Certified Mechanics/ Technicians

Monster.com and dice.com are two sites that you can register. You might also get some recent retirees, who want to stay active, but don't want to work full time.

Jeff

I am unsure of what "dealerships" you will be assisting.. perhaps other than used car dealers since all new car dealer shops will have access to factory technical resources....

There will be some pitfalls in an "all make" type hotline since the major part of any "expertise" is going to be in product knowledge. This is only one of the fine points someone less versed in the automotive trades may miss quite easily.

It is very hard to be a "decent" tech... harder yet to be a good tech... but all to easy to be a crappy one. With the state of current technology, we find "general techs", while still in demand as far as auto repairs are concerned, aren't the kind of techs needed in a technical assistance venue.

Ask me about a PwerStroke Diesel, and I can expound for hours.... ask me about a Cummins or DuraMax and I start most statements with "I think....".

Ask me about Ford trucks and you'll find I have very good product knowledge...Ford cars will be a very different thing and my only claim to fame will be my abilty to navigate Fords three main workshop documents as well as understand what OASIS can do for me....

Your candidates will need to be intelligent, border-line overachievers, possess great desire and good product knowledge. They will need to have an "ear to the ground" in any available public forums dealing with their "stock in trade"... and access to recent documentation and/or training (not the "infommercial" training sessions that many suppliers enjoy delivering).

You might be further ahead with sites like

(there may be a frosty welcome since these guys do have an agenda) or putting up ads on sites like . For any technical assistance board to succeed, you will need talented people.... talented people usually realize that what is in their heads is worth far more money than what their hands can earn alone....

>

He is talking about the FORD technical hotline. Its in Allen Park, MI about

300ft from the protoype center, and just down the road from the proving grounds. Its in a building called FCSD Building 1. FCSD stands for Ford Customer Service Division, and is part of SEO (Service Engineering Operations). I worked for TAC last summer as an intern on the Ford hotline. They truly handle calls from all over the country, including alaska and hawaii from Ford dealerships.. I believe they also supply techs for the GM hotline as well.

That is why the hotline is broken up into groups. There is Truck BCE (Body Chassis Electrical), Car BCE, SUV BCE, Manual Trans/Driveline, auto trans,

4cyl, 6cyl, 8cyl, and diesel groups all in the one call center that handles about 2,000 calls a day.

You obviously dont work for a FORD dealership. When you run and Oasis report on PTS it generates a number. You enter the Oasis number when you call the hotline and the call center dialer will put you in the cue that belongs to the group that your problem will be addressed by.

Every tech hired at the hotline has to pass a basic competency exam before they will even think about it. ASE certified isnt required as most guys wont turn a wrench again, but it's an added bonus.

AS well as all the available tools that the dealers have, the hotline engineers have access to past reports for similiar problems, as well as special messages that are past around the hotline. If an hotline engineer has an ingenius idea about how to fix a problem, and can get engineering to sign off on it, then they write a first note for the hotline, then it has to get approved by legal for it to become a SMS, then if it becomes big enough, then it becomes a TSB. If the problem is corrected at the plant via the SME and the PVT meetings, then the SMS is archived and wont become a TSB.

ALL hotline engineers recieve new model training as well as an in depth brush up course on how to troubleshoot problems in their group when first hired. I got 4wks training for just an internship, and the full time hires got an extra 3wks on that. Accordingly BCE guys get more NVH, and Electrical/Electronics training, and the engine guys have their specialized training. Also, EVERY model has an SME (Subject Matter Expert), if a HE(hotline engineer) has a problem he cant fathom, then that is what the HOLD button is for on the phone. He can ask the SME about it and get their input. SME's have direct access to PVT guys as well as some other nifty things.

The pay and benefits are comparable to what Ford direct employees recieve, since they work hand in hand with Ford employees. But if you dont have atleast a Bachelors degree, dont think about becoming a Ford company employee.

Ford Tech

Ford Tech is complete right, this is a Ford Hotline and I appreciate all of your responses. We have tried the traditional methods of monster and dice, but we are looking for the places that you guys as techs come for info and advice, but not neccassarily looking for work. I have found that while Ford Tech has experience in this type of environment that most have not. I have tried flatratetech in the past, but forddoctorsdts.com is new to me. This is exactly the type of advice that I was looking for.

