How to Get a Job in the Auto Industry!
So, you like cars so much, you want to make your career in it, Well, you came to the right place. Here you have a degree or no experience at all, everything from working in lube shops, the aftermarket, service centres, racing, sales, even media.
If you want to go for a big manufacturer as a designer, engineer, or in their marketing division or whatever, pretty much have to go to college, but we'll talk about that later. There are a lot of possibilities to get into the industry that doesn't require formal education, but first, let's talk about the mindset you need to have. Think that you are searching job in the auto industry. Here that's too broad and won't go help you get focused. You can think of it as finding a job you'd want anyway happens to be centered around cars. Once you decide on what kind of work you want to be doing, you got to have a plan or at least a goal in mind. It's done if you don't have an entire timeline laid out. We don't really either, but if you don't at least have a good idea of where you want to end up, you run the risk of falling into a rut with your job you don't really love.
Here are given 15 common careers in the automotive industry:
- Car detailer
- Car rental agent
- Tire technician
- Vehicle inspector
- Auto instructor
- The auto body repair technician
- Auto mechanic
- Auto electrician
- Tow truck driver
- Car salesperson
- Auto sales manager
- Auto engineer
- Process engineer
- Auto designer
- Quality testing engineer
Entry-Level Job:
So let's talk about a great first step for someone who wants to work with cars and who has no experience or college education. Oils and tire sectors, we see changing the oil and installing tires might not be the most gorgeous gig in the world, but you don't have to do it forever. These are entry-level jobs. Think of them as your going education on how to work and attitude in a shop environment, which is a valuable experience. In these businesses, they have no problem hiring people with limited skills, even if you're a teenager. If you go around in a lube shop or tire shop, you might be able to work your way up to a manager or you can put your experience on a CV for a new job in say, the aftermarket. You don't want to work with oil or tires, there are plenty of entry-level jobs in the automotive aftermarket.
Working Place and Procedures:
Now, just because you are not in the product planning or making sales doesn't mean that working in the warehouse is a bad place to get your foot in the good future. You're going to be packing boxes, moving pallets around, taking inventory, maybe making some shipping labels, and gaining significant forearm strength. You're also going to be learning perhaps the most valuable knowledge of knowing how the company operates and integrating into that company culture. From the warehouse position, you can probably work your way into the sales department, where you can focus on either retail or wholesale, selling directly to customers versus selling to other businesses. This cool thing about sales is that you don't need specialised technical training.
Behaviour with the environment in Job-place:
You just need to be good with people, and if you show interest in that sort of work, your employer will probably train you in it. You can think you have good ideas for products, and your employer does too. It is likely they'll show you how to develop those skills if you're interested, you have the drive to learn. If you are liking these jobs so far, how about you do the job.
Let's go on to a more obvious way to work around cars, working at a dealership. The most well-known car job with a mechanic is probably a car salesman, but there are plenty of jobs at a dealership that requires little experience and that you probably didn't know you could get paid to do. You could work in a dealership answering phones for their business development center. You can do a job in the back office handling DMV paperwork. Little dealerships are so big that they need someone just to move cars around the lot and shuttle customers around town. They usually call this position a porter. Try to work in dealership finance, but that does take a bit of previous experience. So what if you actually want to work and inventory, you can get your foot in the door detailing of the cars, making them all nice and shiny before they leave the lot.
If you are handy with a camera and have a portfolio to prove it, you can work in a dealership's photography department. Many luxury car dealers need one to shoot cars in their onsite studios because their inventory is constantly shifting. Then, of course, there are car sales itself, which does require experience. Some places require a license to become a car sales representative, but the dealership would probably help you get that and train you for the job if you already work for it, but what if you want to work on cars? You need to get into the service center. Here, you will be doing regular maintenance on customer cars or work your way up to serious repairs like replacing drivetrain components.
