Women in the Auto Body Industry
An Interview with Cassie Rossen
January 29 2021,
Even with our advances in gender equality, equal opportunity in the workplace isn't always assured. Our newly-hired Manager of the Dilawri Collision Centre, Cassie Rossen, knows that better than anyone. We got the chance to chat with Cassie about her past experiences dealing with workplace inequality, and what it's like working in a male-dominated industry.
Q: "Walk me through your journey so far in this industry and how did your past experiences lead you to your current Manager role with the Dilawri Collision Centre?"
A: "In 2008 I was looking for a new opportunity and stumbled across a CSR (what would be considered a Coordinator position) for the Boyd Auto Body group and I applied. Up until that point, I had a background in executive assistance, as well as some experience in oil and gas, and the Area Manager for Boyd had expressed interest in making me a regional employee, but at that point I would first need to spend time in an actual location and learn the day-to-day operations of a body shop.
So I spent a year and a half learning the daily operations of a body shop – CSR role, parts, production, learning to appraise, etc. From there, I progressed into a regional employee for Boyd Calgary and trained future Customer Service Reps and closed all files, along with a small team, for all 5 of their locations in Calgary. I would then spend a day at each of the smaller locations and spend 2 days dealing with the larger locations – closing files, dealing with AP issues, billing issues with insurance, etc. I did that until July 2010 when that giant hail storm hit Calgary. They needed a Manager at one of the smaller locations and asked if I was interested. I then managed my first body shop during (what was known at the time as) the biggest hail storm Calgary has ever seen.
I then moved on to work with Kaizen Auto Body group, as the Assistant Manager for their Sunridge Nissan. In 2016, I went to work for CARSTAR as a Production Manager and that’s where I would say I truly grew. Having an understanding of production and how to make production flow optimally were key skills I learned there.
At a certain point I decided to take my career in a different direction and be more independent. Working at Boyd involved direct reporting of day-to-day operations, whereas I knew I could have a positive impact with a team at a single shop and take them in a direction that the auto body industry is going in.”
"What are you most excited for about working with the Dilawri Group of Companies? Or what is something positive about working with this company that drew you to apply for this job?"
“Dilawri has a fantastic reputation throughout the automotive industry in Calgary and I had heard repeatedly from old colleagues that their past role at the collision centre was one of the best jobs they ever had. I am also very attracted to Dilawri’s willingness to promote women within the automotive industry.”
"What is a challenge you’ve faced in the past or even throughout your career that you would say shaped your journey?"
“I’ll never forget the day when I was managing back in 2010 and dealing with that massive hail storm, where I had a client that refused to deal with me because I was female and they felt that I didn’t have the experience necessary in order to properly facilitate their repair. They then went on to say that they did not want to bring their vehicle to my location unless they were rest assured that they could deal with a man. So, my appraiser at the time was a male and I then passed it off to him. I went home extremely upset and my husband was of course also extremely upset that I had to go through this and it was at that point in time, I realized that I needed to become more confident in my speaking ability and in knowing how to deal with difficult clients like that. I then took it upon myself to do some Dale Carnagie training, because I just never wanted to be in that situation again where I was going to allow a person, no matter who they were, to decide that I wasn’t fit to deal with their repair.”
"What has your experience been so far working in a male-dominated industry?"
“It’s been extremely rewarding! I’m a very competitive person by nature, so I get great satisfaction out of doing things that people don’t think that perhaps I’m capable of. It’s been full of adversity but it’s also been very rewarding at the same time, being able to accomplish things that maybe people didn’t necessarily think women could accomplish.”
"What advice would you give other female executives about taking on a career in the automotive tech industry?"
“I think that if it’s something you’re passionate about and you love an exciting, challenging environment that is continuously changing and fast-paced, anyone can do anything that they put their mind to. The automotive industry is growing more and more technology-based and cars are becoming more and more complicated, so it takes somebody who can dissect a problem and not be afraid of it and just carry on. And I think because women are so great at multi-tasking, and are very detail-oriented and organized, it’s an opportune environment because you have to be detail-oriented and organized in order to excel. I personally believe in this industry.”
