Connected at NADA 2024 Special Episode: How to Get Noticed by Recent Grads with Brooke Engelhardt

Greg Uland: Hi, I'm Greg Uland with Reynolds and Reynolds, and this is Connected live at NADA from Las Vegas. This episode, I get to sit down with Brooke Engelhardt. Brooke is a junior at Northwood University up in Midland, Michigan. Really excited about this conversation. It will be a different perspective. Brooke, thanks so much for joining.

Brooke Engelhardt: Greg, thank you for having me. Much appreciated.

GU: Of course. Of course. So, Brooke, start with – for anybody that doesn't know – I think everybody knows in the auto industry, but give a little background, a little context, on Northwood University. You know, what the university stands for and kind of the programs there.

BE: Absolutely. So Northwood University is a private business school located in Midland, Michigan, which if you do it on the ‘M’– on your hand – it's like right here. But Northwood University is America's free enterprise university. There, so every student on campus is business minded – which is fantastic to be able to walk around on the mall, walk and see students with like minds. And it's just great to be able to walk up to any student and share a business idea and have them do the same and just start a conversation.

GU: Yeah, well, it's a lot of fun. That's a lot of fun. So, you're out here at NADA, obviously. We, we brought a bunch of you guys out –

BE: Yeah.

GU: And really appreciate you joining us. It's been, been fun to have you as part of our team out here at NADA. So appreciate that.

BE: Yeah.

GU: I wanted to ask, so you, you know, you have your sash on.

BE: Yes.

GU: Tell me about that a little bit.

BE: Yeah. So at Northwood University, we essentially have a homecoming king and queen. But we are known as Northwood’s Fresh Air ambassadors.

GU: Okay.

BE: Now, ‘Fresh Air’ stands for Northwood’s Code of Ethics. And each letter actually stands for something. So it's freedom, respect, empathy, spirituality, honesty, achievement, integrity and responsibility.

GU: Great.

BE: So I've been seen as a Northwood’s student that exemplifies Northwood’s mission, vision, values, and code of ethics.

GU: That's great. Congratulations.

BE: Thank you. I greatly appreciate it.

GU: Yeah. For sure. All right, so I wanted to get into, Brooke, a little bit. You know, having you here and having your perspective, a lot of our audience is car dealers.

BE: Yeah.

GU: You're a junior this year.

BE: Yeah.

GU: So you have one more year in school. You're starting to probably look at what you want to do after school.

BE: Yes, I am. Yeah.

GU; So when you're looking at companies, how do you find them? What are you looking for? In my head, I'm thinking, is there an opportunity for dealers specifically to recruit you or, you know, your friends or students like you, that are business minded, right? They, they're success minded. They're driven. You know, we're always looking for great talent in this industry. So, wanted to get into that a little bit. I don't know if you have any thoughts to, to start or, maybe just what you're looking for I guess, in a career, in a company.

BE: Certainly. I mean, at Northwood University, there is so many different experiential learning opportunities that students have. And for an example, NADA is one, being able to attend this with Reynolds and Reynolds and be an intern. Truthfully honored to be able to be here in the, in this aspect. But I feel that when it comes to dealers looking for those future business leaders, Northwood University is the place to look just because all of us, we start our major courses day one.

GU: Yeah.

BE: Which is crazy to think about. I started my Principles of Marketing class very first day of my freshman year. And here I am now as a junior, and I have taken so many different, marketing courses, business courses, you name it. But for dealers, I would say that just visiting our new website, Northwood.edu. It is a great way to be able to, just figure out what it is that Northwood truthfully is – I can only talk about it so much, but that website truthfully lays it all out. But yeah.

GU: So what would you consider? All right, so put on your marketing hat for a minute, right. And, and when you think about recruiting, right, recruiting is, is marketing and sales. But just you're bringing in talent –

BE: Of course.

GU: And people. So you have your marketing hat on if you were a dealer, or any one of these vendors even out here at this show that you're at.

BE: Yeah.

GU: How would you position your company to bring, you know, you into it or to, or to pick up your fellow students or friends?

BE: Absolutely. I mean, first off, I would want to have a conversation with the student, and or the, the person who is wanting the job, of course, and just kind of sit down with them and see what it is that their personality shows. I mean, for example, everybody has a different personality, which is so great about us as human beings. We're all very creative in our own way. But just I, I would say that if I were a dealer and I sat down with a Northwood University student or any student in general, I'd really want to see how it is that they interact with me.

GU: Okay.

BE: If they're putting me first in the conversation, that goes to show they're going to do the same with their customers.

GU: Yeah.

BE: And that's how Northwood University students are. But I feel that pretty much anyone is nowadays.

GU: Yeah.

