The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas recently published its latest white paper, “The Guide to Apprenticeship,” in conjunction with the Marine Industry Certified Dealership program.
The 21-page digital publication was created to help address one of the most commonly shared pain points of today’s marine dealers — a shortage of qualified technicians. The guide walks through the process — and potential advantages — of growing your own technicians rather than hiring “hard-to-find” veteran techs. The guide provides examples of real-world apprenticeship programs that have led to employees who outperform their peers and deliver increased levels of profitability, while at the same time increasing employee satisfaction and improving the customer experience.
“We were lucky to have a lot of great contributors to this publication, including a number of dealers who were willing to share both how they built their apprenticeship programs as well as the results they’ve seen,” says Mike Davin, MRAA’s Director of Education. “We know that workforce issues remain a top concern for many industry dealers, so it’s encouraging to read about some success stories that have resulted from attracting and developing inexperienced workers into skilled technicians.”
MRAA’s “Guide to Apprenticeship” was designed as supplemental reading for the first quarter course of the 2019 Continuous Certification curriculum, “Develop Your Dealership’s Workforce Outside In,” presented by Jim Million. The online training course introduces the concept of filling in the “gaps” of your workflow by incorporating and training your current employees. For those not enrolled in Continuous Certification, it also serves as a valuable standalone resource for anyone interested in exploring an apprenticeship program.
“Dealers, including those in the Certification program, have told us time and again that finding qualified technicians is a struggle,” says Liz Keener, MRAA’s Certification Manager. “While it’s meant to build off the coaching and mentoring skills Certified dealers learned about in the first quarter of this year, this guide will be an extremely useful tool for any dealer looking to add an apprenticeship program. It walks dealers through the entire process of developing an apprenticeship program, offering an easy-to-implement system.”
MRAA members can login and access the full publication at MRAA.com/guides and non-members can download an excerpt of the guide here. The Guide to Apprenticeship and Quarter One of the MICD Continuous Certification program are available now.
About the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
At the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, we believe that for the marine industry to thrive, the retail organizations that interact with the boaters in their community must thrive. With that in mind, MRAA works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those retailers, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit MRAA.com or contact us at 763-315-8043.
