We have all seen what has happened with the job market in the “real world”, but it is even tougher in the powersports arena. Jason Gearld knows and tells… even if the answer isn’t what you want to hear. Prior to the pandemic and the “Great Resignation”, finding techs was already a serious problem. In the search for the elusive unicorn, how does one even find an A-level service tech? And where did they go to find such a mythical beast?
A-level techs are probably not sitting on the couch watching Ellen all day — They are probably gainfully employed. What we've been trying to do at MIJ is encourage all of our dealers to continuously post jobs up, given the fact that the A-Team is probably not sitting there at the computer just looking for a job. But there may be some out there unhappy where they are and looking to move. However, you can't just hope that they're going to see your job in 30 days. We've worked with our dealers to try to keep subscription plans or annual programs so that they can post jobs every month, in hopes that they're going to find the elusive unicorn who turns a wrench.
There's more to it than just “hang and hope” or slap up any old job description. If you're actually trying to recruit talent and it's the unicorn that you're looking for, you better have a compelling help wanted ad!
Alex Baylon who owns MIJ always says, “you wouldn't go see a movie without seeing the trailer.” So we encourage dealers to post up photos of their store that goes well beyond the store. What does your town have to offer? What's the riding scene or the après-ski, if you will. What else goes on in the town that might encourage people to want to live there if they don't already live there? And like you said, you've got to be making it enticing to them to want to work at the store as well.
The “real world” has even more problems with job placement these days, but the expectations are much higher for MIJ than they are for a Jeeves or a something.com generic site. You are going to a more targeted potential marketplace with relevant information, and yet they complain about it. Then I see the real-world headlines “The Great Resignation” where nobody's going back to work. Why are these unfair expectations put on MIJ?
It's funny, every time that I see a story that comes up that's outside of the motorcycle/powersports industry, where they're struggling to find help, whether it's a mechanic, or just regular employees, I take note, because this isn't a motorcycle industry-only issue — excuse me, “powersports” issue. I think sometimes we all get stuck in our own little world. We're only focused on how it affects us. But everybody is struggling to find good help. And when I see these fantastic jobs that are going up I want to figure out how we get more people to them. Whether it's a great dealer job or something on the other side of the counter within the industry, great jobs are out there. But I can't get into people's heads to know why they're not taking those jobs because we get plenty of them.
You've had some pretty phenomenal OEM job posts recently. You want to be the Team Green technician and join the Supercross series? That job was posted recently. I wish I was 40 years younger and looking for an opportunity to get into the industry.
I used to tell people you're not gonna find a factory technician job on our website, but we can't say that anymore… KTM has posted factory technician jobs, the Kawasaki Team Green job and the most recent one was Honda looking for an engine tuner for Chase Sexton and Kenny Roczen!
People thought that the Honda gig was a fake post when it first went up and some were saying it was the old “bait and switch” happening here.
I thought so too, until I saw Lars Lindstrom was the one who pulled the trigger on it… and I thank Lars for doing it. But it just goes to show if Honda is struggling to find those engine tuners, it stands to reason that dealers are going to have that same struggle. But that's why we're here. We're still that place for the industry to see our jobs. This is the place. I tell dealers all the time, “you have got a shotgun-blast it everywhere — you can't put all your eggs in any one basket, and that includes ours.” However, we still are the place to go for the industry… and people talk! When people see the job on our website, they're likely to tell a friend, and that friend may tell a friend and that person applies for the job. So just getting it out in front of industry eyes is all too important.
Hence the name: Motorcycle Industry Jobs
Bingo!