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Letter to the Editor
Tuesday September 13
AIADA Launches On-Line Job Bank to Help Displaced Dealership Personnel Find Temporary Dealership Jobs
The American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA) has launched the on-line job bank of Emergency Relief Auto Jobs, a program to help provide displaced automotive personnel with a temporary job, at www.aiada.org/autojobs. AIADA’s Emergency Relief Auto Jobs helps match retail automobile salespeople, technicians and related personnel displaced by Hurricane Katrina with temporary job openings at auto dealerships around the country.Emergency Relief Auto Jobs’ site provides displaced dealership personnel with a quick and comprehensive resource for finding temporary dealership job opportunities. The site has postings for virtually every job at a dealership, including sales people, service technicians, service advisors, and parts counter personnel. Many dealers are opening the positions to candidates without experience with the specific linemakes they carry to ease job seekers’ ability to find temporary employment. Dealers are encouraged to post jobs on the site. Displaced dealership personnel and dealers with job opportunities alike may contact AIADA directly at autojobs@aiada.org for any assistance with the program.
"My profound sympathy goes out to the dealers and their employees who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina," said AIADA Chairman Don Hicks. "It’s our responsibility to do more than extend our hearts. AIADA’s Emergency Relief Auto Jobs is a unique and tangible way of helping displaced automotive personnel. The response from dealer members hoping to help has been overwhelming, and we believe that the on-line job bank will facilitate the temporary relocation of some displaced dealership employees."
The program was initiated by three member dealers in their effort to help victims of Hurricane Katrina: Al Gossett, dealer principal of Gossett Motors in Memphis, Tenn.; Bob Grace, dealer principal of Southpoint Volkswagen in Baton Rouge, La.; and David Ingram, dealer principal of Jack Ingram Motors in Montgomery, Ala. Grace, whose dealership was only slightly damaged by the hurricane, contacted fellow AIADA member and Volkswagen Dealer Council member Gossett to discuss options for displaced dealership employees.
"Thousands of international nameplate dealership employees are jobless in Louisiana and other Gulf States right now," said Grace. "Money is helpful to the region, but being able to offer temporary dealership jobs to displaced employees is perhaps the ultimate gesture from dealers across the country."
Gossett is subsequently advertising job openings for Katrina victims in cities where they have been relocated. Ingram has already hired some displaced dealership employees to work at his stores.
In the coming weeks, AIADA will also launch a dealer-to-dealer program to assist member dealerships damaged by the hurricane. AIADA dealers who were not affected by the storm will comprise "SWAT teams" that will help dealers in damaged areas begin the process of business recovery.
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