i am a highschool student who loves mini coopers. i would love to take this love further and be around many minis every day. i am like every highschool student and i dont know what i want to do with the rest of my life. all i know is, is that i love to be around my mini cooper an i would'nt mind working with them. i just need some help or some direction for where i should take my knowledge. i know i will be happy with this career choice because i enjoy being around them... so if there is anyone who could point me in the right direction i would love to give it a shot.

 

I am in College and i think working for Mini would be great as well. If you havent noticed, MiniUSA has nothing about employment. You have to go to the BMW website and under their employment link, there should be a Mini section. Atleast this is what im told from a guy who works for Mini. Good luck man!

 

Just a suggestion, but go to the nearest MINI dealer and ask about employment opportunities. Working as a "lot boy" ain't bad work (been there, done that), and gives you a lot of exposure to the cars.
From there you could find out whether working with these cars, as a mechanic, sales rep, or service advisor, is the right track for you to follow.
Rotsa ruck!

 

Get your degree first! Sounds like you might be fantastic at Mechanical Engineering. Go with what moves and inspires you!!! Sideline in Electromechanics and/or Design and Fabrication and you might be on the forefront of designing the R58s and R60s for tomorrow.

 

Mechanical engineering, become the top guys in the field and have your pick at any motoring company. :D

 

After working in a dealership for 30+ years believe me YOU DO NOT WANT TO WORK IN THE CAR BUSINESS

 

thank you all for responding!!! i am still wondering how i can work with mini coopers. if there is anymore ideas i would love to hear them. also what kind of training would i need to have to proceed with a career in this field. thanks...

 

why not? it is one of the things that i love. i love vehicles. what is so bad about it?

 

maybe he worked for ford?

 

Well I think you looking at this wrong. MINI is not a career field. It is a company within the car business.

The car business is like any other business in that they need people to work a whole variety of jobs. You can do anything mechanic, human resources, comptroller, tag and title, finance, Motoring Advisor, customer service and a bunch more. And that is just at a dealer, through in MINI International, MINI USA and MINI Finical Services and you are looking at a lot of other stuff like marketing, product development etc.

So pick something that you are interested in besides MINIs.Because if you decide that working in the accounting office at a dealership would be okay then you end up hating it, it does not matter that you are walking by MINIs on way in and out the building, you will be miserable.

Do some research to find something that you think would interest you and find out what you need to get it. It could be all sorts of engineering, marketing, sales, mechanic, graphic design anything really. If you want to be working on making the new generation of MINIs then learning German would not hurt either as a quick glance at the BMW Group Career site places most of those jobs in Germany. FYI bmwgroup.com is where all career information is, I would give that a look too.

My personal suggestion is to go to college!! You will have a great time, learn a lot, should gain a better work ethic, and by the end of the 4 years have a good knowledge base to start at a job, hopefully with MINI in your case. My other suggestion is that you at least get a minor in Business. If you plan on being promoted though a company then business just becomes more and more important. I know mechanics that are going to school for business because they are tired of working on cars and want to get to a management position. If you have at least minor then you will have a little bit of a base knowledge for starting something down the road.

Working at a car dealership can suck sometimes. Some people are slimy and are willing to stab anyone in the back as long as it benefits them. (True in any business though) MAs get $ docked from there pay when paperwork is not filled out correctly. The service department deals with people who think that they are getting screwed out of $ even before they get to the dealership and are willing to make a huge scene so everyone in the dealership knows they are not happy. You are on the front lines and everything is about $$$, you mess something up and cost the dealership money, it will most likely come from your paycheck the next week. Your job is never really safe at a dealership, BMW and MINI are still doing pretty good even with the bad economy, but that can change. If you are a MA, Mechanic or Service Advisor your job is dependent on how the customer scores you. Anything below a perfect score is considered a failure. Most dealerships will consider termination if you fall below a 90% average for any significant amount of time. These are most likely the reason that "wewantamini" would caution against working at a dealership.

Hope that is enough information for you to think about.

 

Wow I did not know this, I'm glad I gave both Universal and MainLine MINI perfect score on phone survey I got from MINI USA.

"Working at a car dealership can suck sometimes. Some people are slimy and are willing to stab anyone in the back as long as it benefits them. (True in any business though) MAs get $ docked from there pay when paperwork is not filled out correctly. The service department deals with people who think that they are getting screwed out of $ even before they get to the dealership and are willing to make a huge scene so everyone in the dealership knows they are not happy. You are on the front lines and everything is about $$$, you mess something up and cost the dealership money, it will most likely come from your paycheck the next week. Your job is never really safe at a dealership, BMW and MINI are still doing pretty good even with the bad economy, but that can change. If you are a MA, Mechanic or Service Advisor your job is dependent on how the customer scores you. Anything below a perfect score is considered a failure. Most dealerships will consider termination if you fall below a 90% average for any significant amount of time. These are most likely the reason that "wewantamini" would caution against working at a dealership.
Hope that is enough information for you to think about."

 

I suggest looking into a school such as:

http://www.uti.edu/Home/Automotive/t...7/Default.aspx

You will get general training for the 1st 6 months then you choose a specific brand for your final training, BMW, Toyota etc...

Once you graduate they have a placement program.

Be prepared to start at the bottom and work your way up even after spending 1000's for your certification. You will do all of the grunt work earning your stripes and not make much $$$ in the process compared to the experienced guys.

How do I know this?

We sent my nephew to UTI in Chicago for a year and he came out Toyota Certified. He got a job quickly at a Dealership on the East Coast. We had to buy him all of his tools and he was working his azz off trying to make ends meet doing all of the grunt work that the experienced "Flat Rate" guys did not want to do like "warranty" work that the dealer does not make very much on.

He did not stick it out and left the field and wasted all of that $$$ spent on education, tools etc... I guess it was not his passion or he would have stuck it out and earned his stripes.

If you think that this is your PASSION go for it. But do not think for a second that it will be a path to a quick fortune!

Best of luck.

 

are there any jobs out there that deal with mini coopers and are rewarding? everything said here is explaining how you have to grow to be the best. i just want to know if i do any of the "grunt" work, then will i be financially stable. i do want to stick with mini coopers when i get my next one and if i dont have the money (because they arent the cheapest car on the market) then i wont be able to motor with a smile on my face... there has to be a job out there that pays good, deals with mini coopers and would be something that i would like to stick with. thank you

 

Mechanic, Motoring Advisor. A Motoring Advisor can make 6 figures if they sell a very good amount of cars (I think about 20 cars a month will do it, but that is hard to do). Mechanics can also make pretty good money, and all of your repairs are cheap. Weather or not you want to stick with it either of those is up to you.

Something like a lot porter is not going to pay enough to live off of, not even close to getting a MINI, at best like $10-11 and hour. You can't expect to get a job that requires little to no training, no educational background, or no specialized skill set to pay well. Don't be fooled, not everyone working at a BMW/MINI dealership is driving there JCWs and 6 Series home at night. Sure some people are, but the real "grunt" worker (porters, car cleaners, valets, cashiers, janitorial etc) is getting in there 8 year old Toyota/Honda/Ford/GM whatever, and driving home. Not that there is anything wrong with driving those cars, that is just how it is.