Pub. 12 2013-2014 Issue 2

N e w J e r s e y C o a l i t i o n O f A u t o m o t i v e R e t a i l e r s s u m m e r 2 0 1 3 16 new jersey auto retailer How to Find (and Keep) New Talent for Your Dealership By MaryEllen adams T he automotive industry is back! An aging vehicle fleet on the road, pent-up demand, and low interest rates have combined to help franchised new car and truck retailers outperform the slowly recovering U.S. economy. And dealership sales in New Jersey continue to rise. That’s why now – more than ever – finding the right talent to staff dealer- ships is vital for growth. Whether your dealership has been in business for 50 years or is just opening, having the right staff is critical to your success. So what’s stopping you? Roadblock #1: You don’t have an HR staff to handle recruiting. With the exception of the larger dealer groups, most dealerships do not have a dedicated Human Resources Department to recruit and select the best talent available. Dealership employees are busy conducting business and taking care of customers, so there isn’t much time for department managers to spend on recruitment initiatives. As a result, hiring decisions are often put on the back burner, and sometimes the best candidates are overlooked. Roadblock #2: You have to go through lots of lemons before discovering a potential fit for your position. In a perfect world, only the resumes of the most qualified applicants for your positions would wind up on your desk. However, when using the traditional methods of attracting applicants, such as newspaper ads or online job boards, you may become inundated with resumes that haven’t been pre-screened for you in any way. Finding time to sift through them and isolate the best candidates for your job opportunities is time consum- ing. Even worse – hiring the wrong person for the job can prove to be a costly mistake!