Cathy
Automotive workshop manager
Entry created on: 18/09/2026
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Short summary
Automotive workshop manager
Role
Workshop Manager
Skills and topics
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Date / version
Entry created on: 18/09/2026
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From student job to workshop manager: the art of forging your own path
Discover Cathy’s journey as a workshop manager at Norauto. First drawn to human resources, she realizes that office work is not for her. A student job in an automotive center opens up a new path for her. Over fourteen years, she explores several jobs in the center before choosing hands-on work and the workshop. Marked at a young age by mockery, she forges a strong and resilient character. Today, she leads a team of twelve people with rigor, humor, and empathy in a world still often seen as male.
Timeline
Chronological journey
A summer that changes everything
A summer that changes everything
Cathy is first interested in human resources, but her first work placements disappoint her. She feels like just a number and understands that office work does not suit her. Her neighbor, the director of an automotive center, then offers her a student job as a cashier for the summer. She accepts and discovers a dynamic environment, varied jobs, and hands-on work. This experience confirms that she prefers movement and contact with others to working behind a desk. When the summer ends, it opens a path she will never leave.
Forging her character
Forging her character
When she was younger, Cathy endured mockery from her classmates because of her weight. This period could have discouraged her, but she chose to take herself in hand over one summer. When school resumed, her transformation impressed those around her. Above all, she developed inner strength and the ability not to let herself be defined by other people’s взгляд. This resilience later helped her take on responsibility and lead a team of men with confidence and empathy. Cathy sees this stage as a period that helped shape the person she became.
Moving up through hands-on work
Moving up through hands-on work
Over fourteen years, Cathy discovers almost every job in the center: checkout, supply, and sales. She then becomes a trainee director and follows a management-oriented path for four years. Yet she chooses to remain a workshop manager. She prefers action, movement, and staying close to the teams to working behind a desk. Her experience gives her a broad view of the center and its responsibilities. For Cathy, progressing does not necessarily mean leaving the workshop floor: the workshop gives her the energy and direct contact she is looking for.
A woman in a man’s world
A woman in a man’s world
In a mechanical workshop, some customers still ask to speak to the “boss,” surprised to discover a woman. Cathy chooses to laugh about it. With her team of twelve mechanics, she has built a relationship based on respect and trust. Her rigorous organization has earned her the nickname “Mr. Clean,” while her good humor contributes to life in the workshop. Close to the work on the ground and to her team, she carries out her role with confidence and shows that a job is not reserved for one sex.
Her job
Cathy leads a team of twelve people, including mechanics and tire fitters. She prepares schedules, coordinates the workshop, handles customer disputes, and manages the purchase of consumables. She also oversees waste sorting in line with ISO 14001. Present in the workshop 98% of the time, she helps the team with batteries, air conditioning systems, and light bulbs. As workshop manager, she combines management, organization, and hands-on knowledge of the field.
Her commitments and values
Cathy stands for curiosity and the courage to try. Her journey shows that an initial direction does not determine a whole life: drawn to human resources, she found another path thanks to a student job. She encourages young people not to let stereotypes or fear of the unknown stop them. For her, learning is built through hands-on experience, and every experience can help us better understand what suits us. So you have to try, pay attention to what you want, and accept changing direction when necessary.
What Cathy shares:
« Give it a try, it costs nothing. If you don’t like it, well, you can go elsewhere and maybe that would suit you better. »
« Just because it’s a man’s world, or because you tell yourself you don’t know anything about mechanics, well, you can learn and you might end up liking it. »
Resources
1001 TEACHING GUIDE
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