- So, you like cars so much, you want
to make 'em your career, huh?
Well, you came to the right place.
Today, I'll tell you how, whether you have a degree
or no experience at all, everything from working
in lube shops, the aftermarket, service centers,
racing, sales, even media.
I talked to a bunch of people who have done it all
and are waiting to work with the next generation.
Let's make it happen.
(funky music)
- Thanks to Keeps for sponsoring today's video.
Ever since I moved back to my parents,
I've been spending time going through all my memory boxes.
Last night, I found my yearbook and some nice legs.
(whistling)
Hello, they were mine, but this morning
I found something even better, my old basketball.
Those were the days.
When I had thick luscious hair, I would dominate
the paint in high school.
No one could touch Uncle the Birdman Jerry,
and I was going to the NBA, but then everything changed
when I became one of the two out of three guys
to experience some form of male pattern baldness
by the time I was 35.
If only I had used Keeps.
See, Keeps makes hair loss prevention easy
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Thanks for the memories, Mr. Basketball.
Hey, at least I still got good legs.
(falcon cawing)
Oh, shut up, Dave.
You don't have a urethra. (laughing)
(video beeping)
- First things first.
If you're still in school and have the opportunity
to take an auto shop class, take the auto shop class.
This is where you can get your feet wet and work
with a bunch of tools you probably wouldn't
have easy access to.
After you graduate, now what?
Well, you can go to college or go right into the workforce.
If you want to work for a big manufacturer as a designer,
engineer, or in their marketing division or whatever,
pretty much have to go to college,
but we'll talk about that later.
There are a lot of ways to get into the industry
that don't require a formal education, but first let's talk
about the mindset you need to have.
Coffee's hitting, dude.
Don't think of your job search as finding
a job in the auto industry.
That's too broad and won't help you get focused.
Think of it as finding a job you'd want anyway
that happens to be centered around cars.
Once you decide on what kind of work you want to be doing,
you got to have a plan or at least a goal in mind.
It's okay if you don't have an entire timeline laid out.
I don't really either, but if you don't at least have
an idea of where you want to end up, you run the risk
of falling into a rut with a job you don't really love,
and I don't want that for you.
So let's talk about a great first step
for someone who wants to work with cars
who has no experience or college education.
Oil and tires.
Changing oil and installing tires might not be the most
glamorous gig in the world, but you don't
have to do it forever.
These are entry level jobs.
Think of them as your education on how to work and behave
in a shop environment, which is valuable experience.
These businesses have no problem hiring people
with limited skills, even if you're a teenager.
If you stick around in a lube shop or tire shop,
you might be able to work your way up to a manager
or you can put your experience on a resume for a new job
in say, the aftermarket.
If you don't want to work with oil or tires,
there are plenty of entry-level jobs
in the automotive aftermarket.
I'm talking about all the businesses that build
all the cool parts you see Zach Jobe or Gingium
or Mighty Car Mods install in their builds.
All of those came from dedicated manufacturers
that you could work at, but without experience,
you got to start at the bottom which in many cases
means working in the warehouse.
Now, just because you aren't product planning
or making sales doesn't mean that working in the warehouse
is a bad place to get your foot in the door.
You're going to be packing boxes, moving pallets around,
taking inventory, maybe making some shipping labels,
and gaining significant forearm strength.
Yeah, I remember using the pallet jack.
I'll never forget you, Maggie.
You're also going to be learning perhaps
the most valuable knowledge of knowing
how the company operates and integrating
into that company culture.
From a warehouse position, you can probably work your way
into the sales department, where you can focus on
either retail or wholesale, selling directly to customers
versus selling to other businesses.
The cool thing about sales is that you don't need
specialized technical training.
You just need to be good with people, and if you show
interest in that sort of work,
your employer will probably train you in it,
and that doesn't just go for sales.
Say you think you have good ideas for products,
and your employer does too.
It's likely they'll show you how to develop those skills
if you show you have the drive to learn.
(video beeping)
If you're liking these jobs so far, how about you do the job
of hitting that like button, really helps us out.
Thank you.
(video beeping)
Let's move on to a more obvious way to work around cars,
working at a dealership.
The most well-known car job besides mechanic is probably
car salesman, but there are plenty of jobs at a dealership
that require little experience and that you probably
didn't know you could get paid to do.
You could work inside a dealership answering phones
for their business development center.
You can work in the back office handling DMV paperwork.
Some dealerships are so big that they need someone
just to move cars around the lot
and shuttle customers around town.
They usually call this position a porter.
You can also work in dealership finance, but that does take
a bit of previous experience.
Okay, so what if you actually want
to work with the inventory?
You can get your foot in the door detailing the cars,
making them all nice and shiny before they leave the lot.
If you're handy with a camera and have a portfolio
to prove it, you can work in
a dealership's photography department.
