Tips to attract & hire more women employees: Jody DeVere

By Jody DeVere / CEO / AskPatty.com

What can we do to attract more women to the automotive industry, specifically service and repair shops?

Very few women apply for jobs or seem to be interested in perusing a career in automotive.

In fact most have not given it much consideration and are actually turned off by the proposition of working in a service and repair shops, why?

As a whole the industry has a very low percent of women employed in upper management jobs. This is a result of very low interest by women over the years in the auto industry because very little attention has been paid to attracting women as employees up until now. Why the change now, economic of course.

Women influence 85% of all purchase decisions made in the household. Women purchase 50% of all new cars, 45% of all light trucks and SUVs sold in the US are purchased by women. Women request 65% – 73% of the service work done at service and repair shops and Women spend over $200 billion on new cars and mechanical servicing of vehicles each year. That is a pretty good economic reason to want women working at your dealership.

So how do service and repair shops make the changes needed to attract more women?  First let’s start by making the commitment create a culture that is inviting to women. What does this mean?  One example, Women don’t want to be the lone female in a work environment seeing there are at least one or two other women around is extremely encouraging. Keep this in mind when you are preparing a plan to bring more women to your organization. Making a plan to recruit two or more women at a time for employment is a good practice. Currently within your organizations are there women you can move into non traditional roles? Doing this encourages other women to apply for employment.

Re- Define the Job Descriptions, What Do Job Descriptions Really Say about your culture? Job descriptions play a critical role in recruiting female talent and often provide the first impression of your company. Let’s try to: AVOID EXTREME MODIFIERS Using words like “Best of the Best,” Top Producers” “Strong Closers” or “world-class,”  Research shows that these kinds of terms tend to prevent women from applying.

Remember women tend to feel the have to be 100% qualified and confident to apply.

Be sure your job descriptions incorporate words and ideas to describe a culture that embraces women candidates. Changing a few words can make a huge difference: Research has shown that the following words have a masculine denotation. Dominant, Boasting, Determined, Lead, Challenging, Competition, Superior, Decisive, Independently, Competitive. Research has identified the following words as feminine. Committed, Connected, Cooperative, Dependable, Interpersonal, Loyal Responsible, Supportive, Trust, Considerate,

Make sure job descriptions have a mix of both.

Changing a culture is no easy task and to accomplish this task it takes commitment and the vision to see it through. A good leader will understand the company culture is the foundation on which the organization is built and the better the foundation the stronger the business and the greater ability to grow.

According to Cumulative Gallup Workplace Studies When you have an Inclusive Culture Recruiting improves and turnover decreases in workplaces. Organizations with inclusive cultures score higher on employee retention and companies with more diverse teams have a 22 percent lower turnover. The same study also found that organizations known for fostering diversity have an a tremendous advantage in today’s competitive hiring environment.

To find out more about the path to creating a winning culture to attract and hire more women as employees visit our web site at www.askpatty.com

Jody DeVere, CEO of AskPatty.com, is an authority on marketing to women, as well as an automotive journalist, car-care expert and safety spokesperson for the industry. You can reach her at jdevere@askpatty.com.