ABM Q4 - Flipbook - Page 30
OPI N I O N
RETAIL
Consider upskilling workers
W
hen we collectively talk
about the aftermarket’s
skills challenge,
how often do we
consider the career
opportunities available
to the experienced
people already working
within it?
Much of the conversation focuses on
attracting and training young people,
bringing new skills into the sector and
competing with other industries for
talent. But attracting people is only part
of the picture.
This is not to suggest the aftermarket
is not creating opportunities for its
people; rather, it is about asking whether
those opportunities, and the people
ready for them, are always visible.
At Glen Callum Associates (GCA), our
own recruitment data highlights just how
significant this has become. In 2024, 71%
of our hires came through headhunting
and search, compared with 29% through
advertising. In other words, for many
experienced professionals, their next
career opportunity may find them before
they actively go looking for it.
Every day at GCA, we speak to sales
managers ready for director roles,
product managers looking for bigger
challenges, national account managers
considering their next move, and
senior leaders who would move for the
right opportunity.
Of course, progression does not always
mean changing employer.
Where businesses can offer
development, greater responsibility
and a clear career path, retaining good
people should be a key objective. But the
next step is not always available within
someone’s current organisation.
Experienced professionals tell us they
value the relationships, knowledge and
experience they have built within the
sector; they are ready for their next
opportunity, and they want to stay in
the aftermarket.
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AUTOMOTIVE BUSINESS
Q4 2026
So, when experienced people are ready
for their next challenge, how do we make
sure their next move stays within the
aftermarket, rather than taking their
expertise elsewhere?
Finding talent
As AI increasingly influences how
candidates are identified and matched
to opportunities, we also need to think
about how we retain and progress the
experienced people already here.
Being visible to employers and
recruiters can matter just as much as
actively applying for a role.
Yet some of the strongest aftermarket
professionals we speak to are
surprisingly difficult to identify from their
CV or LinkedIn profile. Not because they
lack experience, but because they have
not made that experience clear.
As AI increasingly influences how
candidates are searched, matched and
shortlisted, someone can have 15 or 20
years of valuable aftermarket knowledge
and yet appear digitally to be little
more than a general sales, product or
commercial professional.
Why this matters
This industry is full of people with
highly transferable skills: commercial
leadership, distribution knowledge,
product expertise, technical sales, supply
chain experience and longstanding
customer relationships.
But those skills are valuable well
beyond automotive. Aftermarket
professionals are regularly approached
about opportunities in industrial,
engineering, FMCG and adjacent sectors.
A vague CV can unintentionally turn
someone with 15 years of specialist
aftermarket knowledge into ‘general
commercial talent’ and make them more
visible to competing sectors than to
businesses within our own industry.
Good people will always have options.
If experienced aftermarket professionals
can see clearer progression opportunities
