How do you scale up Auto Technician recruitment to find skilled talent on a countrywide basis, without losing control of the process?
That was the challenge facing Patrick Dignan, Customer Experience Director at Autoglass BodyRepair. As part of the business’ drive to consolidate Autoglass BodyRepair’s position as go-to choice for UK vehicle repairs, Patrick and his team sought our help to build their RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) system.
The result is a pioneering recruitment model able to draw new talent from anywhere in the UK, while cutting recruitment costs and slashing time-to-hire by two thirds.
The problem
Founded in 2001 as Autorestore, Autoglass BodyRepair had an ambitious vision to expand its fleet of vehicle technicians and be recognised as the leading UK mobile automotive repair brand.
To date, the company used a fairly traditional recruitment process to on-board new technicians. Candidates attended an interview and a two-day workshop to demonstrate their technical knowledge before being asked to join the team.
“By recruiting time-served guys with one flat skill-set over 10 years, Autoglass BodyRepair had created a Rolls-Royce recruitment process,” says Patrick. “If you passed, you were definitely the right person for the job in terms of behaviour, skill and fit.”
The result was an expert fleet of vehicle technicians offering market-leading service, but one which could not grow with customer demand.
Patrick and his team knew they needed a new recruitment model to serve the business’ plans for growth.
How to build one was another matter. Small-scale experiments with other “traditional, inflexible” recruitment models lacked scalability. Patrick therefore turned to identifi global and the identifi Auto Tech business – his existing recruitment partner – to offer a more radical solution: Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO).
The solution
identifi global managing director Gary Fay worked alongside Patrick to help build a vision for his new recruitment model. For Autoglass Body Repair, this meant building a flexible database of every skilled vehicle technician in the UK. Constantly expanded and updated, this ‘talent pool’ would be used to source new team members at will, in any part of the UK. “This was ambitious,” says Patrick, with a smile, “but we need a bit of ambition.”
To achieve this, the team first needed a clear view of candidate talent on offer. identifi Auto Tech started by finding every automotive spray technician in the UK and added them to the talent pool – a specific target that allowed us to test and refine the RPO model. Our consultants engaged with each candidate via email, phone and social media to educate them about upcoming opportunities with Autoglass BodyRepair and screen them for suitability.
Today, dedicated identifi Auto Tech consultants manage all elements of the business’ recruitment, growing and maintaining the talent pool, arranging and handling interviews, and adapting the RPO model as necessary. The HR function within Autoglass BodyRepair is much leaner as a result – with employment activity managed by identifi global in collaboration with the operations team there.
The result
identifi Auto Tech and Autoglass BodyRepair in partnership, now hold a database of CV’s and contact details and background notes for several thousand UK based technicians (about 50% of all UK based technicians). They have been fully qualified, they are communicated with regularly, we share industry news and company updates, they receive hiring updates and tend to cover most areas including mobile repair , fast-fit, smart repair, panel beating and general vehicle technicians which grows week by week – not forgetting, they are now engaged candidates and consider Autoglass Body Repair as a destination employer who have started to reach out to us, without us reaching out to them.
The system offered by our RPO has helped Patrick make substantial recruitment savings, while meeting the business’ appetite for growth.
“It’s easier and quicker to bring new technicians into customer-facing roles.”
Time-to-hire has been reduced by more than 70%, from fourteen weeks to four. This means it’s easier and quicker to bring new technicians into customer-facing roles, anywhere in the UK.
Cost of recruitment has dropped significantly for the business. The simplicity and scaleability offered by our RPO has also enabled Patrick’s team to create two new technical roles to meet customer demand, with no added recruitment overheads.
“We have a recruitment plan, plotted against a forecast. That creates a need. Those needs are shared with the guys at identifi, and they’ll source the candidates for us. It’s a turn-key solution.
“I’ll specify X-number of roles in any part of the country, and they’ll sort it, sometimes within hours,” says Patrick. “It just works.”
Is your business growth being held back by your recruitment process? Contact Gary and the identifi Auto Tech team to discuss setting up your own RPO with us – whatever your industry or business type.