Several Related Jobs:
Entry-level jobs at service centers include lube and tire tech positions we discussed earlier, but there is room for growth. Now you can become a mechanic just by working on stuff, but dealerships have really value something called ASE certification. The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, or ASE, is a nonprofit org that tests and certifies automotive technicians so you know that they know what they're doing to your car when it's in the shop. You do not technically need to be ASE certified to be a mechanic but it's really good to have it. Shops and dealerships only need one ASE technician for putting up an ASE plaque, but the more the better. The dealerships will train you and pay for your ASE certification because it's in their best interest to do so. Even the more people they are certified, the better it looks. The cool thing about dealerships in my eyes the business if you dedicate yourself to the work. It is totally possible to go from driving customer shuttles to a high position in the very service department. Someone stated that 'I had another friend who went from taking pictures to becoming a salesman. It is really on you to get after the job that you want. So what if you want to build cars like, learn how to work with metal, and learn how to wire up an electrical system, build some engines, and show some artistry.'
It's not like if you get a degree in hot rodding, right? In some experience, there are the kinds of businesses you have to approach in person and flat out ask if you can work there. Behaviour is more important than skill when you're first starting out.
Selected Jobs:
Let's talk about racing jobs. It is possible to get paid for the racing, just probably not how you expect. Short of top-tier series like Formula 1, the NASCAR Cup Series, and Indy Car, not a lot of drivers get paid to drive. In fact, a much amount of drivers pay to drive. Still, you can have a great career in racing. Here you are already versed in a trade like welding or machining, which does make it easier to get in the door at a race team, and I'm talking like a pro-level race team like NASCAR. You don't have the skills though, you can still get in. You happen to be a college athlete seeing this, a NASCAR or Indy team is looking for your talents. Most of the pit crews in the NASCAR cup series are former college athletes, and if you get recruited to a Cup team, that's a full-time paid job.
You can still get paid to on a pit crew, but if you're not at the Cup series, if you're working on Xfinity or Truck or ARCA series, like, you're moving around a lot getting a lot of gigs, all right. Once you get to the Cup series, that is when it's like, okay, you're on the team. That's a full-time, boom, you're in. Don't be afraid to approach a group and ask if there's anything you can do to help. They're probably not gonna announce any job posting. Just go to a team and try to introduce yourself. These teams do have positions that are like internships or apprenticeships where you're going to be doing odd jobs around the facility like sweeping, taking vinyl off a race car, or helping organize the office. The very cool thing about some racing organizations is that you don't necessarily need to know a lot about racing to work for a team. Racing is about strategy and skill on the track, groups are always looking for new ideas to help optimize their organization.
NASCAR is famous for hiring people outside the sport to keep it fresh and maintain its relevance. Once you are in an organization, cultivate a circle of people that can begin to trust you and your abilities. Don't be afraid to ask any questions and ask if you can try something out. Might be good at it, you might not, but at least you showed initiative, then which race teams value immensely. Like many of the other jobs we have talked about, there's no textbook for this career. A ton of learning is hands-on and which brings me to my next job. We will tell you what our creative instructor Jesse told us because he's been in this game for a while. 'The direct way to make money shooting car content is to shoot for brands as a freelancer, but unlike some of the other paths I've talked about so far, this one's gonna take a lot of persistence and doing works for free.'
Apprenticeship & Learning:
You learn how to work around constraints. Once you have mastered the basics with your phone or a GoPro, then move up to a dedicated camera like a DSLR, preferably used because you don't need the best stuff. You're still learning. You can also totally teach yourself how to do this. It is time to shoot some car stuff. You're going to have to go to where the cars are at. Go to tracks then go to meets and wherever, but don't go in without a plan. For the work to get good, you need to have a vision for what you're trying to make before you even start shooting. It can also evolve on location but have that game plan. Otherwise, what are you going to edit? Oh, also learn to edit. When you're just starting out, you're going to be shooting a lot of stuff for free. This is a period of building your great portfolio. Think of it as an apprenticeship and that you're paying yourself for.
