There’s a shortage of car audio installers and it appears that finding and keeping installers is taking up more energy on the part of store owners. So here’s something that might interest retailers.
Marcraft near Spokane, WA will help retailers set up an apprenticeship program to train installers leaving high school or community college MECP (Mobile Electronics Certified Professional) training programs.
Marcraft is sanctioned by the Consumer Electronics Association to set up MECP courses in public schools, it said. It provides the curriculum and training equipment to the schools, and 22 states are running its programs. Students enrolled receive 120 hours of hands on and theory training in car audio and security.
For several years, Marcraft help coordinate an apprenticeship program with Best Buy, placing some of the top students from the MECP classes in Best Buy stores as trainees. Best Buy stopped the program with the recession a couple of years ago, but Marcraft says the apprenticeship program worked well and over a hundred students were placed at Best Buy stores each year.
Marcraft said it is willing to act as a clearinghouse to help retail specialists set up a similar apprenticeship plan.
In a self-rewarding cycle, if dealers sign up with Marcraft, confirming they would be willing to take on an apprentice, it would encourage the local high school or community college to offer an MECP training program.
Because school budgets are tight, administrators want to know that their vocational programs will result in an actual job before budgeting for them. If Marcraft can tell a school administrator that there are dealers in the area that are ready to take on a top-performing student as an apprentice, then the school is more likely to launch an MECP program.
Marcraft’s Kevin Smith said dealers would also get to interview the students and choose the most qualified.
No, you would not get a seasoned installer, but you would get, hopefully, someone interested in learning, with some basic training.
Interested dealers may email Kevin Smith at Marcraft at [email protected].
Source: CEoutlook
(Thanks Todd R.)
Photo: Mobile Solutions
Thanks for the information. Email sent. Any and all efforts to promote mobile electronics installation as a career is welcomed!