One of the first times Steve Morrow encountered the collision repair industry was when he worked for a company out of high school and was rear-ended. He was sent to a shop that he liked and eventually "begged" for a job, he says. Morrow then became a technician, and after being a technician for eight years, he and his wife purchased the same business.
Morrow, owner of Capitol Collision Center in Sacramento, Calif., says that at some point in his career he has performed just about every job in the body shop, and would create new positions if his vehicle volume warranted it.
Morrow shares a few steps to creating a new job position in the shop.
Step 1: Identify where the stops are in the repair process.
Wherever the stop occurs in production, even if it is during the intake of customers, make note of the spot, Morrow says. The point of stopping will later become an area of work that the manager will take over to compensate or need to hire and train someone to fit a new role, he says.
Step 2: Describe the purpose of the job and the outcome in the job description.
Morrow says the next step is to write the job description. Write in a description of the type of valuable final product the employee needs to produce. Then he says to write all the duties of the job and the time the duties need to be done.
Step 3: Take time to hire the right person.
Learn to hire the right person for the role, Morrow says. Ask prospective candidates about his or her personal life in the interview in order to gain an idea of whether or not the person is goal-oriented, he says. If a person skirts around a question or becomes defensive when asked about a topic, that is a warning sign the person has baggage in his or her personal life that he or she cannot turn off.
