If you’re looking to shift careers, finding a job you enjoy, where you can learn every day and grow professionally, is important for your happiness (and, in turn, success) in this new field.
Should you consider transitioning to a role in parts — heavy equipment, automotive or otherwise?
Here at RDO Equipment Co., we employ hundreds of parts professionals (Parts Specialists, Parts Warehouse Specialists, etc.) in over 80 U.S. locations. In their roles, these individuals make a lasting impact on our customers’ businesses and our company.
For many, this can be a really gratifying career path. However, like any role, it’s not without its challenges.
In this article, we’ve listed five of the best things about working as a parts specialist to give you more context as you evaluate whether this is the right career path. Before you get too far, learn more about RDO’s parts openings to kickstart your career.
1) Relationships With Customers
Before anything else, parts professionals are customer-facing team members.
Often, these are the first faces someone sees when they enter a store.
While this makes customer service an important skill to have as a parts person, it also means you can build some impactful connections.
It’s common for customers to develop trusting relationships with a parts person (especially in an industry like construction or agriculture) and even ask for that individual by name when they enter a store.
From the parts specialist’s perspective, creating relationships with the people who do such important work makes this a rewarding part of the job.
2) Workload Variety
If you’re hoping for a job where you’ll have a lot of different duties, a parts career could be perfect for you. In these roles, parts professionals contribute to the growth and success of their department in a lot of ways, including:
- Operating the counter
- Answering phone calls from customers
- Working with customers who walk into the store
- Collaborating with salespeople (in a dealership setting) to help them with their sales
- Helping the service teams to ensure they have access to the parts they need
- Managing parts inventories
- Unloading shipments
- Packing up parts
- Placing orders to restock parts
- Managing the showroom floor, making sure everything’s in place
The list goes on.
With so many different things to do, no two days are the same. This makes coming to work exciting.
3) Fulfilling Work
Feeling like your work makes a difference in the world is what we’re all searching for. Parts specialists can often find this in their careers.
Parts customers are often hard-working, passionate individuals. Whether they work in construction, forestry, mining, agriculture, trucking or another industry, they rely on qualified parts people to keep their business running.
As the person they turn to for advice, expertise, and service when they need it most, parts specialists have the opportunity to make a difference, making work fulfilling every day.
4) Constant Learning
Avid learners often do well in parts roles — and progress quickly. There’s a lot to learn in this position. Whether it’s different parts and how they’re used, inventorying systems or customer service, there’s always something new to learn.
When asked, this is often one of the top things parts specialists enjoy about their careers.
5) A Defined Career Path
Although not always the case (it will vary by employer), there are often solid career path opportunities. If you come into this career, work hard and put your best foot forward every day, you’ll have opportunities for advancement.
This makes parts specialist positions a good fit for ambitious people who want to turn this into a career.
For example, RDO has a defined career path program for our parts team members.
Through this, our people can progress through several career levels and eventually lead their store’s parts team.
The skills you develop in these roles (parts knowledge, interpersonal skills, relationship-building skills, etc.) can also help you succeed outside the parts team in other segments of your company.
Should You Start a Parts Career?
Working as a parts specialist or parts professional can be a gratifying career, full of learning and advancement opportunities where no two days are exactly the same.
If you’re looking for a role where your hard work will be rewarded, a parts position may be perfect for you.
That said, this career isn’t necessarily for everyone. Before you get too far, you should also consider these seven challenges parts specialists commonly face.
Join RDO Equipment Co. as a Heavy Equipment Parts Specialist
RDO is a growing organization committed to helping our team members and customers become the best versions of themselves.
We have parts careers available in more than 80 locations across the U.S.
Learn more about the benefits of a career in parts at RDO and find an open position near you.
Tyler Peters
Tyler started his career with RDO in 2022 as a parts manager in our Pflugerville, TX store. In his role, Tyler oversees a talented team of parts professionals who work alongside each other and the service and sales departments to meet customer needs within the Austin metropolitan and surrounding areas. Tyler enjoys the challenges that his job brings every day. This includes the challenge to be better than the competition, the challenge to be better than he was in the past and the challenge to innovate to do things differently and more efficiently than anybody else. Tyler and his team work tirelessly to make the RDO customer experience better and their lives easier.
