International Technicians and Trades Initiative

Last month Motor Dealers of Alberta Association President Gerald Wood joined NCDA President and CEO Blair Qualey, and program organizer Todd Bourgon, CEO and Executive Director of the MVRO (Ontario Dealers Assoc.) in Manila, Philippines to see first-hand the initiative to test and recruit quality automotive techs to bring to Canada to help ease the service tech labour shortage here in Canada.

Tech vacancies cost dealers $450-650K a year in unrealized revenue – parts and labour per vacancy. These vacancies have been increasing for the past 15 years with school output unable to meet demand.

Foreign tech recruiting provides a faster solution than a singular home-grown education strategy. Techs from the Temp Foreign Worker program are tied to the place of business they are recruited for the duration of their work permit, thereby eliminating flight risk to their competition for more $ or signing bonuses.

It is essential to test candidates in the Philippines for technical competencies – they are tested by a certified Canadian Trainer on diagnostics and brakes.

Currently, no Canadian recruiters for ASTs are testing with their own people in foreign countries – they claim they test them, but they leave it up to the agency in that country to test them, and fraud is rampant to give their countrymen and opportunities abroad and for the agency to collect its commission.

• The on-the-ground program fails a significant amount of those we test due to a gap in resume claimed skills vs true practical skills. MDA witnessed some examples of this while we were interviewing in Manila.
• Resume-only recruiting puts your dealers at risk of having a candidate arrive in Canada who doesn’t have the skills they claim they do and then get sent home, leaving the dealership waiting another year while the process starts all over again with government contracts.

The MDA is delighted to bring this program to our valued member dealers in Alberta, and we will be sharing details in the coming days on how to get involved.

Meanwhile, to learn more about this international trades program, please contact MDA President Gerald Wood (gwood@mdaalberta.com). More information to be sent soon!