FYI: Okay, great, why don’t you tell us a little bit about how you got into the industry?
Dana: Well actually, I was in the military, I was in the Army for about 10 and half years and I was in the transportation field, I was a truck driver basically is what I did there. So when I got out, I was looking for, I didn’t work for a few years because I got out to stay home with my kids, and I was looking for something in the same area, something I was used to. This was kind of similar to the environment that I was used to.
FYI: Were you trained in the military to do what you do here, or did you have to go to another school?
Dana: What I did in the military was more the transportation, the actual driving part of it, but because we
were drivers we work very closely with the mechanics and stuff so I kind of had a little experience with that area. And this here, even though I work up front with the retail part there is a lot you have to know about the mechanical part of it because you are selling services to customers, you are calling customers and telling them about things and you have to know what you are talking about
FYI: As a woman in a field that is dominated by men, have you ever found any kind of challenges or obstacles?
Dana: Well, realistically, it is male dominated, and a lot of times people come in and they want to speak with a man, you know they will even ask, “is there a man”, I have had people ask if they could speak to a man or when I am trying to tell them about something they want you know that there to be a man to tell them, that’s because they just automatically assume that because I am a woman I don’t know what I am talking about, so and that’s just, that’s just realistically how it is. And we just have to learn to deal with it; there is nothing that we can do about it. If they want to talk to a man, I get a man for them. And the man tells them the same thing I just told them but I guess it makes them feel better for some reason.
FYI: How about on the employer side? When you were looking for jobs, did you find a lot of resistance because you were a woman?
Dana: Actually, I only applied for a few jobs and this was one of my first interviews and they pretty much hired me right away. They are really good about, well this particular franchise is good about hiring military, ex-military people, so that was a plus for me, and just the fact that I had some experience in the field, and I was in a leadership position when I was in the military and the organizational skills and the ability to work under stress, that helped me out a lot. I didn’t feel any discrimination or hesitation because I am a woman at all.
FYI: Are there other employees that have the same job description as you, in retail?
Dana: Mmhmm, myself and another man, Jonathan. But he started here about 20 years ago, and he started working out in the, you know, changing tires and working on cars, he worked his way up.
FYI: Do you think that if you did not have the military expertise and were just a woman with the same qualifications as a man who starts out here, it would have been more difficult for you to get this job?
Dana: I know that my military experience is definitely a plus, I am not going to say it is not a plus, there are certain employers who are very keen on hiring ex-military personnel, but realistically, maybe, seeing as it is a male dominated area. If I had experience, I hope I would have been able to get the job, but I don’t know. I have been to different stores and there are not a lot of women working in the different (auto mechanic) stores. I have seen a few that work up front, one or two, but I haven’t seen any that work in the mechanical area. So, I don’t know.
