To get students excited about a career in the auto collision industry, Chester County Technical College High School organized the 2016 Auto Collision Experience on April 13th at their Brandywine campus in Downingtown. The event brought together 22 industry representatives and close to 400 students from 17 technical high schools from across the region for a fun day of career discovery.

The event was created to show the multitude of career paths that are available across all disciplines in the automotive collision industry. Following the example of last year’s successful inaugural event, which featured displays, demonstrations, and question and answer sessions, this year’s also introduced mock interviews with the students.

Representatives from automotive companies interviewed students with predetermined questions and a scoring system. After the interviews, both the instructors and the companies received the scores, giving the instructors an opportunity to see where they can help their students improve. It also provided the companies with a list of future potentially qualified employees.

Jeff Kulp of Kulp Car Rentals could not hide his enthusiasm when talking about the caliber of the students he interviewed noting “They are way better than I was at this age.”

The first ACE event was organized last year in order to combat the shortage of labor and lack of awareness about the numerous available career paths in the growing automotive collision industry. The Collision Repair Education Foundation has called the labor shortage critical, noting that just this year half of the hiring needs of the industry will go unmet, forcing companies to hire first-time workers who have minimal or no training.

“It’s tough to fill entry level positions,” commented Alex Smith of Nationwide. “There’s a lack of young people interested in the automotive industry.”

Check out previous VISTA Today coverage of the Chester County Technical College High School here.