Denis Cloutier spent his career in the automotive industry. Now, as the executive director of the Automotive Trades Association of Manitoba, he’s encouraging the next generation to do the same.
“Like every other trade, we are all struggling to attract youth to come into the trades so this is our opportunity to expose high school students to the collision repair industry,” Cloutier said.
On Friday, the Automotive Trades Association of Manitoba held a high school career event as part of its annual trades show, with 365 students and teachers from across Manitoba getting the chance to learn about the many different jobs within the evolving industry.
“My school offers the collision repair and refinishing program and I have always loved just using my hands and problem solving and working away and I figured it would be a good opportunity for me,” said Samara Baltazar, who just graduated high school.
Red River College Polytechnic autobody student Tyler Wiens also enjoyed all the options.
“The amount of booths is really eye-opening and to know there’s a lot of opportunity here is really good,” Wiens said.
As cars become more high-tech, so do the skills needed in the industry.
“The vehicles are changing. A lot of people say they are computers on wheels now,” Cloutier said.
Booths at the trade show showcased areas like calibration, software, dent repair, supply chain, estimating and painting.
Collision repair teacher Greg Oliver hopes it inspires his students.
“There’s lots of vendors out, lots of different vendors. There’s tooling, there’s materials, all sorts of things. I’m hoping they’re going to gain some interest in the trade,” Oliver said.
Many vendors at the show are looking for young perspectives in the industry.
“The challenge has always been shortage of technicians. Wherever we are, especially in rural areas, we are always looking for young technicians,” Koos Reineking, vice-president of Lift Auto Group, said.
Fellow vendor Tom Edwards with AkzoNobel agrees.
“It’s a growing industry and we need young people to fix cars, cars aren’t going away and collisions happen every day,” Edwards said.
This year’s trade show attracted three times as many students as last year’s.