Training, Other Qualifications, and Advancement Most employers prefer to hire persons who have completed formal training programs in automotive body repair, but these programs supply only a portion of employers' needs. Formal training is highly desirable because advances in technology have greatly changed the structure, components, and materials used in automobiles. As a result, these new technologies require proficiency in new repair techniques and skills. Many high schools, vocational schools, private trade schools, and community colleges offer automotive repair training programs. Formal training in automotive body repair can enhance chances for employment and speed promotion.
Employers also hire many persons without formal automotive body repair training.
They learn the trade as helpers, picking up skills on the job from experienced body repairers. For helper jobs, most employers prefer to hire high school graduates who know how to use handtools. Good reading and basic mathematics and computer skills are essential to becoming a fully skilled automotive body repairer. Restoring unibody automobiles to their original form requires such precision that body repairers must follow instructions and diagrams in technical manuals to make very precise three-dimensional measurements of the position of one body section relative to another. Helpers begin by assisting body repairers in tasks such as removing damaged parts and installing repaired parts.