RIP Body and Paint

At a time when the generation and skills gap is widening, the perception is that Employers still want the "off the shelf" technician, who is ready made and able to hit the ground running. Reality is, so does everyone else and so the bidding war continues, with golden hellos, promises of promotion, huge salaries, added benefits such as life assurance, private health care and the list goes on. We talk about Amazon being a disruptor, in truth we are causing the disruption ourselves.

Why? Well we keep banging the drum about EV Technicians, its all about Technology and yes we do have a shortage right now, but by focusing just on these roles will not help the Body and Paint disciplines within Accident Repair. Talk to any College and they will tell you that MET disciplines are more popular and so are we creating the demise, the death of Body and Paint?

Well Body and Paint Technicians will always be needed, but we are in danger of losing qualification routes in for young people. If Colleges cannot fill the courses , if they are unable to place students the measure of success is weakened, they are likely to lose funding and close the doors for new talent.

Aftermarket do not embrace Work Experience - it's put in the "too hard tray". Citing health & safety as one of the reasons why it can't be done, poppycock (always wanted to use that word in an article), my background for the last 30 years has been health, safety and education of young people through apprenticeships/traineeships. Then the old, well we don't have time, they can't do anything apart from clean up or my best Technician won't be productive as they have to look after them - please stop putting barriers up. These views are antiquated and don't belong in the Technological revolution which Automotive now is.

So, then we wait for T Skills in this area, a few years left, but remember how long it took us to embrace ADAS and EV's? We need to start thinking about them now.

What are T Skills? Well its a route in for young people to learn in a classroom and in a workplace, call it a stepping stone into an apprenticeship or job, but it's based on work experience right? And we don't do Work Experience, it's too hard and so the battle goes on.

RIP Talent pipeline, RIP Body and Paint qualifications. In a few years time we will be congratulating ourselves on having more skilled EV Technicians, but then hunting around for Body and Paint Technicians to fill the void of the now ageing workforce, losing the skills and experience of what was once our bread and butter. I have watched old skills disappear with introduction of bonding and riveting, replace over repair etc, we are going to lose that, unless we start acting now, start embracing work experience in its current format, using existing Technicians to impart knowledge to the younger generation, but doing it the right way.

Stepping Stones is our work experience programme to prepare young people, it is only small in comparison to what T Skills will bring and as an Industry we rarely offer placements to Students at School and College.

T Skills will become one of the main choices for Students after GCSE's, along with apprenticeships and A levels.

40% of young people drop out of Automotive apprenticeships because it's not right for them or the employer, they feel they are mistreated, the workplace culture is poor, they feel unsafe and unsupported, their expectations were not met or they are simply not learning. This is our chance to change this revolving door of Technicians and Talent moving on. When T Skills come into Body and Paint, Employers will have a bit of a shock so be prepared now, doing it in bitesize chunks will prepare you and the young person for a better future.

If you want any more information about School of Thought (Automotive) or the Stepping Stones programme contact [email protected] or [email protected]

Nothing to lose (except new talent) and everything to gain!