As for response to our positions, currently we are only supporting the Ford hotline ( which we do exclusively). If any of you know someone that may be interested in this type of work please either drop me a line here or send your resume in my email is list above.

P.S. Hey Ford Tech Samara Skowr> "Jim Warman" wrote in

messagenews:hBzvh.704$Oa.376@edtnps82...

hotline. Its in Allen Park, MI about

Truck BCE (Body

tools that the dealers have, the hotline

I don't work for a Ford dealer??? Enough to know that generating an OASIS report no longer automatically gives you a 9 digit number - The new system has you request hotline assistance (and I don't recall making any mistaken claims to that, anyway) and either allows asking a general type question (I must admit that I like the text messaging when my request has been answered) or an "instant" number..... Enough to know that I get to select option 5 after I call in... I fail to see where anything I said indicates that I DON'T work for a Ford dealer.

As a working shop foreman, my main stock in trade is any vehicle that is making a repeat visit for the same concern or a vehicle that has a concern that is difficult to recreate.....

I always approach hotline with mixed emotions.... many times for no other reason than to lay some groundwork for a warranty claim that looks like it could go into "overtime" or require the replacement of parts on speculation. Most of the hotline techs I have dealt with are, at the very least, good for bouncing ideas off - making sure I haven't shortchanged myself on any particular diagnostic steps (I usually have more and bigger guns pointed at my head than the line techs) or, hopefully, that I haven't missed any steps.

I'm sure that we both know that every PPT will end with us replacing a module and we both know that replacing the module usually wont fix the concern. For my part, hotline will either have me do the "DUH!!" thing or be of no assistance at all (a recent "no charge after cold start" on an 07 Expedition comes to mind - at least the hotline tech didn't have to freeze his 'nads finally solving the problem - in the shop, this charging system ALWAYS passed with flying colours).

At the same time, they couldn't tell me what might have me see 900mV on ckt

904 at C102a on an 05 Excursion nor could they tell me why this mystery voltage would only turn the alternator on (with the key off) randomly and only below freezing... unfair to them? You bet... at the same time, my help request was misread and I received a lecture on the proper way to conduct a parasitic draw test (after I told them what my parasitic draw was). One can only imagine what some of the help requests might be.....

Now... what was it that made you feel I wasn't employed by a Ford dealer? And how could you forget broadcast messages?

I always view headhunter type posts with one raised eyebrow (strange, since I'm currently trying to fill several soon to be completed new bays in an extension to our existing shop). For my part, I am usually more receptive to those that come right out and state exactly what their intentions and conditions are.... (I think they call me a dinosaur, in some circles).

While Ford Tech has picked up on your return address, I have little use for that particular information and it doesn't ring any bells.... my time is spent fixing these things and it is, sometimes, all I can do to recall references to where I can find the information I need to satisfy my customers.

Occasionally, I wonder what hotline techs earn and what technical instructors earn.... but I am often reminded that my position (shop foreman), stressful as it may be, returns rewards that other venues can't...

Given that you are already looking for people that need to be of high calibre, I wish you luck. I always approach hotline with mixed emotions - other than having first notice of impending pattern failures, they don't offer much that a conscientious, intelligent tech hasn't already assessed.

I wish you good luck in your search.

As an afterthought.... you might also consider iATN. While some of the people they allow in to the system seem to have dubious qualifications, they do have some smart cookies on board. I had no doubts that, as Ford Tech pointed out, that hotline techs receive regular training.... but we both have to admit that it isn't hard to pass an open book test.

I can't afford the pay hit that an advisory position might entail, but I still wouldn't mind seeing if I could "pass muster" on any prerequiste knowledge testing....

"A day without learning is a day wasted...".

Jim,

I apologize, the way you put your statement made it sound as though you did not work at a dealership, or even at a Ford dealership, and that you hadn't heard of the Ford hotline. And the pay if comparable to a dealership in the Detroit area, probably better, but there benefits package parellels Ford Motor Companies benefits.

As for the return adress I just hit reply to group, or reply to sender, and it will bring up his e-mail.

As to some of your other replies, you have to remember not everyone at the hotline is a stellar candidate for Senior Tech of the Year, but at the same time, there are some smart cookies up there. And they arent engineering. They are mechanics like you an me. So they arent supposed to try and explain why something will go wrong, with computers it could be any number of reasons.

Ford Tech