Firms Encouraged to More Actively Recruit Women for Technician Jobs
ATLANTA — When women demonstrate a talent for technical and mechanical jobs, they should be encouraged to pursue careers in the industry, experts at the Technology & Maintenance Council annual meeting said March 6.
The industry is coping with a growing shortage of technicians. Recruiting women, whether as technicians or drivers, would help companies looking to expand, according to a panel discussion focusing on career training.
“[They] are better technicians than men,” said George Arrants, an automotive education consultant. “We should be able to attract women to the industry.”
Brad Aller, with Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC, agreed women often demonstrate having qualities beneficial for excelling in careers in the industry, adding that the notion women would not be adept as technicians is a misconception.
Also, establishing mentoring programs would help women decide to pursue careers in the industry, as companies with such programs are perceived as ideal places to work, the panel added.
Having women in corporate leadership roles also has been linked to benefits to companies’ bottom lines, according to a Peterson Institute for International Economics study in 2016.
“For profitable firms, a move from no female leaders to 30% representation is associated with a 15% increase in the net revenue margin,” the study determined.
The trucking industry will need to recruit nearly 70,000 technicians over the next four years to keep up with growth or to replace people leaving the workforce, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
