Dealerships today face many challenges when it comes to maintaining profitability. Profit margins for both new and used vehicles are eroding and, at the same time, personnel-related costs are on the rise.

So how can your dealership maintain profitability at such a challenging time? To get started, we’ve pulled together several key ways your dealership can improve your people operations to save money and increase profitability.

Attract Quality Candidates While Saving on Sourcing Costs
Make a list of the various channels you use to source job applicants and the associated costs. You might be using several job boards, social media, outside recruiters, your dealership website and more. But the most critical channel is your dealership’s career site.

When comparing job board costs to a career site — which has better SEO value and is a great destination to showcase your employment brand — you get a much higher ROI when you invest in your own careers page. In fact, the average cost per hire for a career site is nearly seven times less than job boards.

Career sites are a top source for attracting qualified candidates because job seekers who are qualified and excited to join your team will take the extra time to learn more about your dealership rather than simply clicking “apply” on a job board.

Beyond building a strong career site to attract quality candidates, you should have a strong understanding of which sourcing channels are driving candidates and which channels aren’t. Once you have transparency, you can reduce sourcing costs without sacrificing overall quality of hires.

Add Profitability with Standardized Hiring Process
According to our research, of the 26 days it takes dealerships to hire a new employee on average, nearly half the time — 10 days — is spent waiting for someone to review the application after it is initially submitted.

You wouldn’t let a customer lead go unanswered for 10 days and you should take the same approach to hiring — or your dealership will lose gross profit due to lost productivity during the time your open roles go unfilled.

Given the record-low unemployment rate and sales and fixed ops roles in high demand across dealerships, waiting to review and respond to applicants will likely cost you top talent.

A standardized hiring process should include prescreen surveys, along with interview guides, integrated assessments and automated background and reference checks, helping your team save time.

Challenges associated with declining vehicle profit margins, increasing personnel costs and competition for top talent show no signs of slowing down in retail automotive. With a more strategic, efficient approach to your people operations, your dealership can save money by reducing your candidate sourcing costs and add profitability by reducing your time to hire.   

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