Automotive News - October 16, 2017 - Supplement - S27

OCTOBER 16, 2017 | 27
C H A M P I O N C H E V R O L E T O F AV O N , AV O N , I N D .

NEED A JOB? LET'S TALK

Dealer is motivated
by belief in the value
of second chances
Printed in Automotive News May 1, 2017

Michael Wayland
mwayland@crain.com

atrick DeBruler was down on his
luck when he walked into Champion Chevrolet of Avon, in Avon, Ind.,
last summer to pick up a job application.
DeBruler, who had once owned a mortgage
company, said he found himself out of work after struggling with the fallout of a divorce and
some problems with his driving record.
"I went through some really bad times in
2014," said DeBruler, 57. "Everything was falling apart."
The stop at Champion proved to be the
break DeBruler needed. A year later, he manages the dealership's business development
center after starting in its Internet marketing
division.
DeBruler is one of several Champion employees hired in the past two years under a
policy that grants every applicant an interview, regardless of job experience or background.
"I don't care who it is," said Champion's operating partner, Tim Roberts, who instituted
the policy. "If you come in off the street and
you fill out that application, you deserve an
interview because you took the time and effort to come to us. And we need to give the
courtesy back to you."
Those who can't stay for an interview at the
time they apply can come back later.
The thinking behind the policy is a belief in
the value of second chances, and in the idea
that you never know who a candidate may
turn out to be, Roberts said. Potential employees, he said, should be treated with the
same courtesy as potential customers.
"They're no different than a customer walking into the door," Roberts said. "You may have
that next, great key employee walking through
your door and if you didn't take that time to interview them or give them the initial interview,
you may never see them again."
Roberts, a 47-year-old Chicago native, is a
first-generation dealer. He and his partners
bought Champion in central Indiana nearly
three and a half years ago. He has been in automotive retailing since 1987, when he start-

Tim Roberts, operating partner of Champion Chevrolet of Avon, with his family. Says Roberts:
"If you come in off the street and you fill out that application, you deserve an interview."

age of 140 vehicles a month, 75 new and 65
ed working in a Chicago dealership one sumused, Roberts says. That's up from 25 new
mer after graduating from Georgia Tech. At
and 35 used when he and his partners bought
that dealership, he learned what it takes to
the dealership.
run a business "ethically and honestly," he
In DeBruler, Roberts said he saw a man who
says, which helped lead him to the interhad gone through a rough patch but was
views-for-all policy.
ready to get back on the right track.
Roberts acknowledges the risks of
"He had some problems in the
opening his doors to people who
Every job
past with his driving record and a
may have blemished records, inapplicant is granted
couple things that would hamper
cluding trouble with the law. He
an interview,
him from being hired at other lonotes that everyone who gets past
regardless of
cations," Roberts said. "He was
the initial interview and is considemployment
very transparent about it. ... You
ered for a job undergoes drug
experience or
have to kind of look at it as, if he's
testing and a background check.
background.
being this upfront and honest right
He said the interview policy has
now, and this position doesn't require
helped him expand his business and
him to drive a vehicle, why wouldn't we
retain talent. The dealership, he said, has
give him a chance?"
had a turnover rate of less than 5 percent
"He's been killing it for us ever since," he
since he and his partners bought it in January
added.
2014, even as employment has grown from
DeBruler plans to work at Champion Chev42 to nearly 60 - solid growth for a dealerrolet of Avon until he's ready to retire.
ship of its size. Turnover rates at the average
"They didn't prejudge me. They took me seridealership run around 40 percent, according
ously, and it was really good," DeBruler said.
to a National Automobile Dealers Associa"Everything is going great in my life today. I just
tion analysis of 2015 data.
have this place to thank." a
Champion Chevrolet of Avon sells an aver-

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