Another thing, you got to watch and a lot of stuff, but not passively. Pay attention to what makes content good and why people are like to watching it. Do you want to get paid for your work, you need to understand what makes something appealing to a wider audience. We are not making stuff just because we like it. We want to make stuff that other people will like and in the case of being a freelance shooter, you're making something that a brand will like, and then write you a check for it. See what if you actually want to design cars? In most of the jobs I've talked about so far, becoming an engineer does require formal education.
Working Manarism and Taking decisions:
Try to find a school that has a formula SAE team. Formula SAE is where college kids get to design, build and race their own race cars. Formula SAE competitions are very regularly scouted by recruiters from the automotive industry. Here that is a great place to make an impression and also just gain a lot of experience designing a car, but it's not the only way. David Tracy wrote a really great story on how eight different engineers got their start in the industry. I will link it down in the new description right now. The common thread in every story is that they all are studied super hard in college and got any internships they could in the industry. They might not have landed in their dream job right away, but internships allow you to integrate yourself into the company culture and find out how things really work in the office. Another key to breaking into the biz doesn't just apply to working in an OEM, but many and many other industries, and that is being persistent. The truth is, there's no predetermined way to your dream job, and the journey is different for everybody. You're going to have to feel some things out on your own, but something we all possess is the ability to keep on trying until you get there.
You might not have the good skills right now to do what you want to do, but that doesn't mean that you never will. You've got to write some emails, call some people up, knock on some doors and an opportunity will present itself eventually. It pays to be professionally persistent. Don't overdo it, don't be annoying. Certainly please don't harass a potential employer because that's bad, but do remind people of your existence and something should happen, but maybe the most important thing to keep in mind is to find a job and where you can go home happy on a regular basis because that's worth a lot more than a fancy job title. So whatever it is you want to do and we sincerely believe in you. If this sounds like someone that you know, encourage them to submit to be a host. You can watch more things about it from the YouTube video given below.
Conclusion
So, you like cars so much, you want to make your career in it, Well, you came to the right place. Here you have a degree or no experience at all, everything from working in lube shops, the aftermarket, service centres, racing, sales, even media.
If you want to go for a big manufacturer as a designer, engineer, or in their marketing division or whatever, pretty much have to go to college, but we'll talk about that later. There are a lot of possibilities to get into the industry that doesn't require formal education, but first, let's talk about the mindset you need to have. Think that you are searching job in the auto industry. Here that's too broad and won't go help you get focused. You can think of it as finding a job you'd want anyway happens to be centered around cars. Once you decide on what kind of work you want to be doing, you got to have a plan or at least a goal in mind. It's done if you don't have an entire timeline laid out. We don't really either, but if you don't at least have a good idea of where you want to end up, you run the risk of falling into a rut with your job you don't really love.
Here are given 15 common careers in the automotive industry:
- Car detailer
- Car rental agent
- Tire technician
- Vehicle inspector
- Auto instructor
- The auto body repair technician
- Auto mechanic
- Auto electrician
- Tow truck driver
- Car salesperson
- Auto sales manager
- Auto engineer
- Process engineer
- Auto designer
- Quality testing engineer
Entry-Level Job:
So let's talk about a great first step for someone who wants to work with cars and who has no experience or college education. Oils and tire sectors, we see changing the oil and installing tires might not be the most gorgeous gig in the world, but you don't have to do it forever. These are entry-level jobs. Think of them as your going education on how to work and attitude in a shop environment, which is a valuable experience. In these businesses, they have no problem hiring people with limited skills, even if you're a teenager. If you go around in a lube shop or tire shop, you might be able to work your way up to a manager or you can put your experience on a CV for a new job in say, the aftermarket. You don't want to work with oil or tires, there are plenty of entry-level jobs in the automotive aftermarket.
