Automo ve Service Excellence master technician cer fi ca on.
“I just enjoy fi xing things,” she says of her profession. “I enjoy the process of having something that’s not working or malfunc oning and taking it to an opera ng, working vehicle. That’s really my favorite part of it.
“I enjoy working with my hands and pu ng cri cal thinking into real-life situa ons.”
The daughter of a professional paint and body shop technician, Afzal was “about 10 or 11 years old” when she spent summers tagging along with her dad to the various independent shops where he worked.
Giving in to her keen interest, Afzal’s dad showed her how to use a paint sprayer and let her paint discarded fenders and other vehicle parts.
Afzal liked working on cars so much she enrolled in the auto tech program her sophomore year in high school and stayed with the program un l she graduated.
Her father helped her land her fi rst job at an independent shop whose owner was looking for an eager young person to train to become a service technician.
“I said, ‘Heck, yeah, that’s exactly what I want to do,’ “ she recalls.
Two and a half years later, she was ready to grow. She landed a job at a shop; its owner also was an instructor at the community college, where he taught auto tech. Afzal enrolled. She was impressed the owner placed high value on formal educa on and cri cal thinking and specialized in vehicle diagnos cs.
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Continued from Page 7 “A lot of mes, that’s the most diffi cult part” of repairing a vehicle, she says. “It’s almost like you’re a detec ve. You take li le clues; you have that understanding and use it to fi gure out why this is happening. Or is it the consequence of something else?”
Afzal liked the classroom training in which she learned about electrical systems and how to read wiring diagrams and service informa on.
Afzal says she knows other young women who were interested in becoming service technicians but feared they would not be completely accepted while training or on the job. She understands the sen ment but urges girls to enroll in auto technology in high school, if there is such a program, just to try it on for size.
“Like going into any unknown situa on, you’ll have those kinds of thoughts,” she says. “Luckily, the places I’ve worked, it felt like a family.
“But I will say, I didn’t really see myself as diff erent, either.”
— Arlena Sawyers
SUSAN McDANIEL
A career in automo ve retail was the furthest thing from Susan McDaniel’s mind when she took a job at a Chief Auto Parts store in Yuma, Ariz., in 1983.
The manager was a friend and needed a sales clerk. McDaniel, then 19 and fresh out of high school, “wanted to be a writer and was toying with going back to school” but didn’t once she started working at the parts store.
McDaniel, 58, says the job was the fi rst step along a retail automo ve path that has led to her current posi on as parts director at Bill Luke Auto Group in Phoenix.
“The store manager was a great teacher, and I soon learned the ins and outs of the retail business: customer service, looking up parts and [specifi ca ons], warehousing, ordering and daily paperwork along with loss preven on and inventory.”
Things went so well for McDaniel at the store that a er just a year on the job, she was tapped by Chief to move to Phoenix to help open stores in that market.
She assisted with store setup and hiring and training of new employees and later became a store manager. McDaniel says the store she managed prospered, but she le in 1988 shortly before the company was sold.
About two weeks later, McDaniel landed a job as a cashier in the service department at what was then Bill Luke Chrysler-Plymouth in Phoenix. That dealership is now Bill Luke Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram.
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Continued from Page 8 The auto group also has Fiat and Alfa Romeo franchises at Bill Luke Tempe and a standalone used-vehicle store in Gilbert, which houses the company’s recondi oning center.
About six months a er joining the Chrysler-Plymouth dealership, McDaniel became a retail parts adviser. In 2000, she was named the store’s parts manager, and in 2004, she became the group’s parts director.
McDaniel says she has never had co- workers who made her uncomfortable because of her gender.
But when she worked the dealership’s parts counter, every once in a while there would be customers who didn’t want to discuss their parts needs with her.
Those customers would go to her male colleagues, who would then tell them, “She can help you as well as I can,” she says. “A lot of those people who didn’t want to talk to me [eventually] became some of my best customers. They wouldn’t talk to anyone but me.”
McDaniel loves her job and believes that retail automo ve in general has a lot of great-paying and rewarding posi ons, for women as well as men. For many of those jobs, the industry will provide training, she adds.
“A lot of us have li le to no formal educa on — not saying that’s good or bad either way — but we have a lot of training affi liated with this business that we take along the way,” she says. “We’re all extensively trained in customer service, new vehicles and technology and everything involved.”
Her advice for women interested in a career in fi xed ops is simple.
“Don’t let anything hold you back,” she says. “Just be strong and confi dent in everything you decide to do.”
— Arlena Sawyers
CHERYL WHITE
When Cheryl White started working in the sales department at Rally Subaru in Canada in 2002, she was the only female employee. “I was a woman in a man’s world,” she says.
