Dealers Show Strong Support for 2nd Year WANADA/Ford Apprentice Training Program Ford to Pay Students $500 per ASE Test Passed This Spring
Iêm very pleased and honored to be a part of your associationês efforts, said Duane Roundtree, strategy manager for Fordês Automotive Consumer Service Groupês Youth and Adult Automotive Training Program, speaking last week to the second season kick-off meeting of the Ford/WANADA Technician Apprentice Training Program at Kenwood Country Club in Bethesda, Md.
To show Fordês commitment to the program, Roundtree offered to pay student apprentices $500 per test for passing the two ASE tests scheduled this May. You guys pass both exams, hereês a thousand bucks a Ford Motor Company check in your hands, Roundtree told two students who attended the meeting. Thatês how serious we are about our commitment to these kids and to keep this industryês techs the best, because service satisfaction keeps customers and we want the best!
Representatives from Ford products dealerships throughout the area heard about the first yearês success of the program, which currently has 26 apprentices in training and can boast of a strong retention rate of 81 percent. Sixty-five trainees have expressed interest in the next class, which begins with assignments to dealerships this summer and classroom training next September. For the 2003 class, 109 trainees have showed interest and that number is expected to grow, creating a greater selection of qualified applicants to choose from.
We think we have the answer to the age-old auto industry refrain, Where are the next generation of techs coming from?ê said WANADA Chairman Vince Sheehy of Sheehy Auto Stores. Dealers, working together in a true partnership with a major automaker is what is making the difference. He praised dealers for helping get the program off to a very exciting start.
Dick Snyder of Jerryês Ford, who as former WANADA chairman spearheaded the effort to create the program, emphasized that the program has developed the right core of qualified, motivated young people who can help fill the growing need for auto technicians and serve as a future model for other automakers.
Snyder said it was a mistake for dealers to look at the scholarship fee as a direct expense, because you are not going to get these people anywhere else. Youêve got to be willing to think about the future. The only place youêre going to get these techs is grow your own from the ground up.
Open to all Ford, Lincoln-Mercury, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mazda and Volvo dealers, the programês student apprentices work 40 hours a week at participating dealerships for on-the-job training. Students receive college credit for six hours of classroom instruction each week, which takes place one day a week, 9 a.m. to 4:40 p.m., at Montgomery College in Rockville, MD, and two evenings a week at Marshall Academy in Falls Church, VA. At both facilities, Ford is providing the latest manufacturer-specific curriculum as well as vehicles, equipment, tools, engine transmissions, shop manuals, self-study guides and computer software.
The goal is for students to complete the Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) examinations and become certified automobile master technicians. The ASE certification process is used as progress benchmarks, with steady pay increases for each level achieved.
The key to the programês success is its three-fold coordination, according to Mike Wilson, EdD, who is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the WANADA/Ford program.
The educational program is overseen by personnel at the dealership, and each youngster has a mentor or master tech working with them, Wilson explained. The manufacturer not only brings autos, equipment and training materials, but also new, Ford-specific curriculum material, which we are able to mesh with training for ASE certification. That makes the program different and much more relevant to dealers and the manufacturer than simply sending everyone off to a training center.
Finally, Wilson pointed out that the WANADA staff he and WANADA member relations specialists Archie Avedisian and Bill Belew make recruitment visits to area high schools, screen all applicants (including driver records), and then work with trainees, educators and dealership personnel to ward off problems and ensure a successful training experience.
Avedisian said that itês a two-way street. We tell kids if they donêt do well in school they canêt get in the WANADA/Ford program. And for those in the program, they have to show up for class and if they donêt we get in touch with them or their parents and raise holy hell.
Snyder confirmed that, We are hard nosed with these young people. They have a commitment to us because we have made a commitment to them. You have to have discipline in this program, you have to be at the classes and adhere to the program, because there is too much money spent on this program for guys not to take it 100 percent seriously.
For the vast majority of students who are taking it seriously, the WANADA/Ford Technician Apprentice Training Program offers a golden opportunity, Snyder concluded. They graduate from high school and, right away, they have a job and a scholarship that gives them prestige and a bright future in a business that they can make a good living in and use their brains.
For more information, contact Mike Wilson, Archie Avedisian or Bill Belew at WANADA, (202) 237-7200.
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