Automotive News - September 23, 2019 - Best Practices Supplement - A46

46 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2019
WA R R E N H E N R Y A U T O G R O U P, M I A M I

Amid tech shortage, they're hiring now
Group makes offers
on the spot at job fairs
Published in Automotive News Aug. 19, 2019
Michael Martinez

MARK ELIAS

mdmartinez@crain.com

shortage of service technicians is
among the top concerns at dealerships across the country, and one is
taking a unique approach to solve
the problem.
Warren Henry Auto Group, headquartered in
Miami, last month began holding job fairs promising to hire qualified technicians on the spot.
Instead of following the usual protocol that
would take weeks to pick someone for a sorely
needed job, the company brought its dealer
principal, service director and human resources
staff to the fair at Florida International University. It essentially amounted to a professional
game of speed dating among dozens of candidates.
By the end of the day, the company had
made verbal offers to five candidates, most of
whom will start this week.
"We're trying everything," Barbara Exposito,
Warren Henry's human resources director,
told Automotive News. "We have to make decisions pretty quickly, especially because of
the need in the business."

Above, Erik Day, left,
CFO of Warren Henry
Auto Group, takes
service technician
candidates on a tour of
the new headquarters,
shown in a rendering at
left. The facility will
have 82 service bays.

'Dangerous shortage'
According to the National Automobile Dealers
Association, the industry is facing a shortage of
76,000 technicians each year through 2026. In
addition, 30,000 per year will be retiring.
NADA Chairman Charlie Gilchrist addressed the issue at his inaugural speech in
January, saying the "dangerous shortage"
threatens dealer profitability. The NADA
Foundation launched a work force initiative
this year to connect prospective technicians
with open jobs.
"This is not an issue we can afford to kick
down the road," Gilchrist said.
Exposito said the Warren Henry group, which
operates 13 franchises at six locations in Florida,
thought a hire-on-the-spot event would stand
out and draw attention to its needs. Many dealerships have offered on-the-spot gimmicks for
trade-ins or buyback programs.
"We felt confident our service director
would be able to meet with all of the candidates," she said. "It worked out well."
Aside from the industrywide tech shortage,

the Warren Henry group has another incentive to hire as quickly as possible: It's set to
open an 800,000-square-foot headquarters in
North Miami this fall.

Cafe, event space, gym
The site, which will feature 82 service bays in
a climate-controlled shop, will allow the company to double in size and hire 150 to 200
workers, about 40 of which will be service
technicians.
As part of the interview process, prospective
employees got to tour the construction site. The
seven-story building will sell Jaguar, Land Rover,
Infiniti and Koenigsegg vehicles out of a
Warren Henry Auto Group is holding
job fairs for service technicians where
it makes on-the-spot offers in
response to a shortage of qualified
candidates.

glass-paneled showroom. Officials say it will include the nation's largest electric vehicle
charging facility.
It also will have a cafe, rooftop event space,
gym for employees and other amenities.
The Warren Henry group, which has had
stores on Automotive News' list of the Best
Dealerships To Work For in each of the past
five years, sold more than 4,300 new and used
vehicles last year.
The company plans to host another hire-onthe-spot job fair at the end of August, Exposito
said. The group also is attempting to recruit
techs at colleges and universities.
It offers relocation assistance and housing opportunities for out-of-state workers. It's also attempting to raise the profile of its service technicians, occasionally allowing individual workers
to "take over" its social media channels for a day.
"We like to think of recruiting as more of a
guerrilla marketing approach," Exposito said.
"If everyone's talking about what we're doing,
there's more buzz around it." a

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