Axalta Coating Systems attended the FenderBender Conference recently held in Chicago. Steve Trapp, Axalta’s North America Services Manager, presented a session titled, Recruiting, Hiring and Management, which addressed the growing concern regarding technical and administrative staff shortages and talent poaching in the collision repair industry. Trapp also introduced an apprentice checklist designed to tackle challenges within the recruitment process, new hire orientation, mentorship and employee development.

“The purpose of the checklist is to help body shops and their teams succeed,” said Trapp. “The checklist will serve as a roadmap for businesses and employees alike. For businesses, it provides a set of best practices. For employees, it lists the skills they need to acquire to reach the next step in their careers.”

Trapp leads a working group of industry technicians, administrative staff and vendors tasked with creating a standardized apprentice checklist. The document identifies necessary skills for each role in a shop, the training and coaching required for those roles, and a methodology to assess employees’ improvement. The working group expects to publish the final apprentice checklist in 2017.