North Dakota collision repair instructor discusses recruitment challenges, education successes

A collision repair program coordinator and instructor at a school recently added to the Collision Engineering Program (CEP) is featured on a Prairie Public podcast to discuss the importance of attracting talent to the industry.

The two-year CEP, launched in 2020, is a classroom and hands-on paid repair shop apprenticeship offered at seven schools across the U.S.

The Aug. 4 episode highlights the most recent school added to the program, North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS).

Jim Erdahl, NDSCS automotive collision repair program coordinator and instructor, discussed the school’s interest in and plans for its participation in the CEP.

“The Collision Engineering Program provides support for our students, so tuition stipends, tool vouchers or toolkits, industry certifications, and personal and professional development,” Erdahl said. “It allows us to align our curriculum with some of the industry-created curriculum out there. A big part of it as well is marketing and recruitment to try and build the collision industry… Part of the drive behind this, and when it started, was the demographics of our industry are upside down. We have more technicians in that 50- to 60-year-old range than we do 18 to 25. A big part of that, I think, is career awareness.

He said when NDSCS heard about the program, the college held four information sessions for local communities, including local collision repair shops.

“We had overwhelming support from our industry when we rolled this out, and part of that is our college has a strong tradition with that type of program in our heavy transportation, ag equipment, [and] diesel equipment,” Erdahl said. “I think we had about 30 shops there.”

“How do people find out about our industry and what it’s all about? Typically, that’s [when] something bad has happened — you’ve been in an accident, you go to the shop; that’s how you get a little bit of education on our industry. Maybe you have a friend, a relative, somebody that’s in the industry, you might learn it that way… The drive is to get those entry-level students in because we’ve got more people retiring and leaving the industry than we have coming in.”

Erdahl added that 85-90% of NDSCS students are traditional, coming out of high school into the program.

“A lot of our students may be coming from a background where they had potentially a mechanical class while they’re in high school,” he said. “A lot of times, the ag courses get into small engines and mechanics and things like that. The rest of the, I think, interest comes from people’s love of cars… how it sounds and drives, and how it looks. We’re a very visual industry, so the cool paint and all those different types of modifications you see now. It’s kind of the type of students [who are] maybe a little bit more on the artsy side sometimes is what attracts students to our industry.”

However, it’s not all about the looks of vehicles; the program relies heavily on teaching emerging vehicle technologies, including ADAS calibration.

“We get into a lot of different facets of the industry when we fix a car,” Erdahl said. “It’s not just fixing a dent and matching the paint. There’s a lot of mechanical components to it. You hit a deer out here on the interstate, you’re going to have heating and cooling issues, suspension issues, some electrical stuff; there’s a lot of different things that happen — restraint systems, safety systems, so our students are very mechanically inclined.

“It’s not that we’re troubleshooting mechanical programs as much as they’ve been damaged and ripped apart, so we need to know how to handle them. We do a lot of welding and different types of welding because these vehicles are put together using different methods of welding at the factory. There’s getting to be a lot more different types of composites, plastics, and different things to deal with. We’re very diverse in what we do.”

He noted that he and his colleagues at NDSCS stay up-to-date on professional development to keep up with evolving vehicle technologies, as well as specialized equipment training.

“We’re constantly learning new things,” Erdahl said. “It’s never-ending. It’s the same way for the students, the technicians, and the industry. You’re constantly learning and keeping up with all those changes, with technology being the big one.”

When asked about new career opportunities in the industry for collision repair students, Erdahl said ADAS calibration is in growing demand.

“I think there’s a lot of pride in this industry,” he said. “If you look at a damaged vehicle and it looks pretty bad and you see what it is, what it takes to repair it to completion, it is highly skilled. The earning potential’s there. There’s just a lot of things that are appealing, I think, to people. I think the biggest thing sometimes is maybe that the misunderstanding, that they don’t understand our industry.”

High schoolers and their parents tend to think of “the dirty, hardworking person” when collision repair is mentioned, Erdahl added.

“It may not seem elegant, it is hard work and you do get dirty, but ]there is] the technical side of it,” he said. “When we have students and parents come through and they start seeing the equipment we have and what we’re doing and what it takes to match the paint on the car and all these different components, they’re pretty shocked about it.”

CEP at NDSCS will begin this month with the fall semester on a five-semester model. Students will be on an eight-week rotation between campus learning and on-the-job learning. To learn more, visit beacollisionengineer.com/North-Dakota-State-College-Of-Science.

Images

Featured image provided by Enterprise Mobility