Hiring Good Auto Technicians When Everyone Is Short
Published by
Throne of Profit EditorialReviewed by
William Hassell
Founder & Chief Editor, Throne of Profit
The auto technician shortage is real, and it puts every shop in the same bind: good techs are scarce, already employed, and choosy, while the shop needs hands now. Most owners respond by posting a job when a bay opens up and hiring whoever applies — which, in a tight market, is often not the tech they needed. When skilled techs are scarce and everyone's hiring, the shop that wins talent isn't necessarily the one that pays most — it's the one that's always recruiting and is known as a place good techs want to work.
Hiring well in a shortage means building a pipeline instead of reacting to vacancies, judging candidates on more than a resume, and — most of all — being the shop that attracts and keeps good people, so you're not always fishing in the smallest pool at the worst time.
HIRING IN A SHORTAGE
REACTIVE bay opens → post job → hire whoever applies → often wrong
PIPELINE always recruiting + known as a good shop →
choose the right tech when one's availableOwner symptoms
You only look for techs when a bay opens up.
In a tight market, you hire whoever's available, not who you need.
You struggle to attract experienced, skilled technicians.
Why this happens
Recruiting feels like a vacancy-driven task, so it stops when the bay's filled and restarts in a scramble. In a shortage, the best techs are employed and not scanning listings, so a reactive post reaches mostly whoever's currently between jobs — a smaller, weaker pool. And many shops underinvest in being an attractive place to work, so even when a good tech is available, they choose elsewhere. The owner ends up hiring reactively, from scarcity, and wondering why they can't find good techs.
Common mistakes
Recruiting only at a vacancy, from the smallest pool.
Hiring on resume alone, missing fit, attitude, and reliability.
Ignoring the shop's reputation as an employer.
Not building relationships with good techs before you have an opening.
Business consequences
Reactive hiring in a tight market leaves shops chronically short or staffed with poor-fit techs. Being short caps the bays you can run and overloads the techs you have; a bad hire costs you in comebacks, retraining, and eventual replacement. Both hurt capacity and quality. And the churn feeds itself — an overloaded, poorly-staffed shop is less attractive to good techs, making the next hire harder. The shop that recruits continuously, judges candidates well, and is known as a good place to work has options: it staffs its bays with the right people and isn't hostage to a single resignation in a shortage.
How experienced operators think about it
They treat recruiting as always-on, like marketing, because they know good techs are scarce and employed. They build relationships in the local trade before they have openings, so they're first in line when a good tech becomes available. They hire for more than a resume — reliability, attitude, fit, and trajectory matter as much as current skill, and a good apprentice grown up beats a mercenary who leaves for a dollar. Above all, they invest in being the shop techs want to work for, knowing that in a shortage, attraction and retention are the real hiring strategy.
Practical actions
Recruit continuously, not just at a vacancy.
Build relationships with good techs and schools before you need them.
Hire for fit and trajectory, not resume alone — attitude and reliability matter.
Grow your own through apprentices and helpers, not just lateral hires.
Be the shop techs want to work for — it's the real hiring advantage in a shortage.
Questions every owner should ask
Am I recruiting continuously, or only when a bay opens?
Would a good tech in my area want to work at my shop?
Am I hiring for fit and trajectory, or just filling the seat fastest?
Frequently asked questions
How do I compete for techs against dealerships and bigger shops?
Pay has to be competitive, but techs weigh a lot beyond it: how the shop is run, the equipment, the work environment, respect, flexibility, and growth. Plenty of techs leave dealerships for well-run independents. Compete on being a genuinely good place to work — many good techs will choose it over a slightly bigger paycheck at a worse shop.
Should I hire experienced techs or grow my own?
Both, but growing your own is underrated in a shortage. Experienced hires are scarce and expensive to lure and can leave as easily as they came. Apprentices and helpers you develop tend to be more loyal and shaped to your shop's standards — if you have the training to bring them up. A mix protects you from depending entirely on a scarce lateral market.
Related articles
Running a Profitable Auto Repair Shop — the pillar.
Training Auto Technicians and Apprentices — growing who you hire.
Keeping Your Best Auto Technicians — retention.
I Can't Find Good People — the general hiring problem.
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