How to Hire Technicians During the COVID-19 Crisis

For fleet operations, there is potentially one positive to come out of the coronavirus pandemic – the opportunity to fill open technician jobs.  With high unemployment rates across the country, more technicians may be looking for work. This can create a large pool of talented candidates. 

Operations that have a shortage of technicians can search for new techs in the following ways: 

• Post job ads: Let unemployed technicians know you are looking to hire by posting a job ad on career websites, your company website, your social media accounts and other digital properties. You can also place digital ads on search engines, websites and media outlets to try to draw more attention to your opening. 
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• Have employees refer candidates: One of the best ways to recruit job applicants is to ask your current technicians if they know of skilled techs who are interested. They might have friends or former colleagues who are currently unemployed that could be a good fit for your shop. 
• Hold virtual job fairs: If you are trying to hire several technicians, you can hold a virtual job fair. Due to social distancing guidelines, it might not be feasible to hold an in-person event, so hosting an online event where you can tell a group of candidates about your shop and the roles you’re looking to fill can be efficient. 
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• Conduct virtual interviews: Once you have a pool of candidates you’re interested in, you can hold virtual interviews to get to know the technicians, assess their skills and see if they’re a good fit for your shop. 
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• Work with local tech schools: The pandemic has left recent graduates of colleges, community colleges and tech schools with limited ways to search for a new job. Contact local tech schools to see if they have grads who might be good candidates. 
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• Prepare online assessments: The virus outbreak might make it difficult to assess technicians’ skills if they are unable to perform tasks in your shop due to social distancing guidelines. Instead, you can create an online assessment for candidates to get a feel for their knowledge of tools and vehicle issues.