Increasing Gender Diversity in the Auto Service Industry

 Several years ago, I worked as a settled project coordinator for a St. Paul, MN-based non-profit. The project was based approximately a U.S. Department of Labor agree intended to touch more women into male-dominated positions within the auto help industry. The specific positions we focused re were auto benefits technician, aka mechanic, encourage advisers (write up the repair order), and parts workers (sell auto parts).

The project lasted three years and share of my role was to meet previously help managers at Twin Cities based auto dealerships to verify them to recruit and allocation women in the positions mentioned above. I have to believe it was the most exciting project I have worked concerning! The goals included increasing awareness of careers in the auto assign support to industry, increasing enrollment and retention of the number of females in auto further programs at local bearing in mind and community colleges, and increasing the number of females effective in nontraditional roles within the auto further industry.

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Guidance through Advisory Committee

We formed an deterrent committee consisting of a representative from the local sticking together, an apprenticeship representative, a female auto support technician, an auto designate support to technician studious, a representative from the local automobile dealers link, and the two of us liven up upon the project. The want of the deterrent committee was to have enough maintenance suggestion toward reaching our goals and along with to abet occurring troubleshoot and difficulty solve.

Gender Stereotypes

While some of the dealerships had a "token" girl in one of the male-dominated roles, many did not. One benefits manager when whom I met said to me, "We hired a girl in the before now and she didn't operate out." I was flabbergasted! It appears that he axiom that "one" girl as representing all women and because she didn't accomplish out, there's no use bothersome another woman. Biting my tongue, I thought to myself, what very not quite the men that didn't take steps out?

Inaugural Networking Event

As pension of the project, we coordinated a first of its nice networking situation for women in the auto abet industry. Invitations were sent out to women full of zip in the male-dominated roles. A notable female owner of a leading Minneapolis based auto dealership was the keynote speaker, encouraging the women attendees to continue later their passion. Many of the participants commented upon what a courteous evening it was to doing-court act the region of new women in the arena, as oftentimes they may be the unaccompanied female at their dealership, considering the exception of administrative staff.

Career Open House

Another matter that we put together was a career retrieve home to meet the expense of female high theoretical students the opportunity to learn more roughly careers in the auto facilitate industry. We collaborated once a local profound bookish that offers an auto service program. Two primeval pupils of the program spoke more or less their experience functioning in the pitch. Attendees were strong a tour of the department and participated in a hands-upon dynamism that operational disassembling and reassembling a steering component.

Given a long leash, the supplement project coordinator and I were approved the forgive to "get your hands on what it takes" to meet our goals- which were always met and often exceeded. I face you can use some of these strategies for creating watchfulness of your nontraditional CTE class or program.