How to get ahead in the motor industry

More and more people are considering a career in the motor industry. The sector employs nearly half a million people across 65,000 businesses in the UK, covering a range of careers from technical to management positions. BMW apprentice Mark Mace is one such person.

Mark is currently completing his second apprenticeship at BMW Ocean Plymouth, where he has worked for seven years. He says he was at first unsure of his career choice:

“When I left school I never really knew what profession I wanted to do. So I tried a few different things: painting and decorating, retail (working at Marks & Spencer) and Royal Mail; I also worked in an independent non-franchise motorcycle garage. Working in the motorcycle garage gave me a taste for engines, technology and how things work.”

Mark then decided to apply to several manufacturers online, among them BMW, a process which involved online aptitude tests. As part of the application process, he was asked to name his top three career choices. He initially did not have the necessary qualifications for his first choice of Service and Technical, but was accepted as an apprentice on the Parts programme.

Taking an apprenticeship after school like Mark’s is one way to gain a start in the industry. There are several options for this; you can apply post-GCSEs, or, if you have studied up to a level three motor vehicle training qualification, opt for a Higher Level apprenticeship to go straight into management or As soon as a vacancy came up at the nearest dealer to Mark, Ocean, he was contacted to see if he would be willing to come in for an interview-which he did, and got the job.

supervisory roles. Usually you will need GCSEs in English, Maths, ICT and Science, and for big name brands such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jaguar or Honda, you will generally need an A*-C grade.

Mark feels his apprenticeship prepared him well for his later career path:

“The Parts apprenticeship programme gave me all the necessary brand knowledge and customer handling skills I needed. It also gave me the opportunity to re-take Maths, English and I.T. in the form of key skills.”

However, Mark had always felt more attracted to the technical side of the industry, and so after completing the two-year apprenticeship and working with the company for several years, he realised he had a difficult choice to make:

“Within the three years after my first apprenticeship I decided I wanted to retrain, although it meant taking a severe pay cut back to apprentice wages. I spoke to my Service Manager and with a glowing reference from the Parts Manager they agreed for me to retrain as a BMW technician.”

At BMW, the Service apprenticeship focuses more on theoretical as well as practical aspects of the job; it is also a year longer and involves two weeks of training at the manufacturer’s academy every three months. At the moment, Mark is in the final year of his Service apprenticeship and is due to complete it in the middle of next year.

Apprenticeships like Mark’s can be performed either through the training academies of specific manufacturers, through a college or through private training companies such as Remit or Babcock. Time will usually be divided between study and practical work for an employer. Manufacturer training academies usually intersperse ‘block weeks’ of study, where you stay near the academy, with weeks where you work at a dealership nearer to home.

There are also routes into the industry through university. Companies such as Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Nissan UK, Honda UK, Red Bull racing, Unipart and Volkswagen Commercial offer graduate schemes and internships.

Despite his difficulties along the way, today Mark is happy with the choices he has made and is looking forward to his future in the motor industry:

“I still very much enjoy all aspects of my job role, especially diagnosing and rectifying faults. I am always learning, bettering myself to become the best I can. I still to this day feel proud to work for a company such as BMW. Where do I see myself in the next 5-10 years? Well, hopefully Senior Technician or maybe even Master Technician status.

“My advice to anyone looking to pursue a career in the motor trade is to study hard at school and achieve the grades required. The way I entered the motor trade was the hard way and I have worked very hard and made big sacrifices to get to where I am now.”

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