What Are Uncommon Ways to Convince Students to Join the Industry?

with Mike Anderson

This month, we “Ask Mike” to share his thoughts on uncommon ways to encourage younger people to join the collision repair industry. We at Hammer & Dolly hope you find the following exchange useful, and we encourage you to reach out to us if you have a question for Mike on this or any industry-related matter that he can answer in a future issue.

Hammer & Dolly: The question of how to get younger people more engaged in this industry has been asked for decades now, so let’s look at it through the lens of 2025. When you look at where we are today in answering that question versus five or 10 years ago, have you seen us make inroads? Are we still missing the mark?

Mike Anderson: First, we need to take a step back and talk about industry involvement. People at the shop level are not as involved as they need to be. I’m reminded of something I heard at church years ago. The church had a nursery; parents could drop off their little kids there while they went and enjoyed the sermons. It was always difficult to find volunteers for the nursery. A lot of older people at the church thought, ‘I’ve done my time. I’m not going back there.’ Some parents didn’t see a point in coming to church if they had to work in the nursery instead of having a break and getting their souls fed. One day, the pastor said, ‘Some of you have said you’ve already done your time in the nursery, but let me ask you a question: If you don’t get involved in the nursery, who’s going to teach your grandkids when they get older? Who’s going to minister to them? If you’re there and helping, you’re developing the future leaders of the church.’ I’ve always felt that way about vocational schools.

I don’t care what point you’re at in your career; you still need to be involved. When I had my shops, we were in Virginia, 10 minutes from DC and 20 minutes from Maryland. We worked with seven or eight high schools, and we would often host quarterly contests. For example, we’d do one on straightening, painting or welding, and the kids would come and compete for prizes.

We realized that we had to get people interested in our industry at a younger age. One of the things we did was take a total-loss BMW, paint it white, bring it to different middle schools and let the kids draw and paint on it. We’d also take it to the Art on the Avenue event in Alexandria. Kids would draw on it there, and we’d pick the winning art.

When middle schoolers got a little older and were ready to go to high school, we’d bring in a car and give them grinders, hammers and nail guns and let them beat on it. That got their interest because they were doing something they thought was cool. So, it’s important to spark kids’ interest at a younger age, and we have many opportunities to do so.

When we visited high schools, we had a sign that listed all the positions available in the industry and what the incomes would be for those roles. One of the benefits of having that sign was letting people who liked cars but didn’t necessarily have mechanical aptitude know there was a place for them in the industry as well. We didn’t just limit our involvement to the technicians; we’d talk to the computer and accounting students, too. We also had recruitment brochures in our shops’ waiting rooms for parents to check out.

When we’d host the SkillsUSA contests at our shop, we’d invite the parents to attend. While the students were competing, I would meet with parents to debunk a lot of the myths about our industry and educate them on the career paths available.

Also, look at ways that your current employees can help. If you already have young people working for you, have them go to schools and talk to students.

H&D: When you consider what this industry has experienced over the past 25 years, it’s obvious that it’s resilient. It survived 9/11 and the recession in 2008, and the past five years have proven that it’s even pandemic-proof. The collision repair world isn’t going anywhere, so why do you think it’s always been so difficult to convince new people to view it as a viable career path?

MA: A lot of it comes down to our industry being so stressful. If you’re an estimator, you deal with friction with insurance carriers. When you’re in the front office, you’re dealing with customers who may be unhappy. There’s also the instability of overall work volume in a commission-based environment. Sometimes, our culture just isn’t attractive enough. If you were to survey people in the industry and ask them whether they’d want their son or daughter to work in it, they’d likely say no. We need to look inward to see what’s working and what isn’t before we go out and attempt to bring in new employees. What is it we’re not doing to get people into our industry? We need to educate people on the income potential and benefit packages we offer. Also, unlike construction and other trades that require people to work out in the elements, most of our work is done indoors. That’s something else we could do a better job of promoting.

Mike Anderson is an Accredited Automotive Manager (AAM) and the former owner of Wagonwork Collision Centers, two highly acclaimed shops located in Alexandria, VA. He has served as a member of many industry organizations throughout his career, including the WMABA Board of Directors, the Mitchell Advisory Board, the MOTOR Advisory Board, the ASE Test Review Committee, the National Auto Body Council, the Collision Industry Conference and the Society of Collision Repair Specialists. Additionally, he is a past Virginia SkillsUSA chairman, serves as a facilitator for Axalta Coating Systems’ highly recognized Business Council 20 Groups in both the US and Canada and facilitates numerous courses for Axalta Coating Systems’ Educational Series. He currently offers expert industry consulting via his latest venture, Collision Advice (collisionadvice.com).

Want more? Check out the June 2025 issue of Hammer & Dolly!