BEST DEALERSHIPS TO WORK FOR IN CANADA

Location: Scarborough, Ont.

Dealer principal: Chris Gauthier

Dealership group: Roadsport Auto Group

Number of employees: 79

2017 new-vehicle sales: 2,026, up 8%

2017 used-vehicle sales: 653, up 24%

General Manager Craig Cowling on staff diversification and attracting more women to the workplace: Based on our location, we are thrilled to be a very diverse dealership, able to speak over 15 different languages to better communicate with the community. Word of mouth is the best form of recruitment of new staff! When recruiting, we look for personality and skill set rather than race or gender.

Cowling on helping employees develop a career path: Through performance reviews, we identify strengths and opportunities of our team members. Using this, we help them attain their goals.

Cowling on the challenges of hiring/retention in the face of dramatic changes in technology and competition for skilled staff: Our management team is constantly looking at companies that are relatively new or tech savvy to see what they do differently. We then implement these tactics into our daily business. Also, when looking for new recruits, we do not only use the traditional job posting sites. Our philosophy is to not necessarily look for "trained staff," instead we believe in "hiring personality and training skill."

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