Technician Onboarding the GP Way

By Ann Gall – Training & Development Specialist

We are often asked what it is like to join General Parts Group as a technician, ‘how do you guys start a new technician out?’ It is a great question, after all, it is quite complex getting a service technician into the field, with tools, a truck, parts, safety equipment, and most importantly, knowledge. With all these moving parts it is good to have a process to transition new technicians into the company to give them the best chance of success and more importantly, the best chance of delighting our customers with great service.

For this reason, General Parts created a 30-Day New Hire Program which is designed to give each one of our new technicians, regardless of experience, a strong footing from which to develop their careers with General Parts. Within these 30 days, all new technicians will complete a pre-planned training which includes:

• Safety training – this ensures that all our field service technicians understand safe working practices and are equipped with the right safety equipment.

• Ride-along training – these ride-a-longs days help new technicians get acclimated to the typical workday experience to understand how to pick up and complete service calls, and how to best interact with customers.

• Technology training – General Parts uses tablet-based field service software that helps technicians plan their working day. Every new technician is issued a tablet and cell phone.

• Technical refresher training – all new technicians go through a technical training program hosted by Ignitor labs in the fundamental topics of steam, gas, refrigeration, and electrical. This is a great beginner program for technicians to use as a foundation or refresher to go on to taking more formal exams through our industry association, CFESA. We pride ourselves in helping as many technicians as possible to become CFESA certified, or ultimately master certified. Technicians who pass these exams are financially rewarded!

In parallel to all this happening, the company will be allocating a truck and ensuring it has the right truck stock for the work the technician will be undertaking.

Does training end after 30 days? Certainly not. Technicians will continue to work with both their local manager and our corporate training department on an ongoing basis throughout their careers. Individual manufacturer training will be assigned based on the clients serviced and the warranty services offered by the local branch.

We hope this has given you a good overview as to what it is like to onboard with General Parts Group. If you would like to learn more about our New Hire Program please call Ann Gall on (952) 996-9340 or email me at anng@generalparts.com