Working Place and Procedures:
Now, just because you are not in the product planning or making sales doesn't mean that working in the warehouse is a bad place to get your foot in the good future. You're going to be packing boxes, moving pallets around, taking inventory, maybe making some shipping labels, and gaining significant forearm strength. You're also going to be learning perhaps the most valuable knowledge of knowing how the company operates and integrating into that company culture. From the warehouse position, you can probably work your way into the sales department, where you can focus on either retail or wholesale, selling directly to customers versus selling to other businesses. This cool thing about sales is that you don't need specialised technical training.
Behaviour with the environment in Job-place:
You just need to be good with people, and if you show interest in that sort of work, your employer will probably train you in it. You can think you have good ideas for products, and your employer does too. It is likely they'll show you how to develop those skills if you're interested, you have the drive to learn. If you are liking these jobs so far, how about you do the job.
Let's go on to a more obvious way to work around cars, working at a dealership. The most well-known car job with a mechanic is probably a car salesman, but there are plenty of jobs at a dealership that requires little experience and that you probably didn't know you could get paid to do. You could work in a dealership answering phones for their business development center. You can do a job in the back office handling DMV paperwork. Little dealerships are so big that they need someone just to move cars around the lot and shuttle customers around town. They usually call this position a porter. Try to work in dealership finance, but that does take a bit of previous experience. So what if you actually want to work and inventory, you can get your foot in the door detailing of the cars, making them all nice and shiny before they leave the lot.
If you are handy with a camera and have a portfolio to prove it, you can work in a dealership's photography department. Many luxury car dealers need one to shoot cars in their onsite studios because their inventory is constantly shifting. Then, of course, there are car sales itself, which does require experience. Some places require a license to become a car sales representative, but the dealership would probably help you get that and train you for the job if you already work for it, but what if you want to work on cars? You need to get into the service center. Here, you will be doing regular maintenance on customer cars or work your way up to serious repairs like replacing drivetrain components.
Several Related Jobs:
Entry-level jobs at service centers include lube and tire tech positions we discussed earlier, but there is room for growth. Now you can become a mechanic just by working on stuff, but dealerships have really value something called ASE certification. The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, or ASE, is a nonprofit org that tests and certifies automotive technicians so you know that they know what they're doing to your car when it's in the shop. You do not technically need to be ASE certified to be a mechanic but it's really good to have it. Shops and dealerships only need one ASE technician for putting up an ASE plaque, but the more the better. The dealerships will train you and pay for your ASE certification because it's in their best interest to do so. Even the more people they are certified, the better it looks. The cool thing about dealerships in my eyes the business if you dedicate yourself to the work. It is totally possible to go from driving customer shuttles to a high position in the very service department. Someone stated that 'I had another friend who went from taking pictures to becoming a salesman. It is really on you to get after the job that you want. So what if you want to build cars like, learn how to work with metal, and learn how to wire up an electrical system, build some engines, and show some artistry.'
It's not like if you get a degree in hot rodding, right? In some experience, there are the kinds of businesses you have to approach in person and flat out ask if you can work there. Behaviour is more important than skill when you're first starting out.
Selected Jobs:
Let's talk about racing jobs. It is possible to get paid for the racing, just probably not how you expect. Short of top-tier series like Formula 1, the NASCAR Cup Series, and Indy Car, not a lot of drivers get paid to drive. In fact, a much amount of drivers pay to drive. Still, you can have a great career in racing. Here you are already versed in a trade like welding or machining, which does make it easier to get in the door at a race team, and I'm talking like a pro-level race team like NASCAR. You don't have the skills though, you can still get in. You happen to be a college athlete seeing this, a NASCAR or Indy team is looking for your talents. Most of the pit crews in the NASCAR cup series are former college athletes, and if you get recruited to a Cup team, that's a full-time paid job.
