How small service shops can make big difference

Picture a future technician. Who do you see?

Imagine someone of modest means. Let's call them Casey.

Casey's family can not afford to pay for their training, so they are working their way through school. You likely have met students such as Casey in your local tire shop.

They commute every day between home, a job and campus, but it's worth it because they are working toward a dream. Casey is passionate about becoming a technician, and they've overcome so many challenges to get where they are today.

Would you be surprised if Casey dropped out of school?

The fact is an unexpected expense of about $450 is all it takes for even the most determined student's career to come to a screeching halt.

For a student such as Casey, something as simple as a flat tire can lock them into a downward spiral that quickly derails their future. Car trouble means they can not get to work to make money for repairs.

Casey can't get to class either, and so their grades drop. They have no choice but to end their technician training within a few weeks or even days.

TechForce Foundation has heard from hundreds of real students who are facing this exact scenario.

Unfortunately, we can not always help them all. In 2023, we received more than 7,000 scholarship and grant applications, but we could only afford to fund one in four requests for help from students.

That's where small shops like you can come in.

Don't let the wheels fall off these students' futures. We need small shops — you — to help students such as Casey stay in school and enter the technician workforce.

In turn, TechForce Foundation can help you find qualified technicians to fill your shop's bays.

More than 30,000 working technicians, technical students, industry professionals, educators and enthusiasts have joined TechForce for jobs and apprenticeships.

Small businesses can join and post jobs as TechForce Small Business Champions ($10M or less in annual revenue) for $1,000 annually at TechForce.org/Champion.

Professional memberships are available for $499 to individuals who support our charitable mission.

Your shop also can engage with TechForce Foundation to connect with local technical schools, make in-kind donations such as tires or other resources, and even fund scholarships.

TechForce Foundation wants small business partners. We worked with major corporations to build our online platform for jobs and apprenticeships.

Now that it is launched, we want to work with small and medium businesses. Students are free to be selective in their employers, and our students want to work in shops like yours.

The only way we will tackle the technician shortage is together. As TechForce Foundation reported in our December Supply & Demand Report, the industry needs 159,000 new technicians each year through 2027 to keep up with demand for skilled technicians.

Supporting students is not just charity. It is also good business. Students want and deserve to work for employers that support their career goals.

Supporting technical students will create a new generation of technicians who know small shops' commitments to their futures. Even a small donation can change a person's life, and few things build loyalty such as helping someone realize a dream.

This April, TechForce is challenging people to consider what living in a world without technicians would be like.

For many shop owners, it's not too hard to imagine. The industry has faced a technician shortage for years, with small shop owners too often competing with larger operations to fill empty bays. Good techs are hard to find.

Now, small shops have an opportunity to make a real difference in tackling the tech shortage by partnering with TechForce Foundation to keep the wheels on future technicians' education.

Connect with TechForce to support students in need and grow your technician talent pool. Make your tax-deductible donation today at TechForce.org/Champion.