With many seasoned automotive technicians retiring in the next couple of years, what does the future hold? AI and college recruiting have left a void for up-and-coming technicians. The Bureau of Labour Statistics projects roughly 67,000 openings for automotive service technicians and mechanics each year through the next decade.

In the next 10 to 15 years, the industry will lose experienced and qualified automotive service technicians to retirement. The result is a market where the automotive technician shortage stops being a cycle, and becomes the permanent operating condition – leaving shops scrambling to recruit the most talented from a small employee pool. Top technicians will demand more from employers, since the focus will be on technology, for learning aptitude and electrical diagnostic ability, not just tenure.

AI recruiting will play a large role in hiring the correct employee, by examining a resume and looking for specific keywords; it’s excellent at sorting, matching, and keeping candidates moving, but poor at judging shop culture, work ethic, or how a technician will fit with your workplace.

The future in transportation technicians isn’t just the employer looking for the perfect candidate, the employee is also interviewing a potential employer as the right fit. Hiring technicians for the years ahead is not in the fast lane – there are challenges for employers to attract and retain the best. If anyone is looking to join in this future, start now, and set your sights on a trade school. You never know where it might take you.

Happy Motoring.