Many luxury car dealers need someone to shoot cars
in their onsite studios because their inventory
is constantly shifting.
Then of course, there's car sales itself,
which does require experience.
Some states require a license to become a car sales rep,
but the dealership would probably help you get that
and train you for the job if you already work for them,
but what if you want to work on cars?
Then you need to get into the service center.
Here, you'll be doing regular maintenance on customer cars
or work your way up to serious repairs
like replacing drivetrain components.
Entry-level jobs at service centers include
lube and tire tech positions we discussed earlier,
but there is room for growth.
Now you can become a mechanic just by working on stuff,
but dealerships really value something
called ASE certification.
The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence,
or ASE, is a nonprofit org that tests and certifies
automotive technicians so you know that they know
what they're (bleep) they're doing to your car
when it's in the shop.
You don't technically need to be ASE certified
to be a mechanic but it's really good to have it.
Shops and dealerships only need one ASE technician
to put up an ASE plaque, but the more the better.
Dealerships will train you and pay for
your ASE certification because it's in
their best interest to do so.
The more people they have certified,
the better it looks on the door.
The cool thing about dealerships in my eyes is that
there's a good amount of upward mobility within
the business if you dedicate yourself to the work.
It's totally possible to go from driving customer shuttles
to a high position in the service department.
My buddy Vincent did just that.
I had another friend who went from being a porter
to taking pictures to becoming a salesman.
It's really on you to get after the job you want.
Okay, so what if you want to build cars like,
learn how to work with metal, learn how to wire up
an electrical system, build some engines,
and show some artistry.
How do you get a job in a custom shop?
It's not like if you get a degree in hot rodding, right?
In my experience, these are the kinds of businesses
you have to approach in person and flat out ask
if you can work there.
It varies from shop to shop but it really helps to have
a prior relationship with them or know an employee
who can get you an introduction.
Many of these custom shops will train you on the fly,
according to a sink or swim mentality.
The people that run these shops will skip having you
sweep floors and get you on a project right away
to see how you react.
Attitude is more important than skill
when you're first starting out.
You have to be teachable.
A big thing for me was getting over my desire
to look like I knew what I was doing and ask for help
and actually taking in what my boss was trying to teach me
instead of saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that.
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah.
Getting over that is very important.
I asked my friend, John Benton, owner of Benton Performance
down in Anaheim, what he looks for in candidates.
He said besides basic trade skills, he refers to a sign
posted in his shop, and here it is.
(static buzzing)
Like I said, these places value attitude very highly.
(funky music)
Let's talk about racing jobs.
It is possible to get paid for racing,
just probably not how you expect.
Very, very few people actually get paid
to be behind the wheel.
Short of top tier series like Formula 1,
the NASCAR Cup series and Indy Car, not a lot of drivers
get paid to drive.
In fact, a lot of drivers pay to drive.
We actually talked about that a few weeks ago.
Still, you can have a career in racing.
If you're already versed in a trade like welding
or machining, that does make it easier to get in the door
at a race team, and I'm talking like a pro level
race team like NASCAR.
If you don't have the skills though, you can still get in.
If you happen to be a college athlete watching this,
a NASCAR or Indy team is looking for your talents.
Most of the pit crews in the NASCAR Cup series
are former college athletes, and if you get recruited
to a Cup team, that's a full-time paid job.
You can still get paid to be on a pit crew,
but if you're not at the Cup series, if you're working
on Xfinity or Truck or ARCA series, like, you're moving
around a lot getting a lot of gigs, all right.
Once you get to the Cup series, that's when it's like,
okay, you're on the team.
That's full time, boom, you're in.
Like a custom shop, don't be afraid to approach a team
and ask if there's anything you can do to help.
They're probably not gonna announce any job posting.
Just go to a team and introduce yourself.
These teams do have positions that are like internships
or apprenticeships where you're going to be doing odd jobs
around the facility like sweeping, taking vinyl off
a race car, or helping organize the office.
The cool thing about some racing organizations is that
you don't necessarily need to know a lot about racing
to work for a team.
As much as racing is about strategy and skill on the track,
teams are always looking for new ideas
to help optimize their organization.
NASCAR itself is famous for hiring people outside the sport
to keep it fresh and maintain its relevance.
Once you're in an organization, cultivate a circle of people
that can begin to trust you and your abilities.
Don't be afraid to ask questions and ask
if you can try something out.
Might be good at it, you might not, but at least
you showed initiative, which race teams value immensely.
Like many of the other jobs we've talked about,
there's no textbook for this career.
A ton of learning is hands-on, which brings me
to my next job.
I bet there's a few of you watching this
who want to make car videos and get paid for it.
I'll tell you what our creative director Jesse told me,
because he's been in this game for a while.
The most direct way to make money shooting car content
is to shoot for brands as a freelancer, but unlike some of
the other paths I've talked about so far,
this one's gonna take a lot of persistence
and doing stuff for free.
