Trainee Sales & Service Advisor
Gold Vehicles – Jaguar Land Rover & SUV Specialists, Exeter
Gold Vehicles is looking for an ambitious, confident and hardworking person to join us on a unique 12-month trainee development programme designed to lead directly into a permanent career with us.
This is not a temporary placement, a basic admin role or a short-term apprenticeship.
From day one, the successful candidate will be trained with the intention of becoming a long-term member of either our sales or service team. Over the course of the year, you will gain genuine experience in both departments before moving permanently into the area that best suits your strengths, personality and ambitions.
For the right person, this is a rare opportunity to gain an unfiltered education in the motor industry, build highly transferable life and business skills, and secure a long-term future with Gold Vehicles.
The 12-month programme
First six months – Sales
You will work closely with our sales team and learn the complete Gold Vehicles sales process, including:
- Responding to customer enquiries
- Prospecting and following up potential customers
- Presenting and demonstrating vehicles
- Using our customer management systems
- Understanding part exchanges and vehicle finance
- Preparing paperwork and vehicle handovers
- Building long-term customer relationships
- Understanding how trust, service and retention create repeat business
At the end of the first six months, you will have the opportunity to qualify in the sales role and earn a £1,250 Sales Qualification Bonus.
This stage will also help you understand whether sales is the department in which you want to build your permanent career with us.
Second six months – Service and Aftersales
You will then move into the front-of-house service department and work alongside our Service Manager, learning:
- Booking customers and vehicles into the workshop
- Managing customer calls, updates and expectations
- Producing job cards and estimates
- Understanding servicing, MOTs and diagnostics
- Handling warranties and service plans
- Managing courtesy vehicles
- Supporting customers when things do not go to plan
- Delivering a strong aftersales customer journey
At the end of the second six months, you will have the opportunity to qualify in the service-advisor role and earn a further £1,250 Service Qualification Bonus.
By this point, both you and the management team will have a clear understanding of which department is the best long-term fit.
A genuine route into a permanent career
This programme has been created to develop someone for the future of Gold Vehicles.
The intention is not to train someone for 12 months and then let them leave. We want the successful candidate to continue working with us permanently in either sales or service, depending on where they perform best and where they see their own future.
Provided you successfully complete the programme and meet the required standards, you will be offered a permanent full-time role within your chosen department at the end of the 12 months.
From there, you will continue developing, take on greater responsibility and have the opportunity to build a serious long-term career within the business.
An unfiltered education in the motor industry
You will be given a real look at how a successful independent dealership operates.
You will experience the customer relationships, commercial decisions, negotiations, difficult conversations, high standards and day-to-day pressures that shape the business.
You will not be kept on the sidelines. You will be expected to get involved, ask questions, take responsibility and learn how both sides of the dealership work together.
The motor industry offers almost unlimited potential for someone with the right attitude. A successful career can lead into:
- Sales
- Service and aftersales
- Management
- Vehicle finance
- Vehicle buying
- Marketing
- Operations
- Business ownership
The experience you gain will also be highly transferable. You will develop skills in communication, confidence, negotiation, organisation, problem-solving, commercial awareness and customer management.
We cannot promise the role will always be easy. We can promise that it will be real, varied and valuable.
Who we are looking for
Previous motor-trade experience is not required. We are far more interested in attitude, personality and potential.
You should be:
- Confident speaking with customers in person and over the telephone
- Well presented, organised and reliable
- Comfortable using computers and learning new systems
- Willing to listen, learn and accept honest feedback
- Ambitious and interested in building a proper career
- Able to work as part of a close-knit team
- Calm under pressure and willing to take responsibility
- Genuinely interested in cars, customers and business
- Looking for a long-term opportunity rather than simply a short-term job
A full UK driving licence is required.
What we offer
- A structured 12-month development programme
- Six months of sales training
- Six months of service and aftersales training
- Direct mentoring from senior members of the business
- Real responsibility and hands-on experience
- An unfiltered insight into how a successful dealership operates
- Transferable professional and life skills
- A £1,250 Sales Qualification Bonus
- A £1,250 Service Qualification Bonus
- A guaranteed permanent full-time role within your chosen department, subject to successfully completing the programme and meeting the required standards
- Long-term progression within Gold Vehicles
- A professional, ambitious and supportive working environment
About Gold Vehicles
Gold Vehicles is Exeter’s highest-rated independent used-car dealership, specialising in premium SUVs, with particular expertise in Jaguar Land Rover vehicles.
We have built our reputation through exceptional vehicle preparation, honest advice, strong aftersales support and long-term customer relationships.
We are now looking for someone we can develop from the ground up and retain as an important long-term member of the team.
This role will suit somebody who wants more than simply a job. We are looking for someone who wants to learn the industry properly, prove themselves, choose the department in which they can perform best and build their future with Gold Vehicles.
Salary: £22,000 basic salary
Bonuses: £1,250 after successfully qualifying in sales and a further £1,250 after successfully qualifying in service
Hours: 38.5 paid hours per week, worked across five days. This will include Saturdays during the sales placement, with one flexible day off during the week. Unpaid lunch breaks apply.
Location: Marsh Barton, Exeter
To apply, please send your CV together with a short introduction explaining why you believe you are the right person for this opportunity and why you are interested in building a long-term career with Gold Vehicles.
Pay: £24,500.00 per year
Benefits:
- Canteen
- Company events
- Company pension
- Employee discount
- Employee mentoring programme
- Sick pay
Work Location: In person
