When you think of the motor trade industry, the country in Europe that comes to mind is Germany. Why? Because they make the best automobiles in the world. Mercedes Benz, BMW, Opel, VW and Porsche to name the obvious ones. When you reflect a little more, you realize: hang on – Italy and France, while not in the same league with the motor industry, they are not doing too badly either. We have all heard of Peugeot, Renault, Alfa etc, etc. Which begs the question where does the UK stand within the auto market and more importantly, how big is the automotive jobs market in the UK? A lot of people in the UK are very negative about the UK auto market – but these doomsayers are misplaced in their perceptions of the UK automotive market and just how big it is and how many people it employs.
The automotive jobs / employment market can be broken down into 2 distinct parts: vehicle & parts production (automotive manufacturing) which in the UK provides circa 100k motor jobs today, while the motor trade market employs circa 500k people. The motor trade industry involves service and maintenance combined with retail. It is clear from this distribution that if you are looking to work in the motor industry in the UK, should you be looking for motor jobs and are looking to get employment quickly, then you should focus on the motor trade sector.
Within motor trade, a job seeker will find plenty of opportunities within numerous types of automotive operator: be it engineering shops, car mechanics, vehicle distributors or car sales houses. Finding work within the automotive sector is like any other industry sector in the UK. A number of the biggest motor related companies will have their own HR division which when combined with a sizeable web presence, will service their recruitment needs. Smaller outfits will rely on the normal means using, employment agencies, and job sites to recruit aspiring job seekers. For the job seeker, the means to finding work remains the same: job search using any of the major search engines within the sector (in this case motor trade), searching for the job role and location you want to in and they will come back with the search results you are looking for. Typically job sites host thousands of jobs from different employers, so job seekers are actually spoilt for choice in terms of the job opportunities in front of them.