I Declined a Job Paying $54 an Hour
I worked in a mechanic shop as I finished high school. My automotive service technician apprenticeship was completed long before most people qualified for their first car loan. The trade provided gainful employment up until I left to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in English at the University of Alberta.
After receiving my degree I went back to the trade to take care of some unfinished business before leaving, this time to experience employment in the oil patch.
The oil and gas industry in Western Canada has opportunities for anyone. The industry’s unorthodox schedule, unique work environment, and network of career path possibilities was alluring.
I left the oil patch as fast as I had entered it. The schedule sucked and the money, contrary to common belief, sucked, not to mention the physical toll it took on my body also sucked. If I factored in travel time, safety meetings, and cross-shift communication, my day rate worked out to less than $21 an hour.
Less than $21 an hour to be away for up to three weeks at a time. Less than $21 an hour to have an indeterminate amount of time off. Less than $21 an hour to use and abuse my body. So I left the oil patch as fast as I had entered it.
Money Matters
Let’s be real: Money does matter. But only to a certain extent. Had my position in the oil patch paid just a little better, had my work schedule been just a little more certain, had the raw physicality of the job been just a little easier, I would have kept working in the oil and gas industry.
I didn’t need to make piles of look-at-my-lifted-truck money. I only needed to make enough money to justify the wonky work schedule and the abuse my body was enduring in the oil patch.
The money, the schedule, and the physical abuse of the oil patch spun me back around to the automotive industry. Returning to a mechanic shop meant a secure work schedule, light wear and tear on the body, and more money than what I made in oil patch.
I held several Ford Motor Company (FoMoCo) training certifications, and in 2019 I was awarded Ford Master Technician status. Possessing certifications and status meant more pay. And I was a good flat-rate dealership mechanic. I knew how to diagnose and repair any thing that would come in through the door, and I knew how to maximize my flat-rate earnings while doing it.
What is Flat-rate?
Let’s pretend your friendly, neighbourhood automotive service department charges $100 an hour, and a journeyman tech makes $20 an hour flat-rate. You authorize to have the brakes replaced on the family car for 2.2 hours as per the book’s labour rate or $220 (plus the cost of parts). The service department is obligated to pay 2.2 hours @ $20 an hour ($44 total) to the tech for completing the job. It doesn’t matter if the tech completed the job in 1.8, 2.2 , or 3.4 hours. The tech is paid flat-rate based on the book’s labour rate.
The tech completed the brake job and was dispatched a tire rotation that pays 0.8 hours. Our tech is efficient at the moment. They completed the previous brake job in 1.5 hours and they completed the tire rotation in 0.5 hours. So far that tech has made 3.0 hours ($60), but our tech has only worked for 2.0 hours total for the day.
Next our tech is dispatched a suspension job to replace a set of rear shocks for 1.0 hour. The tech dilly-dallies and takes 3.0 hours to replace the shocks. Regardless, the tech only gets paid 1.0 hour. So now our tech has been at work for 5.0 hours and has only made 4.0 hours flat-rate pay.
If a flat-rate tech is efficient, they can earn more hours than they have clocked-in for the workday. However, if the flat-rate tech is inefficient, well, they might leave work feeling dissatisfied with their pay.
I apologize for the math-y flat-rate explanation. Flat-rate was my reality for many years when I worked as a Ford automotive service technician.
Three Interviews and Two Offers
After I left the oil patch, I secured three interviews for automotive service technician positions in three different Ford dealerships.
The first interview was via telephone with the Hiring Manager for a Ford dealership in northern Alberta. The schedule was 7 days on and 7 days off. They supplied the tools for a twelve hour flat-rate shift. But it was the tech’s responsibility to secure their own accommodations while working their 7 on. They assured me that 7 twelve hour days was well worth living part-time in northern Alberta. I’d make piles of look-at-my-lifted-truck money.
The second interview was in-person at a local Ford dealership with the Service Manager and the Service Director. The interview felt good and I was given a brief tour of the shop. But I was dismayed to hear there wasn’t much for fleet work, and there wasn’t much for diesel engine work either. The day after my interview they offered me $45 an hour flat-rate. I said I had another interview to entertain before I could respond to their employment offer.
The third interview was, again, in-person at another local Ford dealership with the Service Manager and the Dealer Principal. This interview also felt good and I was told I’d be the sole technician handling their fleet and diesel work. During the interview they offered me $54 an hour flat-rate, so long as I would ensure my FoMoCo training was up to date.
I slept on it.
The next day I emailed the Hiring Manager for the dealership in northern Alberta. I respectfully declined to pursue the next interview step as I wasn’t interested in living part-time away from home to work as a mechanic.
Later I phoned the Service Manager of the dealership that offered me $45 an hour flat-rate. If I was returning to the dealership environment, I wanted to ensure that I’d be utilizing my FoMoCo diesel engine diagnosis and repair training specialties. With little fleet and diesel business, my decision to decline their offer made sense.
Finally I phoned the Service Manger of the dealership that offered me $54 an hour flat-rate. Their offer and employment opportunity ticked all my boxes: great pay including opportunities to work on fleet and diesel vehicles. But something wasn’t sitting well with the prospects of this employment offer. I ultimately declined much to the surprise of the Service Manager.
Idle Tools
Going back to a dealership’s service department would only be challenging insofar as the day-to-day difficulties of the diagnoses and repairs. After I would have completed any gaps in my FoMoCo technical training, I would be working a job that I had already worked for quite some time.
Money does matter; however, money, as the old adage goes, isn’t everything. What initially drew me to accept a position in the oil patch wasn’t present in the three Ford employment opportunities — what I yearned for was something new, something that would present new challenges, something I had never seen before.
My tools are idle. And I’m optimistic for whatever employment opportunity my skills, experience, and education conjure up next.
