departments. Our dealership successfully earned our badging over the course of the years the program existed! A customer relations department was created because of the success of both the Firestone recall and the Blue Oval rollout. The dealership was in the process of building a new facility, and I found myself with now my own office and working directly under the service department manager. A couple of years passed, and the service department manager announced his resignation. He came to me and said, “Lynn, I think you need to be the new service manager.” I remember thinking that I didn’t know anything about cars, let alone fixing them, and this seemed like a terrible idea. They were persistent, and I decided to take on the challenge of managing a service department and immersing myself in Fixed Operations until the dealership was sold in 2021. It was exhilarating to consistently overcome objections and perceptions that a woman was atypical of this sort of job role. After it sold, I stepped away from the dealership world for a while. I went to work for the county doing accounting and payroll. It was quite a change of pace — running day in and day out, all day long to sitting still at a computer. It was bizarre to me, but the Monday through Friday, 8-5, had its benefits. It allowed me to spend a lot more time with my husband, a luxury I hadn’t had before. But the dealership world came calling, and I found myself coming to work for Tilleman Motor Co. as now a General Manager. As I now work on developing this new job role, it feels really good to be back in the industry. It’s my niche. It’s what I know. It’s what I thrive on. As a woman, you are in the minority; what are your thoughts about the auto industry as a career path for women? What’s your experience been like? What can be done to hire more women? I do feel the automotive industry should be given credit because it has made a concerted effort to overcome the male‑dominated environment. There are now a number of women CEOs, women dealership owners, women in general management, sales management and so on. There are even successful women in automotive manufacturing and engineering now. There has been a concerted effort to overcome the stigmatism that “It’s just a man’s world.” We must continue to push for change and encourage them not to be intimidated by the industry itself. I would propose we need to add more focus on approaching young women to explore technician careers. For those of us working in dealerships, we need to be mindful of fostering an environment where women can succeed, allowing them to grow and come up through the ranks. I was 39 MONTANA AUTO DEALER
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