Two shops. Same month. Same problem: one empty bay. Shop A called every qualified technician sitting in its account. Every one of them. Shop B called zero. Shop A hired somebody. Shop B's bay is still empty. Here's the part that should bother you. Shop B had the bigger pile. More qualified people sitting in the account, by a wide margin. It just never worked it. Shop B never had an applicant problem. "I'M NOT GETTING ANY GOOD APPLICANTS" IS A FEELING, NOT A FACT That's the sentence I hear more than any other. I get it. I've heard it from owners I respect, in markets I know are stocked, on campaigns I've watched work three towns over. But it isn't information. A customer drops off a car and says it's making a noise. That's not a diagnosis. That's a symptom. A tech who orders parts off "it's making a noise" is guessing with somebody else's money, and you've eaten that bill at least once. "I'm not getting any good applicants" is the same sentence. It's the noise. It tells you what the owner is feeling. It tells you nothing about what's causing it. And it can mean five completely different things. Each one has a different fix. Four of the five have nothing to do with getting more applications. Two of them get worse when you add volume. Which is exactly how a shop ends up with a full account and an empty bay. FIVE THINGS IT CAN ACTUALLY MEAN 1. The filter isn't in the ad. You've got a real requirement you never wrote down. Diagnostic ability. European. Somebody who can be alone in the shop on a Saturday without calling you. The ad is doing exactly what you asked it to do. What you asked for and what you'll actually hire are two different lists. Only one of them is written down. Sounds like: "These guys can't do what I need." 2. The pile is stalled. You opened it. You scanned the names. Nothing jumped off the page. You went back to the car on the lift, because there was a car on the lift. Sounds like: "Honestly, I haven't gotten to them yet." You're short-handed. That's why you're hiring. Being short-handed is why you don't have an hour to sit down and work applications. Not working the applications is why you stay short-handed.

Heavy-duty trucks demand a different kind of service. They also demand the right people at the front counter. Congratulations to Starzer Repair in Crivitz, WI on hiring a Heavy-Duty Service Advisor! 🎉 In the heavy-duty world, a Service Advisor isn’t just scheduling repairs. They’re balancing customer expectations with what it takes to get the vehicle moving. Every day a truck sits in the shop is a day it’s not earning revenue. That’s why finding the right person matters. Congratulations to everyone at Starzer Repair on another great addition to the team!