This fall, about 180 talent acquisition and HR leaders met in California for the 2026 CAT People Conference. Our RPO team spent a few days talking with people about technician hiring and co-hosted a round-table with one of the dealers we work with.
We came home with a clearer picture of the conditions the industry is watching. Below, we’ve pulled those together, along with some practical ways to check how your own hiring process is holding up.
What the industry is keeping an eye on
While at the conference, a few topics kept coming up in our conversations with HR and talent acquisition leaders. Each one impacts how dealers are approaching technician hiring right now.
The technician shortage has been around a long time
The industry has been talking about the technician shortage for years, and many people we spoke with said it isn’t getting any better. More technicians are retiring than are coming into the trade.
Dealers are working hard to fill these roles. Still, the shortage has been around so long that it might even start to feel normal to have a handful of hard-to-hire technician positions open for an extended period.
If that’s starting to feel normal to you, it’s fair to ask whether you’re putting up with a problem you really don’t have to.
Schools and apprenticeships can't carry the load alone
Trade school partnerships and apprenticeship programs bring new people into the field, and they’re worth the investment. But the idea that they can’t fill every opening on their own seemed to resonate with a lot of the people we talked with.
"If you're partnering with a trade school, that's great. That's part of the solution, but it's not likely to be enough to fill everything you need. It's going to take multiple tools to solve the problem."
A growing interest in AI
Many recruiting teams aren’t able to add headcount, and that’s driving a lot of interest in AI. One conference session on AI tools for HR drew more than half the attendees.
Heavy equipment is a relationship business, so the conversation wasn’t about replacing people. It was about using technology to make sure everyone who calls gets taken care of.
Winning over experienced technicians
If schools and apprenticeships can only cover part of the need, the rest has to come from experienced technicians who already have jobs.
Emily Gordon, our SVP of RPO, broke that challenge into two parts: getting in front of the right technicians and, once you do, not “fumbling the football.”
Reach technicians before they start looking
According to our quarterly Tech Check report, 70% to 80% of technicians aren’t actively looking for jobs. They’re passive job seekers, so you have to go to them.
Reaching them starts with knowing who you’re looking for. Emily noted that many dealers are still working out the profile of the technician who would want their jobs.
Once you know that, you can use targeted ads and outreach to get the right technicians thinking about a change before they ever search. As Jeff put it, by the time someone searches for a job, it’s often too late. Other employers are already in the running.
"Creating awareness and a desire to talk to your company as an employer of choice before anybody else does is a huge differentiator. As soon as they start talking to somebody, they'll get two or three calls. Being first is great."
Don't fumble it once they respond
Emily called this a basic problem, but a very real one. More technicians means more service work a dealer can take on, and more service work means more revenue.
A few places to focus on:
- Make applying easy. Each extra step is another place an interested technician might give up.
- Be reachable when technicians can call. Many are working during business hours, so evenings and weekends may be the only time they can follow up on a job.
- Respond to everyone who reaches out. Jeff sees technology as a way for a small team to make sure every caller gets a good response, while keeping the personal touch this industry runs on.
- Know the work. Technicians can tell quickly when a recruiter doesn’t understand the job. Recruiters who do understand it earn trust faster.
"Imagine talking to a technician and not knowing what the heck you're talking about. An experienced technician will sniff that stuff out immediately, and likely lose a bit of confidence in the process."
How your technician hiring compares
Here are a few benchmarks you can measure your own hiring against. They come from a review of North American equipment dealers and our Q3 2026 Tech Check technician hiring report.
Dedicated after-hours recruiting lines
17.5% of dealers have a dedicated after-hours recruiting line or process in place. If you have one, you’re ahead of most of the field.
What happens when a candidate calls after hours
When someone called a dealer’s main line after hours to ask about a technician job:
- About 58% of calls reached an automated phone menu
- About 33% went to voicemail
- Only about 10% reached a live person
What it costs to hire a technician
From our technician recruiting campaigns in Q3 2026:
- Average cost per hire: $2,552 (the lowest in our data since 2021)
- Average cost per lead: $42.15
If your costs run well above these, start by looking at the length of your application and how fast your team contacts new leads.
What technicians are being offered
Across technician job postings in Q3 2026:
- Median advertised pay was $28.00 an hour, or about $77,500 a year
- 42% of job posts listed an hourly wage, up from 33% a year earlier
- Only about 5% offered a sign-on bonus
Posting a specific wage makes your offer easy to compare. If your pay sits close to the median, details like schedule, tool allowances, and training can help your posts stand out.
A quick self-check for your technician hiring
You don’t need a new system to see where your process stands. Try these five checks this month:
- Call your recruiting line after hours. Ask about a technician job and compare what happens with the results above.
- Apply to one of your own jobs on your phone. Count the steps and note anywhere you’d be tempted to quit.
- Read your job posts like a technician would. Check whether pay is listed and your training programs and career paths are mentioned.
- Time your first response. Find out how long it takes for a new applicant to hear from someone.
- Watch your trends. Track open roles, time to fill, and cost per hire month over month.
Anything that frustrates you during these checks is probably frustrating candidates, too.
Let's talk
Randall Reilly’s RPO team helps equipment dealers hire technicians within their existing systems and under their own brand.
We’d be glad to give you a closer look at the comparison data and where your dealership lands. We can also share how one dealer we work with rethought its technician hiring and found a new normal.
Fill out the form below, and someone from our team will be in touch to set up a time.