by Tim Howard

Created on: May 03, 2008

I grew up in an automotive family. We owned a full facility service station. During the twenty five years I spent there I learned towing, gas pump and car wash repair, customer service, and many other administrative duties. I also became an ASE Master Certified technician. However, I was not prepared for a life outside when we sold the business. Here I was facing middle age with no job and clueless on how to proceed. Fortunately qualified mechanics can usually find decent paying jobs quickly. I soon found work as a reconditioning tech for a major national chain of used car outlets.

I was grateful for my new job. The pay was OK and the benefits were great. It did have two drawbacks though. First it was on the overnight shift and second it was flat rate. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this form of compensation, it is very common in the repair field. Basically it means that the technician gets paid hourly, but instead of clock hours, pay is based on hours of work produced. Depending on circumstances, this can either be very lucrative or sometimes disastrous. After a few months on the job, I knew that this was not going to be my lifelong career.

Repair work can be very physical and is particularly hard on knees and backs. Though I was still healthy, my forty-something body began telling me to find a job using my head instead of my hands. I had some college in my past but had never completed a degree. While working overnights I began taking classes on line. At the same time I began to explore other career options. I wanted to parlay my experience and background into a less physically demanding job.

This is when I started to see what options were available to me. The easiest transition for a technician is to service adviser or service writer. This is the guy that you talk to when you drop your car for service. A service adviser works in close proximity to the shop and must be able to communicate with both technicians and customers. Additionally the adviser must also be able to sell. Another option in this vein is shop manager or foreman. This may be at a chain store or independent repair facility. Managerial positions require the aforementioned communication skills as well as administrative abilities.

Looking outside of repair shops, there are other opportunities as well. Fleet companies offer some good positions for those with mechanical aptitude. Many fleet companies hire mechanics as maintenance consultants. These advisers generally work on the phone

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