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An Industry-Leading Training Model in Automotive

The Toyota Technician Training and Education Network (T-TEN) program is an industry-leading training model that incorporates classroom, hands-on, and real-work experiences into an accredited career pathway that addresses the demand for talented and qualified automotive technicians felt by all employers in the industry.

Bridging Classroom to Career

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Students have the opportunity to acquire additional skills and national certification in a burgeoning industry; increasing their employability and earning potential. For Toyota and Lexus, this partnership creates a ready pool of highly-skilled potential employees to meet growing workforce demands.

24%

increase in demand for auto technicians by 2020

The Challenge

The demand for technical talent in the automotive industry is extremely high. With total new vehicle sales in the U.S. topping 17 million units, dealerships with more than 300 million repair orders, and with service and parts sales of nearly $110 billion, the demand for talented and qualified automotive technicians continues to increase.

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, automotive service technician employment is projected to grow to over 770,000 by 2024, adding around 40,000 jobs. Toyota and Lexus dealerships project they’ll need more than 1,500 new technicians every year.

The Solution

Toyota’s Technician Training & Education Network (T-TEN) Program is a training program partnership that began between Toyota, community colleges, vocational schools, and Toyota and Lexus dealerships to train automotive technicians. Now used as a model across the industry as a structured approach to create sustainable pipelines of skilled talent, this program has grown to help develop and place thousands of factory certified technicians in challenging, rewarding, and well paid positions across the country.

T-TEN provides state-of-the art, hands-on automotive diagnosis and repair education and training in classroom and dealership settings, available with different programs, degrees, and certificate options. Since its’ inception in 1986, T-TEN has been considered as the auto manufacturers’ benchmark for technician career-entry programs, with over 11,000 students that have completed the program.

Not your average automotive program.

A T-TEN graduate has classroom knowledge, hands-on training, has worked in a Toyota dealership, and has earned highly respected credentials. Not only that, students earn while they learn. The training often includes a paid internship experience for students at local dealerships as they pursue certifications for Toyota and Lexus vehicles.

The T-TEN program typically offers a class size of 20 to 25 students per year with both a classroom and hands-on laboratory setting. T-TEN’s factory-trained instructors and dealership mentors help accelerate in-class learning by applying it in the real world. The program is available with different degrees and certificate options, typically seen as a two-year program that leads to an associate’s degree.

Students are required to obtain ASE certification, an auto industry gold standard for independent certification of a service technician’s skills and knowledge, and will have the opportunity to earn Toyota Certified Technician credentials as well.

Your outcome is only as good as the pipeline you build.

Recruiting is important for any training program. T-TEN classes are comprised of 80 percent high school students and 20 percent other learners such as community college students, adult learners, or veterans. Partnerships with the education community and organizations like the ASE Education Foundation are critical in order to spread awareness of this opportunity to young students and their families or those going back to school for a change in career.

There are more than 35 T-TEN certified schools across the country. These schools encountered a rigorous application process to become a part of the T-TEN talent pipeline, demonstrating their dedication to the program and the success of their students. Toyota partners closely with T-TEN schools and instructors, each rolling up their sleeves to ensure a standards-based, high-quality learning environment.

The T-TEN program also partners with 38 organizations, such as Project Lead the Way, Automotive Youth Educational Systems (AYES), Skills USA, and First Robotics, who have similar recruitment audiences and a dedication to building a stronger workforce of tomorrow in STEM fields.

More than 35

T-TEN schools across the United States

$30,000+

starting base salary for T-TEN graduates

11,000+ students

have completed all T-TEN program requirements

A repeatable model with impressive results.

The auto industry has always been critical to U.S. economic growth and vitality, and programs like T-TEN are necessary to ensure the industry continues to develop the quality and volume of talent it needs. The automotive service industry grapples with competing issues, such as stereotypes and lack of awareness by young people for these career opportunities. As a result, Toyota has made it a priority to seek out, recruit, train, and place career-oriented people. Across industries, that is a repeatable value.

Each year 9 out of 10 T-TEN graduates are hired directly by a Toyota or Lexus Dealer. In the last three years alone, 1,200 individuals have completed all program requirements with 90% finding employment immediately at Toyota/Lexus dealerships. Since its’ inception in 1986, over 11,000 students have completed the T-TEN program and received Toyota factory certification.

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