This week's guest: Brett Morgan, CEO Morgan Auto Group
What 2 or 3 opportunities do you see for retail automotive dealers to differentiate and stand out from other career paths and opportunities in the minds of prospective candidates?
When we were a young company, my father was asked what surprised him the most about the car business. He said, "the amount of money that people make in the business". He didn’t mean that negatively and Morgan has always out compensated our competition (for the most part). First of all, very few of our General Managers are college graduates, and they have the ability to make great money. Most folks don’t jump into car sales hoping to stay there. They need to know what forward mobility looks like DAY ONE and they need to understand that we can provide all of the needed education to get there, even to run a store, if that is what they desire. There is a building narrative in this country that the standard liberal arts education hasn’t served us well and there is a movement towards both skilled trade and specialization in training and education. We do so much training and education in-house here at Morgan Automotive, and we need to tell that story better. There is just so much opportunity. Sprinkle in that growth and acquisition are a part of our DNA and people are constantly on the move here. Those are a few places where we truly are different.
How important is social media to the recruiting process and what tips can you share to drive better candidate engagement?
LinkedIn has really come into its own in the past 3-5 years. It’s a growing and viable social channel and, frankly, as our reputation grows, I struggle to keep up with the amount of personal engagement I see there. I joke to friends that I would have disabled my Facebook account years ago, but I communicate with a ton of referrals there. My great friends know how to reach me but for friends I don’t see as much Facebook/Instagram is a powerful tool for reaching new and old customers. The same is true professionally through LinkedIn. I think if I had one piece of advice it’s to be genuine and authentic. Don’t be afraid to let people see your personality (as long as it is positive). Also, I’d say people are moving away from content they see as perfect or too refined. In many ways, Morgan is just entering the organic content game (using a village of creators), and I’m concerned (with our reputation) how we will manage that increase in engagement and balance growing our talent from within. It’s all important.
What personality traits/soft skills do you consider to be most important and valuable for candidates for employment applying at Morgan AG and why?
I think self-empowerment is a big one. People with a strong internal locus of control who see themselves as a driver of change — that’s a big one. I tell people often, you are really only in control of yourself. Your actions, your behavior are really all you are guaranteed to control at the end of the day. People who keep their focus there do really well in our industry.
What is one thing about you or the Morgan Group that people would be most surprised to discover or learn about?
That we are very decentralized. We want local leadership to feel empowered and be able to impress upon their store their own process and personality. That doesn’t mean our stores don’t have a lot in common, it just means we know that each dealership unit can only truly thrive when the daily caretaker feels supported, in control, and empowered.
