Posts by Jo Rosenberger
Why Auto Shops Lose Technicians (and What Hiring Alone Won’t Fix)
Last updated: October 19, 2026 · Auto shops lose technicians mostly for reasons inside the shop: an unpredictable flat-rate board, a bad work mix, a service manager techs don’t trust, missing equipment, no training path and schedules that eat Saturdays. Recruiting adds a second layer: the wrong skill level, slow hiring, an oversold job and…
Read MoreHow to Choose an Automotive Recruitment Service for Multi-Location Shops (2026)
Last updated: October 6, 2026 · Promotive wrote this guide and is one of the options listed. To choose an automotive recruitment service for a multi-location shop, start with two questions: who finds and screens your techs, and can you see hiring by location? Recruiters source and screen for you. Hiring software gives your managers…
Read MoreHow to Vet Auto Technicians: The Complete Guide to Skills, Certs and Shop Fit
Last updated: October 11, 2026. To vet auto technicians, check three things in order: the skills they can prove, the certifications they actually hold, and their fit with your pay plan, schedule and culture. Screen the resume, run a short prescreen call, verify ASE credentials, and test diagnostic skills. Then call the managers who supervised…
Read MoreLosing Techs Before The Interview
Independent auto shops are losing techs before the interview because of slow responses, confusing job posts, and complicated applications, not because technicians found better jobs. Most shop owners think the hiring battle happens during the interview. It actually happens in the 24 to 48 hours after a technician hits “apply,” and right now most of…
Read MoreHow to Hire Qualified Automotive Technicians in 2026 (Step-by-Step)
If you’re trying to hire qualified automotive technicians right now, here’s the short version: know your local pay range before you post, understand market conditions, write a skills based job description, source candidates directly instead of relying just on job boards, vet with a hands on skills check, and move fast once you find someone.…
Read MoreSpeed to Hire Automotive Technicians: Why the First Shop to Call Wins
When it comes to speed to hire automotive technicians, the first shop to respond usually wins. Most independent shops don’t lose techs to better pay. They lose them to slower follow-up. Why does speed to hire matter for auto shops? Good technicians rarely apply to just one shop. They apply to several at once, and…
Read MoreWhy Automotive Technicians Don’t Apply to Your Shop
5 reasons why automotive technicians don’t apply to independent shops Understanding why automotive technicians don’t apply to your shop is the first step to fixing it. The best tech in your market probably saw your listing last week. They didn’t apply — and odds are it wasn’t the pay. It wasn’t even the listing itself.…
Read MoreThe Best Automotive Technician Recruitment Service for Independent Repair Shops
You’re not looking for a warm body. You’re looking for an A-tech or B-tech, fits your shop culture, and isn’t going to bail in 90 days. That’s a specific hire, and most recruitment services aren’t set up for it. Here’s what independent shop owners actually need to know. Why most automotive recruitment services don’t work…
Read More4 Auto Repair Technician Retention Lessons from Shop Hackers 2026
Shop Hackers 2026 ran August 7-10. If there was a theme running under every session, it wasn’t tools, tech, or the next shiny piece of shop software. It was accountability: of yourself, of your team, and of the numbers you’re actually running your business on. Four moments from the floor stuck with us. Every one…
Read MoreAuto Repair Shop Management Mistakes That Cost One Owner $40K a Month
The most useful session at Shop Hackers 2026 didn’t open with a framework or a slide about mindset. It opened with a shop owner walking the room through his own auto repair shop management mistakes: the specific, dollar-for-dollar cost of each one, and the four unglamorous fixes that turned his numbers around. No new equipment.…
Read MoreBest Time to Hire Automotive Technicians
(Hint: It’s Not When You’re Desperate) Most shops decide to hire automotive technicians the moment they feel the pinch — a tech quits, a bay sits empty, the schedule backs up. So the job post goes live that same week, right when the shop needs someone most. There’s a problem with that instinct: it’s exactly…
Read MoreYo Shop Owners — Here’s Why You Can’t Hire (the Right) People
Alright y’all. Here we are, three full years into running Promotive, a 100% independent automotive repair shop recruiting agency… or for lack of a better term, head-hunters. We have placed nearly 1,000 candidates and have worked with several hundred shops and ran discovery calls (initial appointments) with over 1,000. We only work with shops we…
Read More