Innovative First-of-its-Kind Software Helps Recruit, Train and Retain Qualified Employees through a Single, Web-based & Mobile Application
DealerPeople® has hit the ground running with its revolutionary platform, set to completely change the way the auto dealership industry hires, trains and maintains a workforce of qualified, professional salespeople and beyond. This cutting-edge step forward could not have come at a better time for the industry – which is facing an alarmingly high employee turnover rate. Founded in 2015 by industry insiders committed to reducing industry turnover and streamlining hiring and training processes, the DealerPeople application (available through Android, desktops and iOS) allows dealers to post job listings while enabling job seekers to seamlessly search for dealerships, find career opportunities and submit traditional print and video resumes. With additional resources, such as training guides and industry insight tips, this California-based company is about to set a new standard in the field of selling automobiles – thereby increasing profits across the board.
Despite recent pay raises, the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) states that automotive dealers continue to struggle with finding qualified candidates and retaining them once they are hired – reporting a sales consultant annualized turnover of 71.9 percent. The difficulty in hiring results largely in part from a lack of education and an antiquated industry image, where old stereotypes of the car salesman cloud the fact that careers in the dealership industry are not only lucrative but also offer longevity. In its fourth annual Dealership Workforce Study report, NADA indicates that although the industry offers good salaries and benefits, with an abundance of employment opportunities, it’s not enough to attract and hold on to the right people.
Enter DealerPeople, founded by dealership veteran, Jay R. Mortensen (CEO and founder) and strategic business advisor Scott R. B. de Ruyter (president). For the past 25 years, Mortensen has held nearly every position in the auto industry’s sales and finance departments and has worked with nearly every make of car. Culling from his vast experience, Mortensen understands the challenges of the industry and deeply respects its salespeople. Meanwhile, for nearly three decades, de Ruyter has been focused on offering leading companies strategic growth solutions, functional implementation, management alignment and change management services. A past, featured speaker at American Society for Training & Development, he has also published numerous white papers on blended learning solutions, knowledge management, system design and education technology. Together, these industry insiders are committed to simplifying the time-consuming processes associated with recruiting, hiring, training and retaining the right people for jobs within U.S. dealerships.
Boldly pioneering a modern, streamlined and targeted approach, DealerPeople upends the needle-in-a-haystack structure of traditional job boards with a first-of-its-kind free web-based and mobile platform that focuses exclusively on dealerships, also soon offering propriety tools to build a better, more educated and profitable workforce. DealerPeople’s dedicated job board lists dealer-specific opportunities and promotes qualified candidates who have expressed interest in choosing a dealer-oriented career path, all of which results in finding good people to fill openings faster, easier and for free. Listed by department, DealerPeople jobs are categorized into the following: Sales, Finance & Insurance, Management, Corporate, Service, Parts, Accounting & Business, and Other. Through a strategic network of partners, including non-dealership networks – like universities, which have job seekers from outside of traditional dealership reach – dealers have access to an elite pool of talented individuals.
With over 4,000 signed dealerships and the recent launch of its new training program, DealerPeople is really taking off. The training program helps sharpen employees’ skillsets and surpass performance goals through its many car dealership training options. The packages and tools provided by DealerPeople help assess skills, assign courses, workshops and seminars and even track employees’ individual progress and performance. From leadership to sales skills, DealerPeople’s comprehensive catalog of auto training programs stands out from the crowd. With curriculum and materials based on years of sound industry expertise, the programs add tremendous value to dealership employers.
DealerPeople is truly shifting the status quo by providing dealers with their own unique portals to post job openings, search and review video resumes (candidates benefit from tools that allow them to easily create and upload 90-second video introductions), rate and screen applicants, contact qualified candidates, set up interviews and manage the entire hiring process—all in one place at no charge. With a video library of “road-tested” solutions submitted by dealer people from across the U.S., and best-in-class industry insights focused on improving dealer efficiencies, performance and profits, DealerPeople is fast becoming the premiere, one-stop aggregate of resources, tools and qualified individuals for dealerships across America.
For more information, visit www.dealerpeople.com or follow DealerPeople on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
About the Founder: Jay R. Mortensen, CEO and founder of DealerPeople®, oversees the direction of the company, ensuring that it remains consistent and persistent in its goal of helping dealers improve through people, training and tools. Hands-on with his involvement in the company, Mortensen not only plays a role in the development of the site itself—ensuring that it continues to have the functionality and content that is most needed—but he is also heavily involved with training provider partners and fostering a solid relationship of revolutionary training for the dealerships of America.
Having been in the car business since 1989, holding nearly every position in the sales department and working with nearly every make of car, Mortensen understands the challenges of the industry and deeply respects its salespeople. Through DealerPeople, he hopes to help dealers increase their success by providing the right training, at the right time, to the right people, in an organized fashion.
Mortensen understands firsthand that while many people within the dealership world have little college background or formal training, they are able to have lucrative careers and comfortable lifestyles thanks to the car business. In 1993, while taking classes at the University of Utah and simultaneously selling cars for Larry H. Miller Toyota, Mortensen was offered a promotion to become a finance manager, which required him to leave the university. After taking the position, while leading the sales department as a general sales manager, he was given the elite opportunity to attend dealer academy which was taught by Larry H. Miller himself.
Mortensen spends his free time volunteering and supporting local organizations. He has been involved with the Boy Scouts of America for more than a decade; he currently serves as a block captain for Neighbors Helping Neighbors, an emergency preparedness effort for local communities; and is an ongoing volunteer with Stop Hunger Now.
A Laguna Hills, Calif. resident, Mortensen and his wife Emily are proud parents of four school-aged children. His hobbies include scuba diving, ocean swimming, hiking and off-roading in the mountains.
