Ingham Motor Group (IMG), which has operated a dedicated training arm called Ingham Auto Academy for the past two years, will run its first careers open day at Waikato on August 24 aimed at students leaving school or university as well as parents and teachers.
IMG general manager Trent Ingham said his company has held twice-yearly seminars at high schools around New Zealand to talk about the opportunities in the industry.
“The career open day is an extension of this, where we invite students, parents and teachers into the showroom to hear about the different roles that make up a car dealership,” he told GoAutoNews Premium.
“On this day we have staff from our dealership speaking from different departments about what they do, what they enjoy about their job, training, and career development.
“Most school leavers would never consider a career in the motor industry. We feel there is a lack of awareness of the career opportunities available and we are trying to improve this.”
Mr Ingham said that although there was definitely no age barrier “our goal with the Ingham Auto Academy is to attract and train new people to the motor industry from a young age”.
“This gives our company the best opportunity to develop top industry performers and future leaders,” he said.
“Some people want to be the very best sales consultant or service advisor and establish a career in these positions.
“Others may like to work towards learning the skills to enter a management position. Either way our job is to assist our academy students to help them reach their goals.”
Mr Ingham said the open day, to be held at Hamilton in the Waikato district south of Auckland, is his company’s first and while it was “challenging” to organise, he believed the potential for career opportunities for young people was too important to bypass.
“We have a huge shortage of people in our industry,” he said.
“In many cases, especially for technicians, we have to recruit people from overseas. And many times, we advertise for other positions and receive very few applications.”
The training content for the Ingham Auto Academy comes from three sources. One is the content created by the dealership, the second is supplied by the motor training organisation in NZ, and the third is a partnership with Ian Parker Management Group in Australia.
“We have had the courses going for the past two years and have had 11 staff complete. Only one staff member has left in the past two years, so it has worked very well,” he said.
“The majority of our students who have completed a training program have been aged under 24 years and we have also had three of our dealer principals complete a training program.”
Mr Ingham said that before the academy started, it was challenging to get a 20-year-old into the business because people of that age did not find jobs in the conventional ways.
“They are not a generation that applies for jobs on the employment site Seek, for example,” he said.
“We have a huge employment problem in NZ. There’s about 25,000 jobs on offer on Seek in NZ at any one time.
“With the Ingham Auto Academy, we now offer a lot more value to people who are considering entering the motor industry than what our competitors offer.
“The Ingham Auto Academy is our recruitment strategy for the future.”
The academy is designed in two sections: the entry-level is for school and university leavers and the management programs are for people who have either completed an entry-level program or for people in the motor industry who want to move into management positions.
“We have training programs in the areas of sales, service, parts, finance, and dealer principal and our training can only be completed with full-time employment at one of our dealerships,” he said.
“Our training is a combination of online learning, theory assessment and practical assessment. The management programs also include regular coaching by Ian Parker.”
Mr Ingham said that he has invested a lot of money into the Ingham Auto Academy and training programs but has already had a significant return on his investment through the improved skills of the academy students, including building culture, camaraderie and loyalty between staff.
Details of the Ingham Auto Academy and the careers day are available on https://www.inghamautoacademy.nz/
By Neil Dowling
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