She outsold her male colleagues at the Edmonton, Alberta, dealership, but “there would just be this innuendo that I was being favored, that I didn’t really sell that many cars, that they were being handed to me,” White says.
That type of blatant sexism led her to the service department in 2007, where she also was the only female employee.
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Continued from Page 9 When the service director saw the need for an ac ve manager at the store, White was hired as service manager in 2010.
“I have a natural ability to work together with people,” she says.
But sexism was pervasive there as well. Informa on, such as the basics of fi nancial documents, wasn’t forthcoming.
“My learning really came from just having to ask ques ons all the me,” she says. “I didn’t get any formal training.”
White says she has succeeded in transforming the service department into a place that’s appealing for women to work.
All of her front-line staff — an assistant service manager, two advisers, a warranty person and an appointment coordinator — are women. All of the technicians are men. But there is mutual respect between the two groups.
“I’ve put a lot of me and eff ort into building that family environment,” White says. “We look a er each other.”
She created a department where the women feel comfortable going into the shop and asking ques ons about how things work, “and the technicians are more than happy to teach and to share what they know,” White says.
But even now, she s ll faces hurdles such as not being invited to important dealership mee ngs.
“A er all this me and the success that I’ve had, I do not a end the managers mee ng, which is very frustrating,” she says.
She never made it a mission to ac vely recruit women, but employing a lot of women and having a reputa on as a great place to work helps. More than half of the applicants for the open service adviser job were women; her service director encouraged her to hire a man to begin balancing things out. White hired a woman.
“The lady is always the best candidate,” she says.
Women tend to be more recep ve to learning what they don’t know, White says. They’re more considerate and caring with customers. They have more empathy.
“They have characteris cs that build trust with customers,” gree ng them by name and remembering details of their lives, White says. White says some mes employers put up barriers to women applying when they indicate par cular hours the employee needs to be available.
“Companies need to take into considera on a person’s diff erent family life and try to accommodate that as best as they possibly can,” she says.
White says she always treats people the way she wants to be treated and believes that’s the best way to a ract and retain female employees.
“Show that you care,” she says, “and it comes back to you.”
— Julie Halpert Continued on Page 11
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AMANDA MITCHELL
Amanda Mitchell’s fi rst exposure to working at a dealership was as a temporary recep onist for Mercedes-Benz of Houston North in 2012.
Through that small glimpse, Mitchell saw there was “success to be made in this industry. I could see a ladder and I wanted to climb it,” she says.
She began her climb that year at the Texas dealership, get ng hired as a full- me service cashier. She parlayed that into a job as an express service adviser in 2015, then as a warranty booker and eventually a service adviser. A er a short stop at a Mercedes dealership in San Antonio, she joined Mercedes-Benz of Boerne in 2015. Two years later, she was named service manager, a posi on she s ll holds.
“I’ve always wanted to learn,” she says. “I always try to be the most knowledgeable person who can help our clients and con nue growing myself and con nue moving up.”
Mitchell says she always felt comfortable in the service department but admits there is “a certain ... challenge to it.” Some male technicians felt they knew more than she did and weren’t accep ng her way of doing things. When she got pushback, she let the technicians know she was on their side, yet there were limits. That helped earn their respect.
“I would try to tell them, ‘I’ve been through this, too,’ “ she says.
She said she tries to lead by example and create a team atmosphere. If the bays are full, “I’m ge ng out there, wri ng customer ckets, wiping cars down, whatever I have to do to help the team,” she says. That’s how people will follow you and “want to do what you do.”
To recruit more women into service, she says it’s a good idea to send female advisers and technicians to schools, campuses and career days. She also serves on fi xed ops conference panels about women in service “to get the word out there that there are jobs and it’s a good place to work.”
To be er understand the issues facing women in the service sector, she par cipates in the Women Automo ve Summit, an online pla orm for women to discuss, learn and collaborate with other women in the industry. She looks to social media for support and to learn from infl uencers such as Laurie Halter, who hosts a podcast called Carearing. She also networks on LinkedIn, discovering “posi ve women” who have overcome some of the same hurdles.
“I look up to other women who have been down the same path as I have and will turn to them when I need advice for overcoming challenges,” she says.
Mitchell advises women considering a career in fi xed ops to research a company that will be a good one to work at “and just get out and do it.” She admits it was somewhat in mida ng entering such a male-dominated industry but says there are plenty of opportuni es for women and many have successfully climbed the ladder. Continued on Page 12
Continued from Page 11 “We have female general managers now and female service directors and technicians,” she says.
Women on the service drive are needed more than ever, Mitchell says.
“We just need to get the word out there,” she says, “and just let people know it’s not scary.”
— Julie Halpert
ERIC BARBOSA
When Founda on Automo ve bought Henson Motor Co. in Madisonville, Texas, in 2018 and changed the name to Henson Brand Dealerships, the new leadership ushered in another big change as well: making recruitment of women a priority.
