When it comes to skilled automotive engineers in dealerships there is a catch 22 present. They will only employ young people with qualifications in the automotive area, e.g. BTEC 2/3 or NVQ 2/3 in Vehicle Maintainence.
But spend a couple of days round your local colleges Automotive workshop and you will realise a fair few of the lads who do those courses are not pushing IQ's of 150 And the lectures are prone to teaching a syllabus which is geared to pass rates which is not challenging their top students - pass rates supply funding in the modern FE college.
Quite often, the lads who are quite experience before they start college drop out through boredom, more often than not they have been doing all the stuff they cover at college with their dad, uncle, brother etc for years.
No one can do 2/3 years at college, then from nowhere be any good at fault finding. Yes they can drop oils, change brake pads, put an exhaust on, change a spring, swap a wheel bearing, fit a CV joint etc - some better than others. But they have not had some fantastic experienced mentors to work beside year on year - that is where good mechanics often come from.
It takes decades of challenging jobs to become good, and that isn't decades of servicing and wear n tear parts replacements.
There are some good guys out there, but I think they are a minority in the industry. I hope I have not offended too many garage workers here