In response to the current skills crisis in the motor industry, a team form Ford’s After-sales department has been visiting technical colleges across the country to inform them about the 100 plus jobs, both technical and non-technical that exist at Ford Dealerships.

According to Dave Pimlott, Ford’s Customer Service Director: “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”.

In an effort to address this issue in a proactive way, the Ford After-sales team came up with a plan to target the technical training colleges to present directly to students the great career opportunities that are available across the Ford Dealer network.  As part of this ‘Team Ford | Drive Your Career’ programme, the Ford team has been  visiting seven of the technical colleges across the country, including Athlone, Cork, Dublin, Dundalk, Galway, Limerick and Waterford.

“From the very first visit, the reaction from students has been very positive.  Already, several candidates for new positions have been in touch with a number of Dealers to discuss how to take up this opportunity.  Our overall target is for the Ford Dealer network to recruit in the region of 100 Technical and non-technical staff over the next 18 months, as a direct result of this initiative”, concluded Pimlott.

As an added incentive, any Ford Dealer who goes on to employ a Team Ford recruit will provide a €1,000 voucher, which will help with the costs of purchasing work wear, tools and equipment.

Anyone interested in finding out what opportunities might be available with Ford should contact their local Ford Dealership.