Eric Barbosa, managing partner of the Henson group, was especially commi ed. Barbosa had hired women before, but the importance of recrui ng female service staff was cemented a er he a ended a Women in Automo ve conference, also in 2018. There, he learned the majority of car decisions — from purchase to service — were infl uenced by women.
“We wanted to go a er that as a strategy,” says Barbosa, 41.
One of the group’s service managers is female, and there are a total of fi ve female service advisers among the three stores. Most of the women hired when Founda on Automo ve took over are s ll with the company, Barbosa says.
Women tend to have superior organiza onal and communica on skills, he says. And they make customers feel much more comfortable — especially women bringing in their car for service who fi nd they can speak with another woman.
Female service employees also are a bit more a en ve, Barbosa says. Recently, the female service manager drove an older customer home when his car took longer than expected for service.
To a ract women to the service area, he says, “you need to understand what they’re looking for.” That starts with work-life balance, which can be a par cular priority for mothers.
This month, Henson Brand Dealerships is moving to a four-day workweek.
“We try to give them a schedule that works for them,” including accommoda ng those who want to work part me.
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Continued from Page 12 Providing a path for growth also is key, as most female employees don’t want to stay in one job. The group provides the tools for them to pursue other opportuni es.
“They can be a service manager, and we’ll give them the tools for that,” he says. “I think that’s a big deal.”
Though service historically has been dominated by male employees, there has been no pushback at the group. They tend to “take a protec ve role,” covering for women in situa ons where they need to take their kids to school, Barbosa says.
Barbosa and Henson Brand Dealerships are ac ve on social media, which he thinks helps recruit poten al female employees who view video profi les of Henson staff , including women.
“We try to do as much as we can in every pla orm that we have,” he says.
Barbosa’s biggest piece of advice to recruit more women is to move past the “old ways” of doing business and the reliance on a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday schedule.
Women “can probably produce more in less me” than if they worked the tradi onal 40-hour week, Barbosa says. It’s important to “think outside the box when it comes to scheduling.”
— Julie Halpert
BRITTANY PARKER
Bri any Parker, a master cer fi ed Subaru service technician at Maple Hill Auto Group in Kalamazoo, Mich., can fi x any vehicle, but building and rebuilding Subaru engines is her specialty.
“I build engines, I build transmissions; I do all sorts of diagnos cs; I do electrical repairs, full body harness replacement. Anything on a vehicle, I can fi x it,” she says.
But with the all-new Subaru Solterra electric crossover poised to hit the market as a 2023 model, “obviously, we’re going to have to go back to school for it,” says Parker, 28, who has built and rebuilt more than 100 Subaru engines. “In this industry, you have to con nue to train because vehicles change every single year.”
She holds an associate degree in automo ve technology from Lansing Community College in Michigan and earned master technician cer fi ca ons from Subaru, the Na onal Ins tute for Automo ve Service Excellence and the state.
Way before her formal training, Parker liked taking things apart and pu ng them back together.
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Continued from Page 13 Growing up on a farm, Parker helped her dad maintain farm equipment, mowed her grandparents’ lawn and constantly took her bicycles apart and rebuilt them using diff erent parts.
“I was about 10 years old and I’d change out sprockets and change the handlebars — I’d take the whole thing apart,” she says.
Though it seems natural she would gravitate toward a career diagnosing and repairing vehicles, her path took some turns.
A er gradua ng from high school in 2011, she considered going to a four-year college but didn’t want the student loan debt that typically comes with it.
She worked as a cer fi ed nursing assistant for about six months and then in a retail pharmacy store as a shi supervisor for three years and fi nally decided she needed a change.
“I’ve always liked to take things apart and put them back together,” she says. “I was about to turn 22 and signed up for the automo ve program at Lansing Community College.”
Parker was the only woman in her automo ve classes, but that was fi ne with her. She studied hard, asked ques ons and got be er.
“The instructors saw that I was mo vated and interested,” she says. “I don’t want to sound conceited, but I probably outperformed some of the guys.”
While she was in college and a er gradua ng, she worked in independent service shops in Lansing and landed at Maple Hill when she moved to Kalamazoo in 2018.
“I love this shop, and I work the same schedule,” which is 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, she says. “They appreciate us here and pay us well.”
Parker admits becoming a service technician isn’t for everyone but believes more preteen and teenage girls who like working with their hands would consider the profession if more trade classes were available to them.
“They used to have wood shop in my middle school; I liked that class because you get to build a lot of things — toy cars and stuff like that — but they got rid of that class,” she recalls.
“Kids are smart, and they are going to gravitate to what they like to do.”
— Arlena Sawyers
