How to find good Service Advisors?

How to find good Service Advisors?

This is a good question and if I’m being honest I don’t have the definitive answer.

Let’s look at the facts

Service Advisor is a very challenging role which causes a high level of burn out
Service Advisors work pretty long hours
Service Advisors are often under pressure to achieve multiple KPIs
Remuneration is generally good rather than great

Demand exceeds supply

As I write this, there are 298 Service Advisor jobs listed on Seek just in Melbourne’s SE and Bayside suburbs. This is a mind boggling number!

Some other interesting numbers to consider

Recently I conducted a poll on LinkedIn asking experienced Service Advisors:

“As an experienced Automotive Service Advisor, currently employed, what would motivate you to consider alternative employment?”

The options and responses were as follows:

More money - 32%
Shorter hours - 39%
Supportive management - 19%
Training & career path - 10%

What does this mean?

To me, the big revelation in these numbers is that money is not always the key motivator.

This was more a confirmation than “news” as I’d recently spent a lot of time connecting with Service Advisors promoting an opportunity to earn significantly above industry standards.

My efforts to engage with potential candidates using this “selling feature” were pretty unspectacular.

Of the hundreds of Service Advisors I reached out to, I managed to engage with less than a handful. Of those who claimed to be motivated by money, most failed to pursue the opportunity beyond a few messages or a single phone call. One did an actual employer interview then ghosted us when we requested a second meeting.

This was (and still is) a genuine opportunity to get financially rewarded at levels that many Service Managers don’t enjoy. There was no “catch” other than a need to work hard and achieved agreed KPIs. Given that pretty well EVERY Service Advisor on the planet has to jump through these hoops, wouldn’t it make sense to get well paid for the “pain and suffering”?

What can we learn from this?

Let’s consider the mindset of the “average” Service Advisor…

Most people “work to live” and no matter how much they “love” their job, they are doing it to give them the time and resources to do the things they really love.
Most people have only a certain amount of career ambition. Often they see “advancing” up the career ladder is a double edged sword sometimes bringing more downside than upside.

For these reasons, most Service Advisors if they are employed and don’t “hate” their job are unlikely to be lining up to go through the pain and suffering associated with applying for the same job somewhere else.

How does all this help employers desperate for Service Advisors?

Here’s a few observations that Hiring Managers might consider:

Grow your own - implement a training process to nurture new talent and create future Service Advisors
Recruitment is an on-going process - become pro-active rather than reactive
Don’t assume that money is the solution to filling those empty Service Advisor roles - but make sure your remuneration is competitive
Look at ways to make the Service Advisor role less gruelling - can you structure a couple of early finish days per Advisor each week?
Make your workplace desirable and known as a positive work environment - this way people will come to you!
Offer “social proof” as to why people should work for you - make a simple video of current employees saying why they love working there…