I-CAR now offers a number of new ways to help shops recruit and train their own apprentices in-house.
Earlier this year, I-CAR said more than 100 shops were already using its I-CAR Academy program, which provides the curriculum for schools or shops to train entry-level technicians in five key areas: collision repair fundamentals, disassembly and reassembly, plastic repair, small dent removal, and refinish prep.
Dara Goroff.
More recently, I-CAR launched a national Registered Apprenticeship Program, which supports shops’ use of the curriculum in a consistent framework recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor.
“We spent the last six months or so working on a structured program so that we can support any repairer in this industry in having their shop become a Department of Labor recognized employer and running an official registered apprentice program,” I-CAR’s Dara Goroff said. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve got 10 employees, it doesn’t matter if you have 3,000 employees, we are here to be able to help you.”
The Department of Labor recognition helps “elevate the training that we can offer our industry, [which in turn] elevates collision repair as a premier skill trade and ultimately attracts new audiences to collision repair,” said Anna Loftus, director of government funding for I-CAR. “This puts us up there with other premiered skill trades that have long been understood as high-paying and stable and all the other things that we all like to be associated with any career pathway that we’re on.”
Participating shops may qualify for state tax incentives or grants aimed at businesses with registered apprenticeship programs.
I-CAR also has incentives to offer, available on a first-come-first-served basis, including a free two-year subscription to I-CAR Academy; tool and personal protective equipment kits for up to three apprentices at a shop location; and mentorship-apprentice cultural matching assessments to help ensure “that the personality style of both the mentor and apprentice will work well together,” Goroff said.
She added that I-CAR has capped the incentive packages for large MSOs to no more than 30 apprentices at any one employer to “make things equitable and fair for smaller employers.”
To qualify, a collision repair business must hold the I-CAR Gold Class designation, and adhere to Department of Labor requirements, which includes offering a progressive wage scale, meaning that apprentices can expect a wage increase every six months if they are meeting expectations. Gold Class shops can click here to set up a time to speak to I-CAR’s Jennifer Gray for assistance with participating in the registered apprenticeship program.
Participation also enables collision repair businesses to post openings for apprentices on the apprenticeship.gov website.
“We have an early adopter shop owner who has seen five times the number of candidate applicants right now, just because he was able to share that his program is part of a Department of Labor apprenticeship,” Goroff said.
She said recruitment into collision repair training programs or shop apprenticeship programs is also a focus of I-CAR’s Collision Careers platform launched in mid-July.
At a recent industry event, Goroff was asked about the possibility of getting someone like TV host Mike Rowe to serve as a spokesperson to help recruit young people into the industry. She said I-CAR met with Rowe recently and he’s “not interested in doing the kind of work he was doing eight years ago.”
But she also noted that, “We also realize that he doesn’t resonate with the young the same way that he resonates with people — I hate to say it — of my age.” Instead, she said I-CAR’s marketing team is working to “get a population of modern-day influencers, who are very present on the social channels, reaching the younger population, utilizing their voice to drive awareness of our industry and the careers within.”
I-CAR is receiving more than $7 million in federal funding over four years to expand the number of registered apprenticeship programs in collision repair.
John Yoswick