9:51 am, September 11, 2026
Dealers across the UK are competing for people with the skills to help their businesses adapt to new technology, changing customer expectations and greater regulatory complexity.
Yet automotive may be overlooking a significant part of the potential workforce before recruitment even begins.
For too many women and girls, the industry is still represented through a narrow selection of roles, usually centred on the workshop or showroom. These careers remain fundamental to the motor trade, but they are only part of the picture.
Today’s dealerships and automotive suppliers also need people working in data, digital retail, finance, marketing, compliance, customer experience, training, technology, operations and leadership.
If these opportunities are not being seen, they are unlikely to be considered. Women are not necessarily deciding against careers in automotive. Many may simply have never been shown where their experience, abilities or ambitions could fit.
The perception gap begins before recruitment
Career choices are shaped long before somebody reaches a dealership’s recruitment page. Schools, colleges, parents, careers advisers and the people young women see succeeding around them all influence the sectors they consider.
Ask many young people to describe an automotive career and the first roles they mention are likely to be mechanic or salesperson. Far fewer will immediately think of software, business intelligence, digital marketing, regulation, finance or learning and development.
This perception is increasingly out of step with the reality of the industry. Electrification, artificial intelligence, connected vehicles and changing buying habits are creating new demands across the automotive workforce.
Dealers need commercial judgement, communication, analysis, empathy and problem-solving alongside technical expertise. Businesses cannot assume that potential candidates, or the people advising them, understand how much the sector has changed.
Automotive must do a better job of bringing its opportunities to life.
Show the whole dealership
The language and imagery used in recruitment can either widen or restrict the talent pool. When careers pages focus almost entirely on workshops, vehicles and forecourts, candidates who do not identify with those environments may conclude there is no place for them.
They may never discover the other teams and opportunities behind the dealership.
A more accurate portrayal would introduce the analyst interpreting customer and sales data, the compliance specialist helping the business navigate regulation, the marketer building its reputation, the trainer developing colleagues and the customer service professional protecting long-term relationships.
It would also show how these functions work together to create a successful modern retail business. This is not about diminishing traditional motor trade roles. It is about ensuring that the way we present automotive reflects the industry as it operates today.
Role models turn opportunity into something real
Telling women that they can succeed in automotive is important. Showing them women already doing so is far more powerful.
At Warranty Solutions Group, women currently account for approximately 35% of our workforce, while our board is evenly balanced between women and men. We are proud of that progress, although we know there is more to do.
Representation needs to be seen throughout a business: in technical and sales teams, as well as in data, finance, marketing, compliance, customer experience, training and senior decision-making. This also helps challenge the assumption that somebody must have spent their entire career in the motor trade to make a valuable contribution.
Automotive businesses should be actively looking for transferable expertise from other sectors. Bringing in people with different professional and personal experiences can introduce fresh thinking and provide a better understanding of an increasingly diverse customer base.
Role models should therefore be part of recruitment, mentoring, internal communications and everyday leadership, rather than appearing only at awards ceremonies or during annual campaigns.
Recruit for potential as well as experience
Dealers should also examine how their vacancies are written and assessed. Job descriptions containing long lists of sector-specific requirements may feel reassuring, but they can exclude strong candidates whose capabilities have been developed elsewhere.
Businesses need to distinguish between knowledge that is essential on day one and knowledge that can be taught. A candidate with strong commercial judgement, analytical ability or customer experience may have considerable potential, even if her previous role was outside automotive.
This does not mean lowering standards. It means being more precise about what success in the position actually requires.
Recruiting for potential, supported by structured learning and development, can produce a stronger and more adaptable workforce than repeatedly hiring from the same familiar pool.
Candidates will also judge a business by the recruitment experience itself. The people conducting interviews, the questions they ask and the information provided about flexibility, development and progression all communicate whether an employer’s commitment to inclusion is genuine.
Four practical ways dealers can make a difference
This is not a challenge only for manufacturers or large national organisations. Dealer groups and independent retailers are among the most recognisable automotive employers in their communities.
There are four practical areas where dealers can begin to change perceptions.
1. Build relationships with local education providers: Working regularly with schools and colleges is likely to have more impact than attending one careers event each year.
Dealers can invite students into the business, speak to careers advisers and explain how technology is creating new roles. Involving parents can also help challenge outdated assumptions about the type of work available.
2. Rethink work experience: Instead of placing a student in one department for a week, dealers could create a structured introduction to several functions.
Time spent with sales, aftersales, digital retail, finance, marketing, customer care, compliance and vehicle preparation would provide a much broader understanding of how the business operates.
3. Make female employees more visible: Women from different departments and levels of seniority can represent the business at careers events, contribute to recruitment content and share their experiences with potential candidates.
These do not need to be polished corporate stories. Authentic accounts of how people entered automotive, what they do and how their careers have developed are often more persuasive.
4. Promote every route into the business: Apprenticeships and entry-level opportunities should be promoted across commercial and corporate functions as well as technical roles.
Dealers should also consider returners, career changers and candidates from other industries whose transferable skills could strengthen the business.
Why this is a commercial priority
Creating more opportunities for women is rightly a question of fairness, but it is also a commercial priority. Automotive businesses are competing for talent while adapting to some of the biggest technological and operational changes the sector has experienced.
Continuing to recruit from the same limited pool will make that challenge harder.
A broader range of people and experiences can improve decision-making, strengthen customer understanding and help businesses respond more effectively to change.
For WSG, the ambition is to move towards gender parity within the next two years. That target creates accountability, but meaningful progress will be measured by more than a percentage.
It will also be seen in who applies, who is appointed, whose ideas are heard and who progresses into leadership.
These are among the issues we are exploring through WSG’s wider Women in the Motor Industry campaign, which aims to encourage practical conversations about how the sector can attract, support and develop more women.
The automotive industry already offers far more career possibilities than many people realise. The challenge is making sure they are seen.
If we want more women to choose a future in automotive, we must first show them where that future could lead.