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<title>Still looking for students to fill the technician shortage? The
AYES program and attempts to groom todays new automotive technician.</title>
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<center><big><big><b><i><font color="#3333ff">Giammalvo Files</font></i></b></big></big></center>
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<p><i><font color="#000000">Mark Giammalvo specializes in driveability
diagnostics </font><font color="#000000">at his family
business, Sam Giammalvo's Auto Sales & Service,
Inc. in New</font> <font color="#000000">Bedford,
MA. </font> </i> </p>
<p><i><font color="#000000">Mark, who has been with the business for
over 20 years, is an ASE
Master Technician and Parts Specialist. He also holds the ASE
L1 certification, and has an associates degree
in business</font> <font color="#000000">management.
<br>
Mark is also a writer for Motor Age Magazine
and is the past secretary of the Alliance of Automotive Service
Professionals, (AASP).<br>
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<big><big><b> Still Looking For Students To Fill
The Technician Shortage?</b></big></big>
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<p align="center"><small><i><font color="#000000">(Printed in the Journal
of The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers, AASP) <br>
<br>
</font></i></small></p>
Still looking for students to fill the technician shortage? I'm sad to report
that you're not the only one and no immediate relief is in sight.<br>
<br>
This January, I attended another Automotive Youth Educational Systems,
(AYES), meeting at our local vocational high school. The AYES program was
developed to bring young automotive vocational students into the workplace
before graduation to help facilitate learning. In essence, it operates on
the philosophy of "growing your own technicians." The students shadow full
time technicians in local shops and dealerships. After the shadow program
ends the student may desire after school hours and summer employment at
one of the shops they worked at. The shop has the option of hiring the student
on an intern basis. All AYES shops agree to pay the students the same predetermined
hourly amount. This keeps fairness by eliminating money as an incentive
to work at a particular shop. <br>
<br>
At a meeting in 2001, we hotly debated a rate increase. At that time, several
shop service managers did not want to raise the student's rate which had
been frozen at $7.00 per hour for the past several years. They cited several
reasons against the increase: This area's economy is depressed, the shop
overhead is high enough already, etc. Back then, I thought the rate should
be raised and expressed my reasons: Our state's minimum wage is at $6.75,
the students are $0.25 from flipping hamburgers. The fast food business is
much less labor, brain and equipment intensive. What painful bodily positions
must they contort into each day in that field? What scan- tool software do
they have to learn? What tool box do they need to fill with self-purchased
expensive tools? What night training do they have to attend and how often?
After all, what incentive is there for a student to "want to" enter the automotive
trade? At the end of that meeting, a majority vote brought the rate up to
$8.00 per hour. <br>
<br>
Now, at this current meeting I was attending, the hourly wage again came
up as well as the current outlook of the 2004 automotive student body. The
instructor was disheartened, yet honest with us about the current automotive
student "caliber." Out of about 60 possible junior and senior candidates,
only two students were seriously interested in interning at local shops.
Many of the other students did not even want to fill out the proper AYES
documentation or did not qualify due to poor grades or attendance. Poor grades
or attendance? You only need a minimum grade of 70 to be considered for the
AYES program! If the student can't even get a 70, do you really want them
at your shop? Better yet, why is that student even enrolled in automotive
technology? It's obvious this is definitely not going to be a banner year
for "growing your own" students. I guess our shop is fortunate in that we
are not looking for another technician right now. Even when the school has
a decent size class of interested students it is getting ever more difficult
to get them to stay in, let alone enter this field. Lets face it, these students
know the motto "work smarter not harder." There are plenty of careers out
their that require less work and offer more pay. This job has got to have
at least some incentive, some reason to do it. We live and work in an industry
that has survived on the fact that some people out their "did it" because
they loved cars. That pool of the population has all but dried up. The people
in this industry are no different from anyone else. We can't expect any more
people to accept substandard income just because it was always that way and
they won't know any better. Their really smart people and they have the same
bills to pay if not more. At the end of the meeting we finally voted to raise
the hourly AYES student rate to $10.00 per hour for 2004. <br>
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It remains to be seen whether or not this will be a factor in drawing more
students into our industry through the AYES program.<br>
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