What's the news?
The motor industry in Ireland may be enjoying a steady recovery of late but there remains a shortage of skilled workers, especially in the area of aftersales. Ford Ireland is addressing this shortage by targeting technical training colleges around Ireland in an attempt to stem the flow of graduates emigrating abroad.
Ford Ireland's Aftersales Department has created a 'Drive Your Career' programme, whereby the team will visit seven technical training colleges around Ireland, including Athlone, Cork, Dublin, Dundalk, Galway, Limerick and Waterford and give presentations to students highlighting the career opportunities that are open to them across the Ford Dealer network in Ireland. There are currently around 100 jobs in both technical and non-technical positions across that network that need to be filled.
Commenting on the programme, Ford's Customer Service Director, Dave Pimlott, said: "There is a current skills crisis in the motor industry in Ireland, which no doubt has its roots in the economic collapse of 2008, which led to the closure of a number of car dealerships across all of the vehicle brands. In addition, many other dealerships had to slim down their operations in order to survive, laying off hundreds of staff across the industry. Fast forward to 2015 and with the slowly increasing trend in vehicle sales it quickly became clear that there are not enough qualified technicians, as well as non-technical staff. Many have emigrated to the UK, Australia, US and Canada leaving a significant shortage here."
Anything else?
To further incentivise graduates, each one that is employed by a Ford Dealer will be provided with a €1,000 voucher to go towards the costs of purchasing work wear, tools and equipment. The initiative will run for the next 18 months and anyone that is interested in finding out more should contact their local Ford dealership.
\