As we welcome the new school year, it’s time to dust off the textbooks, fire up the engines, and remind students that “righty tighty, lefty loosey” isn’t just good advice for bolts – it’s a life motto! In just a few months, many of your students will be stepping into the automotive industry, eager to apply the skills they’ve developed in your classrooms and labs.
However, a critical question arises:
When class wraps up, where will your students be working?
According to the ASE Education Foundation, a startling 41% of graduates entering the automotive industry leave altogether within their first two years. Almost as fast as 10mm sockets disappearing from a toolbox! This startling number underscores the importance of ensuring that their future workplaces offer more than just a job – they need mentors, clear career paths, and structured processes that support their growth. Think of it as making sure they have a GPS for their career, so they don’t end up on the “road to nowhere”.
How Educators Bridge the Gap
As educators, you play a pivotal role in preparing students not just for their first job, but for long-term technician careers. By building relationships with auto and diesel service centers that prioritize mentorship and career development, and weeding out shops that don’t, you can help bridge the gap between education and long-term industry success.
Save Time, Track More with Mentor Mentee
While Mentor Mentee is widely used in automotive and diesel service teams, our mentoring management system also delivers measurable value to schools and training programs. Mentor Mentee:
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Streamlines lab work tracking and ASE tasks so you can focus more on teaching and less on paperwork.
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Lets students log and self-report daily skills (e.g., how many times they completed an oil change or brake inspection).
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Provides you with a simple sign-off process and generates detailed skills reports to showcase competency levels.
When students graduate with this record of their training, hiring managers gain confidence in their readiness. They see not only what a student learned, but how often they applied it accelerating job placement and long-term retention.
Building Tomorrow’s Workforce, Together
Educators lay the groundwork for technician success, but it takes the right shops and service teams to carry that momentum forward. Mentor Mentee bridges the classroom and the industry by helping businesses create environments where new technicians thrive, with structured mentoring, clear career paths, and consistent skill tracking.
Your role in shaping tomorrow’s workforce is invaluable. Our role is making sure your students step into shops that invest in their growth and keep them in the industry for the long haul.
👉 See How Mentoring Drives Retention