BE: I mean, we're all –  we're all in this world together. And, you know, as we all sit down with one another at it, whether it's at a meeting or at a conference or at NADA. You know, I just feel like there are plenty of opportunities that people have, to just converse with one another. And that's a great way to be able to get an understanding of how people interact. And so me as a dealer, I would love to work with someone who is willing to communicate, willing to network, and do all there is to it and not – in order to be a business professional, an automotive professional in that sense.

GU: Yeah. Yeah. So what about higher funnel, right? So if I'm thinking about getting your attention. So there's, there's big companies out there that you know the name of, but if I'm, if I'm a dealer in Saline, Michigan – right, where you're from –  how do I even get your attention to have you come to me and say, you know what, here's my resume. I'd love the opportunity to talk with you. Where do I need to be? How do I how do I get your interest, I guess?

BE: Yeah. Great question. I mean, with the generations nowadays, everybody's on their phones and everybody's on social, so I, I honestly think that promoting yourself as a dealership on whether it's Instagram, Facebook, Twitter – or now X – or Snapchat, whatever it may be, the platform that you feel is best suited to, the generation or the target market you're trying to reach to. That's the best way to get to this generation specifically.

GU: And what do you think are some of the key bullet points for the message, right? As you're looking at – as you're starting to think about your career and what you want to do next in your life, what are the things that draw you in? I mean, are you is there anything specific you're looking for in, in a company or, you know, when you think about the organization that you'll be a part of, or in a career, when you think about the really the tasks, the work that you're going to be doing, are there specific things that would draw you in? So yeah, I'm going to advertise on these different platforms, right and –

BE: Yeah.

GU: Try to be mobile, but what's the message?

BE: Yeah. Very plain and simple, but honestly just putting the employee first and that employee putting the customer first. So I would want to make sure that if I was a dealer to be able to promote to the general public is – hey, we would love to have you join our company, and, we just – any benefits towards that employee that could, truthfully benefit them

GU: Right.

GU: Would just be amazing to have. I have noticed for companies that I worked for, sometimes it's more focused on the customer, and it should be truthfully. But if I'm working for a company and they're not putting me first, I feel like I really can't put the customer first. And that can be a barrier to have to try and hop over or jump over. And so, I think that just putting your employees first, that's going to help them want to put their customers first. And it just it's full circle.

GU: Yeah. No, I talk with dealers all the time and that comes up quite a bit because, I mean, dealers are retailers. They're dealing with, retail customers and, and everybody in their store wants to treat the customer well. They want to create a great customer experience, but sometimes they just don't have the tools to do it. And it's frustrating. And, I don't know, my experience –  I was in I grew up in a parts store and, retail auto parts, and – have you ever worked retail?

BE: I – no actually I haven’t.

GU: All right. So my experience with this was, you know, you have a line of people, you have three people standing there in front of the counter. And then you have somebody on the phone, and you want to help the person on the phone. You want to help the people in front of you, but you can't do two things at once. You're trying to rush through, and it ends up that everybody has a mediocre experience because you're rushing. So how do you provide the tools to, to give that time back. To, to allow the, the employee to deliver a great customer experience? Everybody wants to.

BE: Yeah, absolutely. I feel like, a great way to start off, to provide them those tools is actually providing them tools, you know, like different seminars maybe that they can join in on or webinars, just different ways that they can gain more skill sets for themselves. I feel like then they can apply it to their consumers or customers and, go from there.

GU: Yeah. So what are you and your friends? Let's start with you. What are you looking for in, in a company specifically? I mean, are there any things – what do you expect out of an employer, I guess. What are you hoping to get in that relationship? Because it's, you know, hopefully, it'll be a long term one.

BE: Yeah.

GU: It’ll be a long term one where it's – that company becomes a part of who you are. That's, that's the idea I think for everybody, right? Is a long term relationship. So – but to do that it's a give and a take. So what, what are you looking for in the relationship from an employer?

BE: Yeah. Going back to what we just previously talked about, my employer putting me first so that I feel that I can truthfully put the customer first.

GU: Sure.

BE: Great benefits. Great communication that I can have with my employer. Someone who's going to stay committed with me so I can do the same with them and truthfully feel that I can do the same with them. But just great communication – just all around wanting to focus on me, but more importantly, focus on their customers, too.

GU: Yeah.

BE: I feel like putting both focus on your employees and your customers is crucially important. I feel that can be forgotten sometimes, especially in today's world. With customer service, I feel like there's so many barriers that can be a reason as to why customer service has not been as great nowadays as it used to be. That also ties in with social media too. There's, there's so many different factors. But I just, I'm looking for a company that's going to, truthfully have great benefits for me and also be able to satisfy me in ways where I can network with more people.

GU: Yeah, yeah. Okay, so you mentioned benefits three times now.

