Homegrown technicians bolster teams

When Jeremy Reardon was hired as the service adviser at Westside Lexus in Houston about 11 years ago, he soon realized he had to do more than simply repair luxury vehicles.

Reardon, who joined the Lexus dealership after working for Honda for 14 years and was soon promoted to service production manager at Westside, needed a robust number of technicians to staff the service department’s 112 service bays. There were 36 technicians when he started; there are now 61. Of those 61, 42 joined the dealership’s service department by way of Reardon’s recruiting programs that focus on high schools and colleges in the Houston area.

Reardon also was motivated by the overall decline in the number of automotive technicians and the recent retirements of three 30-year technicians at Westside Lexus.

“We were able to bring in students from local high schools and colleges and grow from within,” Reardon said. “They rotate through different positions such as service valet, car wash, parts runner and [business development center] before joining a technician team.”

The dealership service department has 16 four-person technician teams that cover five or six bays; Reardon’s goal is to have 19 teams to fill all 112 bays. Two of Reardon’s team leaders were recruits who started in the car wash. Reardon said recruits benefit the most from answering phones in the business development center.

“Getting them experience in the BDC scheduling appointments and talking to customers brings them closer to the customer for when they rotate onto a technician team where they will be working on vehicles,” he said.

This summer, Reardon competed in Reynolds and Reynolds ‘Automotive Amplifiers Contest and won an award for his recruitment efforts.

Back to school

Reardon attends college fairs at different high schools specifically to meet school administrators, parents and students and to pitch his dealership training initiative. Reardon does not hand out slick brochures and typically relies on word-of-mouth marketing of the Westside Lexus recruitment and training program.

Today he has the luxury of bringing former students, who are technicians at the dealership, to the schools to tell their stories to attendees.

Matthew Martinez is a prime example of a high school student with a love of cars who also loved his high school’s auto shop technology class.

“It was my favorite class and my favorite time of the school day,” he said. “I took auto shop tech in high school hoping to get a job at a dealership or O’Reilly’s [auto parts store] or an opportunity to get into the auto industry.”

Martinez, 24, said he acquired his passion for cars from his father, who is from Detroit, and his uncles.

Martinez was placed into the Westside Lexus training program while still a high school student.

“To get placed into the Westside Lexus training program and to be associated with the brand and jump to Lexus as a kid was great because I had my heart set on Lexus,” Martinez said.

In the world of automotive technicians, Martinez is a standout performer. After six years at the dealership, he recently achieved World Class Master status as an ASE technician. He was the second-youngest technician ever to achieve this designation.

Team spirit

Androw Faltaous’ time at the dealership precedes Reardon’s. He is one of three diagnostic specialists at the dealership. In 2005, he went through a training program called Automotive Youth Specialists at his high school and was hired by Westside Lexus.

He also is a team leader — like Martinez — on one of the 16 four-person teams at the dealership.

Tamara Kasper landed a technician position at Westside Lexus based on her previous experience and did not go through the dealership’s training for students.

Nonetheless, she was exposed to the collegial spirit of the service teams.

“It was a great place to work from an individual and a team perspective,” she recalled. “We would look at a vehicle and everyone would help figure out the best steps to solving a problem. After three months at the dealership, the techs would receive a jacket. I was proud to wear that jacket.”

Today she owns a car and motorcycle repair shop called Six13 Shop. The name of the shop represents the 613 ways people can help other people in Judaism.

One of the ways Kasper helps others is by offering a monthly workshop designed to help female drivers called “Pearls and Pistons.”

Attendees with either motorcycles, cars or trucks are taught how to change a tire on a street or highway, change the oil, charge a battery and jump-start a vehicle.

“If the shop is good enough to sell itself, then we should benefit by word of mouth,” she said. “What I learned from my experience at Westside Lexus gave me a strong base of development.”

Homegrown technicians bolster service department’s workforce

Homegrown technicians at Westside Lexus get experience early

Recruiting programs focus on high schools and colleges in the Houston area

Westside Lexus’ recruiting programs focus on high schools and colleges in the Houston area and have benefited from word-of-mouth advertising.