The largest auto dealer of the Russian Federation “Rolf” is expanding its staff to develop business in the segment of used cars. The company is looking for employees, including in the regions. Rolf and other dealers are talking about a shortage of ready-made specialists on the market. Particularly acute is the problem of specialists in the purchase of used cars and service specialists – the most promising business areas now. The situation escalated, among other things, due to the announcement of partial mobilization: some of the employees left their jobs, while the number of people willing to sell cars increased.
The Rolf car dealer is actively looking for personnel in the regions – it plans to hire about 1 thousand people to expand its business in Moscow and the Moscow region, Kommersant’s interlocutors among recruiters told Kommersant. So, only in the Perm Territory “an application for 150 employees of car services and car dealerships,” they say. According to the dealer’s career site, its staff exceeds 8.5 thousand people, 87 vacancies are open, most of which relate to the purchase and sale of used cars. Rolf has over 200 job openings on other job search sites, a significant number of which have been posted in the last week.
In Rolf, Kommersant was told that 600 vacancies are now open, specifying that “the volume of hiring employees from the company is always significant.” Now the business of used cars is actively growing – there are still not enough ready-made specialists in this market, Rolf noted, adding that the company has an academy and internship programs.
In 2021, according to the dealer’s reporting, used cars already accounted for over 50% of sales. According to Avtobusinessreview, Rolf was also the leader in terms of revenue from car service, and in general, the total revenue of 45 leading dealer holdings in the aftersales service segment increased by a third over the past year, to 214.2 billion rubles, although the share of service in average turnover remained at just under 12%. The report said that “the company continues to work on changing the structure of profit in favor of strategic segments – used cars and services.” The average load of Rolf’s service capacities in 2021 was approaching the maximum – 90%, it was supposed to open car buyback points this year in 11 regions.
Anna Utkina, communications director for Avtodom and Avtospetstsentr, says that now companies have a need to retain service employees.
“These are highly specialized specialists who cannot be replaced,” she says. Another major dealer, Klyuchavto, has 134 vacancies open on its own career website. The Kommersant company did not respond. Avilon declined to comment.
The shortage of highly qualified personnel in this area, for example, managers for the purchase of used cars, diagnosticians, mechanics and auto mechanics, was formed back in 2021, says Yulia Berezhnova, HR director of the Fresh Auto car dealership network. Most of the strong specialists have moved to large cities against the background of the pandemic and the reduction of regional business, she adds. Fresh Auto now has more than 2,000 employees, 65% of them work in the used car segment, Ms. Berezhnova said, adding that the dealer is not yet recruiting new employees.
Kommersant’s interlocutors in the market indicate that dealers have had difficulties with personnel, including due to the announcement of partial mobilization. At the same time, customers who want to sell their used car became more active (see Kommersant of October 4). However, a number of Kommersant’s interlocutors doubt the need in the current conditions to increase the staff for “buying cars off the street” because of the unclear prospects for the subsequent sale of these warehouses.
Sergey Udalov from Avtostat notes that the personnel of dealers “decide everything”. “Whoever has the best employees will have the advantage in business,” he says. As distributors of foreign brands leave the market, their employees who are trained in all service standards appear, the analyst continues, and one of the dealers can assemble a strong team. He emphasizes that the service and used car business are segments that can now be developed, in contrast to the new car segment, where the number of brands will be reduced and the supply will remain limited.
In August, the volume of sales of used cars amounted to 392 thousand units, new – 41.7 thousand units, calculated “Avtostat”. “The preponderance towards the market with mileage has increased, and the segment will remain stable in the near future – at the level of 350-400 thousand,” says Sergey Udalov. Now it makes no sense to overstock warehouses with used cars, he continues, “however, if we talk about below-market offers that have arisen in recent weeks due to the departure of some sellers from the Russian Federation, then this is an opportunity for dealers – after all, customers will try to keep cars due to a shortage of new ones.