BE: Yeah! Yes.

GU: Give me give me some clarity on that. What – when you say benefits is there anything specific that that is in your mind?

BE: Yeah. I mean, one thing is I want my company to understand that I'm still learning.

GU: Okay.

BE: In this world, I feel that everybody needs to continue learning new things to gain more skill sets and talents and various things of that sort. But if my company is wanting to say, hey, like, how about we put you into a training course right here, right now, you get to learn about how to sell whatever ABC product it is.

GU: Yeah.

BE: And, just be able to move forward with that. And I just, I think that being able to provide your employees with various of webinars, training courses, meetups, various things of that – I think that that could be a great thing to happen.

GU: Okay. No, that's great. That's great. So, so learning opportunities, you know, just kind of being, blunt for anybody listening out there. I mean, how important is the financial piece of, you know, a benefits package? So not just salary, but, do you have your eyes set on kind of your normal things like insurance and 401K and those –  are those things important to you?

BE: They are. I mean to me, yeah.

GU: Okay.

BE: Just because I, I have seen throughout this economy right now, there's, there's so much money being spent, so much money being kept. And if my company that I choose to work for, if they're going to supply me with the finances that can help benefit me and help me support my own life, wherever it ends up being, that that would just – that's something that is truthfully important in my mind.

GU: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I would imagine it is for everybody. I just, I think you can get lost and there's so much ambiguity around it and everybody's just “Yeah, we offer that too. We offer that too”. So, you know, there's, there's kind of table stakes and then there's what would go above and beyond. So I just I wasn't sure how, how important those pieces were to you. Was there –  is there anything else when you think of benefits, that fall into that bucket. So, you know, we talked about training. We talked about, you know, salary’s not really a benefit that's just, you know, the –  a function of the relationship. But 401k, insurance, clearly, what else? Anything else?

BE: The main thing is me being happy in my role.

GU: Okay.

BE: I think that being satisfied with where I'm at, and I, I love marketing. Ever since high school, I've been taking marketing courses. And it's, it's been truthfully a wonderful thing. And now that I'm at Northwood University learning about marketing more in depth, it just makes me even more, more hungry. Hungry for, for – to be able to get into the automotive industry and help in marketing related ways. And I just think that, that I'm, I'm just really hungry for that marketing aspect, you know what I mean? Yeah.

GU: And you were telling me earlier you're the, the CMO, right? For the auto show up at Northwood?

BE: That is correct.

GU: Tell me a little bit about that experience.

BE: Yeah. So the Northwood University International Auto Show has been going on for, this will be our 61st year now. And so I have the pleasure of being our chief marketing officer on the executive board with 20 other students.

GU: Nice.

BE: And so the ways that, that really benefit the show, it's 100% student ran. So there are faculty and staff on our campus, and sure, they may give advice every now and then, but us students, we're taking charge and we're getting at it.

GU: Yeah.

BE: And, I'm just very grateful to be able to be a part of this amazing RSO, or registered student organization, on Northwood University's campus. But it's amazing what we put on as a show, all of us students, and just being able to make it happen and allow the general public to be able to enjoy it is wonderful.

GU: And it just happened not too long ago.

BE: Yeah.

GU: So is that, is it in January?

BE: It's, it's in October.

GU: Was it that long ago?

BE: Yeah, of 2023.

GU: Holy cow. Time flies, I guess.

BE: Yeah.

GU: I thought it was, more recent than that, but great. So you probably ramping up for next year already?

BE: Yes. We are. So as soon as one show ends, applications go out for the general chair. And then from there, the general chair picks his executive board that he would love to work closely with on the show. And then we choose team captains, co-captains for the different manufacturers. And then from there, they choose team members. I mean, it just goes all the way down the line of Northwood University students making this happen.

GU: No, that's great. That's great, and it is a great show so it's awesome that you're able to be such a big part of it.

BE: Thank you.

GU: Yeah. So, Brooke, anything else you want to talk about, anything we haven't touched on that you want to while we have a minute?

BE: Certainly. Yeah, I mean, first of all, Greg, thank you for having me today. This has been a wonderful experiential learning opportunity. And it's honestly, it's interactions like this that make me very happy to be a Northwood student. I'm so grateful to be a Timberwolf. Roll Timbys. But I am just so honored to be able to be here right now. And I know that God has led me on a path where I'm so grateful to be here. And I have him to thank for that. But most importantly, I just – if I wasn't at Northwood, I don't know what I'd, where I'd be. So I'm very grateful for Northwood.

GU: All right. Well, thank you very much for, for taking time. It was a pleasure to chat with you.

BE: Pleasure to chat with you, too.

GU: So, Brooke Engelhardt, have a great, great rest of your show and a safe flight home.

BE: Thank you. Same to you too.