If you want to make car videos for money,
you better make sure you're good at making any kind of video
with any kind of equipment.
Too many people get caught up choosing gear when they have
a phone in their pocket the whole time.
Starting with subpar equipment is how you hone your craft.
You learn how to work around constraints.
Once you've mastered the basics with your phone or a GoPro,
then move up to a dedicated camera like a DSLR,
preferably used because you don't need the best stuff.
You're still learning.
Now you can do what a lot of my friends have done
to fund their car content and that's shoot weddings.
It pays pretty good.
You do it on the weekend and you'll learn
how to become a filmmaker.
To that point, film school is beneficial for sure,
but there's also a ton of filmmaking resources on YouTube.
You can totally teach yourself how to do this.
All right, it's time to shoot some car stuff.
You're going to have to go to where the cars are at.
Go to tracks, go to meets, wherever,
but don't go in without a plan.
For your work to get good, you need to have
a vision for what you're trying to make
before you even start shooting.
It can evolve on location, but have that game plan.
Otherwise, what are you going to edit?
Oh, also learn to edit.
When you're just starting out, you're going to be shooting
a lot of stuff for free.
This is a period of building your portfolio.
Think of it as an apprenticeship
that you're paying yourself for.
Another thing, you got to watch a lot of stuff,
but not passively.
Pay attention to what makes content good
and why people like watching it.
If you want to get paid for your work,
you need to understand what makes something appealing
to a wider audience.
Remember, we're not making stuff just because we like it.
We want to make stuff that other people will like,
and in the case of being a freelance shooter,
you're making something that a brand will like,
and then write you a check for it.
Finally, what if you actually want to design cars?
Unlike most of the jobs I've talked about so far,
becoming an engineer does require a formal education,
usually a degree in mechanical engineering to start.
Try to find a school that has a formula SAE team.
Formula SAE is where college kids get to design, build,
and race their own race cars.
It's really sick.
Big shout out to Matador Motorsports at CSU Northridge.
Formula SAE competitions are regularly scouted
by recruiters from the automotive industry.
So that's a great place to make an impression
and also just gain a lot of experience designing a car,
but it's not the only way.
Last year, David Tracy wrote a really great story on how
eight different engineers got their start in the industry.
I'll link it down in the description right now.
The common thread in every story is that they all studied
super hard in college and got any internships
they could in the industry.
They might not have landed their dream job right away,
but internships allow you to integrate yourself
into the company culture and find out how things
really work in the office.
Another key to breaking into the biz doesn't just apply
to working in an OEM, but many, many other industries,
and that is being persistent.
The truth is, there's no predetermined path
to your dream job, and the journey
is different for everybody.
You're going to have to feel some things out on your own,
but something we all possess is the ability
to keep on trying until you get there.
You might not have the skills right now to do what you want
to do, but that doesn't mean that you never will.
You've got to write some emails, call some people up,
knock on some doors and an opportunity
will present itself eventually.
It pays to be professionally persistent.
Don't overdo it, don't be annoying.
Certainly don't harass a potential employer
because that's bad, but do remind people of your existence
and something should happen, but maybe the most
important thing to keep in mind is to find a job
where you can go home happy on a regular basis
because that's worth a lot more than a fancy job title.
So whatever it is you want to do,
I sincerely believe in you.
You can do it.
- [Announcer] Big announcement.
- Donut is looking for new co,
sorry, can you go back to the beginning?
(video beeping)
You guys, Donut is looking for new hosts.
Do you love cars?
Do you know how to work on cars?
Do you have a potentially unhealthy desire
to be the center of attention?
Perfect, then go here or click the link
in the description below.
We're looking for the funniest person in the pit crew,
the most hilarious person in the shop.
If this is you, submit to be a host.
If this sounds like someone you know,
encourage them to submit to be a host.
The last time we did this, we met both
Zach Jobe and Jeremiah.
- Thank you guys so much for watching my audition video.
- Hello Donut Media.
My name is Zach Jobe.
- You could seriously be next.
So go ahead and click that link or send it to a friend
and let's make videos about cars together.
- Goodbye.
- Thank you very much for watching Wheelhouse.
I hope you enjoyed this one and I hope you go out there
and do it, whatever it is you want to do.
Big thank you to Mitch at Stewart Haas Racing,
John Benton at Benton Performance, Vincent Vigil,
Austin Gesso, Adam Knappick, Zach Jobe, and Jesse Wood
for your help on this episode.
I couldn't have made it without you guys.
If you're a Donut super freak and want to connect
with other Donut fans around the world
and get exclusive content, check out the Donut Underground
by hitting that join button down there.
Follow Donut Media on all social media @donutmedia.
Follow me @nolanjsykes if you like.
Be kind, follow your dreams, and I'll see you next time.