Mike's Express Carwash
The management team at Mike's Express Carwash wants customers to notice more than just their clean, dry, shiny vehicles when driving away from one of the company's locations. Mike's associates, referred to on the company's Web site as "the most important part of our continued success," are key to the company's service philosophy.
This Indianapolis, Indiana-based business, known for attracting the sharpest employees for associate-level and management positions, hires on average just one person for every 50 résumes received. Spurred in part by a new management training program for college graduates, Mike's has recently committed to serve as a corporate sponsor for Kelley Indianapolis' Career Placement Office (CPO).
According to Tom Wiederin, the head of Mike's recruitment program, the sponsorship is part of the Midwest company's strategy to foster relationships with local colleges and universities in hopes of recruiting the best talent. Because central Indiana is the company's largest market with 18 locations, Mike's collaboration with Kelley is a perfect fit.
"The CPO's overall organization and desire to help us meet our recruiting goals has really been tremendous so far," says Wiederin, who has participated in Kelley job fairs and "Meet the Recruiter" events on behalf of Mike's. "Any encounter we've had with Kelley has been very useful and focused on helping both our company and the students at the same time."
Mike's hires between 25 and 30 new management trainees each year to facilitate company growth and to manage turnover. Candidates for management positions with Mike's are required to have at least some post-secondary education, which makes recruiting at Kelley Indianapolis ideal for the company.
"Our efforts to recruit management employees begin while candidates are still in school," Wiederin explains. "We offer a tuition assistance program, and qualified candidates are able to enroll in our management training program upon graduation."
Founded nearly 60 years ago in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Mike's Express Carwash operates 34 locations in Indiana and Ohio and employs some 525 associates. Consistently ranked in the top one percent of the nation's 30,000 carwashes, Mike's is a private, family-owned business committed to quality performance and customer service.
