Fixed Ops Journal - August 2022 - F8

FIXED OPS JOURNAL
Many dealership service, parts and collision departments are
short-staffed. One solution is to hire more women into these open positions
- from service director to service adviser to technician. Current fi gures
show about 20 percent of dealership service advisers are women. The
numbers go down from there - 6 percent of parts or service managers are
women, and just 1 percent of techs are . Here, women who work in fi xed
ops share their journeys, challenges and advice for other women
considering entering the industry.
DRIVING
FORWARD
IN SERVICE
Women make impact but still face hurdles
ARIANNA AFZAL
A
rianna Afzal still has her fi rst vehicle:
a prized 1984 Chevy C10 pickup
that was a gift from her dad on
her 16th birthday.
She drove it " pretty regularly "
until about a year ago, when it started leaking oil.
It's not that she can't get it repaired - it's
just that she hasn't taken the time to
fi x it herself.
" It's always the mechanic's car
that's the last one to get fi xed, " says
the 27-year-old master certifi ed technician
at Austin
Infi niti in Texas,
where she has worked since 2018.
" It's an oil leak, and I'm not 100 percent
sure where it's coming from. I
need to put some time into it to get it
up and running. "
Afzal earned her associate degree in automotive
technology at Austin Community College
in 2017 while holding a full-time job at an
independent automotive service shop.
Also during that time , Afzal earned various
certifi cations, including the National Institute
for Automotive Service Excellence master
technician certifi cation.
" I just enjoy fi xing things, " she says of her
profession. " I enjoy the process of having
PAGE 8 AUGUST 2022
something that's not working or malfunctioning
and taking it to an operating, working vehicle.
Th at's really my favorite part of it.
" I enjoy working with my hands and putting
critical thinking into real-life situations. "
Th e daughter of a professional paint and
body shop technician, Afzal was " about 10 or
11 years old " when she spent summers tagging
along with her dad to the various independent
shops where he worked.
Giving in to her keen interest , Afzal's
dad showed her how to use a paint
sprayer and let her paint discarded
fenders and other vehicle parts.
Afzal liked working on cars so much
she enrolled in the auto tech program
her sophomore year in high school
and stayed with the program until
she graduated.
Her father helped her land her fi rst job at an
independent shop whose owner was looking
for an eager young person to train to become
a service technician.
" I said, 'Heck, yeah, that's exactly what I
want to do,' " she recalls.
Two and a half years later, she was ready to
grow. She landed a job at a shop; its owner also
was an instructor at the community college,
where he taught auto tech. Afzal enrolled .
She was impressed the owner placed high
SHELBY RAE
value on formal education and critical thinking
and specialized in vehicle diagnostics.
" A lot of times, that's the most diffi cult part "
of repairing a vehicle, she says. " It's almost
like you're a detective. You take little clues;
you have that understanding and use it to fi gure
out why this is happening. Or is it the consequence
of something else? "
Afzal liked the classroom training in which
she learned about electrical systems and how to
read wiring diagrams and service information.
Afzal says she knows other young women
Fixed Ops Journal - August 2022

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