Talent drives dealerships and all dealers in this discussion agreed they are experiencing gaps between their current talent capabilities and their business goals. Finding talent continues to be a challenge, particularly for rural based dealerships that have difficulties recruiting in their remote locations.

Here are some of the major takeaways from the “Talent Inventory: Is the Time Right to Grow?” roundtable discussion.

• Dealers view acquiring talent as a business risk that could have either a positive or negative impact on their dealership and having a defined employee assessment process in place is a critical component for successful talent recruitment and retention.
• Employees acquired through acquisitions are often a trial by fire and many do not meet the operating standards of the new ownership and are replaced or repositioned within the dealership.
• Several dealers indicated they are using a team approach to evaluate new employees because they do not have human resource departments large enough to effectively handle all their employee training and development needs.
• Employee assessment tools like Profile XT are gaining in popularity as well as the use of 360 reviews and outside training experts. Creating effective job descriptions helps ensure employees understand their roles and better meet the needs of the dealership.
• Developing talent internally has proven to have the biggest pay out in the long term. Good communications along with constant employee evaluations help ensure dealers are getting the most out of their employees in preparing them for future growth.
• As more and more dealerships consolidate and grow to protect market share, success will depend largely on the investment they make in their talent to fill the shortage of critical skills required to grow and maintain their dealership.