SATISFY YOUR THIRST FOR MORE
BY DARRYL SIMMONS
This industry has plenty of people that love a good challenge. We all know what great challenges we find in the cars of today—there’s no doubt in the phrase “you learn something new every day!” when you work in collision repair. Alas, not all of these remarkable individuals find themselves in the right places. Some of you find your thirst for knowledge stifled by the day-in and day-out procedures, your brain thirsting for new knowledge and challenges. If you have a superior that wants you on the shop floor at all times, never giving you any chance to up your capabilities and pursue new training options, you are in the wrong place. Worse, even—if they fail to provide training opportunities to anyone on the team…run. Those types of facilities won’t survive much longer in this ever-evolving market.
I know, by the simple fact that you are reading these words right now, that you are capable of much, much more than what you’re doing right now. Even if you feel like you’re at the top of your game, there is always room to upskill. More skills…more money, in many cases. Why wouldn’t you want to seize the opportunity?!
On the flip side, there are countless professional shop owners and managers in our industry that remain dedicated to repairs of the highest standard. This means they are consistently providing training opportunities to their teams; hands-on sessions in modern techniques, ensuring that their teams stay among the most talented in the nation.
There is no shortage of opportunities out there—courses, programs, one-on-one consulting—all available via esteemed training facilities established and equipped by highly acclaimed professional institutions in our space. 3M just opened an impressive training facility in Minnesota—not a far trek for Western Canadians—while Fix Network has three sites dedicated to training across Canada. Volkswagen and the Canadian Welding Bureau teamed up to create the Canadian Collision Repair Academy (CCRA) in the Greater Toronto Area, and there are dozens more industry partners that house training facilities within their headquarters. Not to mention one-on-one opportunities with a long, long list of industry pros… need I go on?
So, if you were not aware, now you are. If you are the employee your boss keeps on the floor, you need not think hard to realize how valuable you are. Good shops can’t afford to lose great talent; so they treat them well. They train them up—unafraid of whether such maneuvers will send them to a “better” role—and make sure they have all they need to be the best they can be. If you want something, a new skill, a new specialty, then ask for it. The worst answer you can get is “no.”