You can still get paid to on a pit crew, but if you're not at the Cup series, if you're working on Xfinity or Truck or ARCA series, like, you're moving around a lot getting a lot of gigs, all right. Once you get to the Cup series, that is when it's like, okay, you're on the team. That's a full-time, boom, you're in. Don't be afraid to approach a group and ask if there's anything you can do to help. They're probably not gonna announce any job posting. Just go to a team and try to introduce yourself. These teams do have positions that are like internships or apprenticeships where you're going to be doing odd jobs around the facility like sweeping, taking vinyl off a race car, or helping organize the office. The very cool thing about some racing organizations is that you don't necessarily need to know a lot about racing to work for a team. Racing is about strategy and skill on the track, groups are always looking for new ideas to help optimize their organization.
NASCAR is famous for hiring people outside the sport to keep it fresh and maintain its relevance. Once you are in an organization, cultivate a circle of people that can begin to trust you and your abilities. Don't be afraid to ask any questions and ask if you can try something out. Might be good at it, you might not, but at least you showed initiative, then which race teams value immensely. Like many of the other jobs we have talked about, there's no textbook for this career. A ton of learning is hands-on and which brings me to my next job. We will tell you what our creative instructor Jesse told us because he's been in this game for a while. 'The direct way to make money shooting car content is to shoot for brands as a freelancer, but unlike some of the other paths I've talked about so far, this one's gonna take a lot of persistence and doing works for free.'
Apprenticeship & Learning:
You learn how to work around constraints. Once you have mastered the basics with your phone or a GoPro, then move up to a dedicated camera like a DSLR, preferably used because you don't need the best stuff. You're still learning. You can also totally teach yourself how to do this. It is time to shoot some car stuff. You're going to have to go to where the cars are at. Go to tracks then go to meets and wherever, but don't go in without a plan. For the work to get good, you need to have a vision for what you're trying to make before you even start shooting. It can also evolve on location but have that game plan. Otherwise, what are you going to edit? Oh, also learn to edit. When you're just starting out, you're going to be shooting a lot of stuff for free. This is a period of building your great portfolio. Think of it as an apprenticeship and that you're paying yourself for.
Another thing, you got to watch and a lot of stuff, but not passively. Pay attention to what makes content good and why people are like to watching it. Do you want to get paid for your work, you need to understand what makes something appealing to a wider audience. We are not making stuff just because we like it. We want to make stuff that other people will like and in the case of being a freelance shooter, you're making something that a brand will like, and then write you a check for it. See what if you actually want to design cars? In most of the jobs I've talked about so far, becoming an engineer does require formal education.
Working Manarism and Taking decisions:
Try to find a school that has a formula SAE team. Formula SAE is where college kids get to design, build and race their own race cars. Formula SAE competitions are very regularly scouted by recruiters from the automotive industry. Here that is a great place to make an impression and also just gain a lot of experience designing a car, but it's not the only way. David Tracy wrote a really great story on how eight different engineers got their start in the industry. I will link it down in the new description right now. The common thread in every story is that they all are studied super hard in college and got any internships they could in the industry. They might not have landed in their dream job right away, but internships allow you to integrate yourself into the company culture and find out how things really work in the office. Another key to breaking into the biz doesn't just apply to working in an OEM, but many and many other industries, and that is being persistent. The truth is, there's no predetermined way to your dream job, and the journey is different for everybody. You're going to have to feel some things out on your own, but something we all possess is the ability to keep on trying until you get there.
You might not have the good skills right now to do what you want to do, but that doesn't mean that you never will. You've got to write some emails, call some people up, knock on some doors and an opportunity will present itself eventually. It pays to be professionally persistent. Don't overdo it, don't be annoying. Certainly please don't harass a potential employer because that's bad, but do remind people of your existence and something should happen, but maybe the most important thing to keep in mind is to find a job and where you can go home happy on a regular basis because that's worth a lot more than a fancy job title. So whatever it is you want to do and we sincerely believe in you. If this sounds like someone that you know, encourage them to submit to be a host. You can watch more things about it from the YouTube video given below.
