Sept. 8, 2017—After a successful career designing and launching the auto body instruction program at Fayetteville Technical Community College, Paul Gage has moved to Central Texas with a goal to continue his 100 percent job placement history.
“My philosophy as an instructor is that if it doesn’t lead to a job, why teach it?” Paul Gage, now ProCare Collision director of training, said. “I want to raise the bar for the quality of individual in the auto body industry and that is why I was honored to accept the opportunity to be the director of training for ProCare Automotive & Collision.”
Headquartered in New Braunfels, Texas, ProCare, which was featured in FenderBender in August, offers state-of-the-art collision services at 15 locations across Texas. As the director of training, Gage will develop and launch two training centers, one in Live Oak and the other in New Braunfels. He will train service writers and estimators on proper repair procedures, leadership roles, and focus on customer’s needs. Classes will also be offered at the training center for insurance agents.
After Gage launched the instruction program at Fayetteville Technical Community College, the first students to graduate from the program had a 100 percent job placement rate, with all of the students receiving at least four job offers. The 100 percent job placement rate continued during Gage’s time in Fayetteville. Additionally, more than 60 percent of Gage’s students served in the military.
“Not everyone has the means to attend a four-year college and there is good money to be made in the trade industry,” Gage said, “The proper training also provides a career path and transition to civilian life for our men and women who served in the military.”
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, employment of auto body technicians is expected to grow five percent from 2014 to 2024.
“We look forward to the expertise that Paul will provide to future auto body repair technicians,” said Vince Brock, co-owner of ProCare Automotive & Collision, said, “ProCare is growing across Texas and we are proud to provide world class training that will result in the best service and collision repair.”
ProCare employs more than 320 people with plans of hiring more people for technicians, estimators, customer service staff, and office staff in the coming months.
