Parts Associate

Location: 2410 Samford Avenue, Shreveport, LA 71103 (Onsite)

Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Optional summer Saturdays (paid time and a half)

Compensation: $65,000 +, $20/hr plus 2.9% commission on GP

Reports To: Service Manager

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About The Boat Shop

The Boat Shop is a family-owned marine sales and service dealership in Shreveport, Louisiana, and an authorized Vexus, Trifecta, SeaArk, and Caymas dealer. We started service-only in 2014 with a toolbox and two chairs, and we have grown into the premier marine service center in the Shreveport-Bossier area. We are a 10-person crew, the owners are on the floor every day, and every one of us is an avid boater. We do not just work on the water. We live on it.

We are selling fun, and if we cannot have fun while we are doing it, how are we supposed to sell it?

Why This Role Exists

The shop's long-tenured parts advisor is nearing the end of his career due to age and health. This is a succession hire for a central seat that touches sales, service, inventory, vendors, and the customer's very first impression of the company.

Why This Role Matters

"We've got a good parts guy. His career's coming to an end due to age and health, so his role encompasses a lot."

The Boat Shop runs lean. Ten people move a high volume of work through a single building, and the parts seat sits at the center of all of it. Every one of the 80 to 120 work orders open at any given time needs parts, and those parts come from as many as six different vendors for a single boat. The person retiring out of this seat has carried that complexity quietly for years. When Raymond says the role "encompasses a lot," he is being modest. This is the seat that keeps the floor fed, the customers happy, and the bills paid on time. Leave it empty and the whole operation feels it within a week.

This is not a desk that opens often. The Boat Shop hires people who stay. They are looking for the next person who will own this seat for the long run.

The Mission

In the first twelve months, take full ownership of the parts operation and become the calm center of a busy shop. That means three things at once: keeping the parts and accessory inventory accurate, keeping every technician supplied so no job stalls, and being the friendly first voice every customer hears. Raymond calls the person in this seat "the manager of first impressions," and he means it. By around the six month mark, you and Service Manager Daniel should be moving together so smoothly that, in Raymond's words, "it should look like a waltz."

The job looks simple from the outside. Be good on the phone, order the right parts, get them out the door. Underneath that is real complexity. As Raymond put it, it is "an iceberg role." The customer sees the smiling face. You carry everything below the waterline.

Performance Objectives

Bring the parts and accessory inventory to verified accuracy through bin checks and cycle counts within the first 90 days, so every item is, in Raymond's words, "accounted for and accurate."

Keep all 80 to 120 open work orders supplied without stalling the floor, pre-pulling parts for the next day's jobs so no technician is left waiting.

Reach a full working rhythm with Service Manager Daniel within six months, coordinating parts to the service schedule until the handoff "looks like a waltz."

Protect the "manager of first impressions" standard on every interaction, turning routine parts calls and do-it-yourself counter visits into retained relationships and referral sales.

Master the Lightspeed dealer management system and the parts schematics for the shop's core brands, identifying and sourcing the correct part the first time and building cheat sheets for common parts within the first 90 days.

Keep vendor invoicing accurate and timely so accounts payable can pay every bill on schedule, and keep obsolete inventory to a minimum.

Fit Traits

Composed Warmth (Manager of First Impressions). Signal from the Conversation: "You're somewhat the manager of first impressions. We can't have you having a bad day. If you're having a bad day, suck it up. Sound nice on the phone." This person keeps a steady, friendly tone with customers and vendors no matter what is happening underneath.

Organized Under Chaos. Signal: "Being very organized is key, because there's a lot of moving parts." And: "Underneath is the chaos and all the craziness, but the top of the iceberg should just be a smiling face." This person builds systems that hold up under volume and never lets the chaos show.

Relationship-Driven. Signal: "Everything we do on that parts roll is relationship-based." A $12 filter call can become a boat sale. This person treats every interaction, internal and external, as a relationship, not a transaction.

Takes the Ribbing, Brings No Nonsense. Signal: "Generally, people that cause nonsense don't get to come back." And the morning Raymond texted a late employee "I like my donuts glazed." This person fits a tight, good-natured crew, gives and takes a joke, and brings no drama into a small building.

Pride in the Small Things. Signal: "It's the little things, right?" and "We are seeking nothing but easy perfection for our customers." This person sweats the details because the details are the product.

Who You'll Work For

Raymond Kidd co-owns The Boat Shop with his brother Kevin. He was born and raised in Zimbabwe, came to the United States, and worked the big dealerships for eight or nine years before deciding, in his own words, that he "was probably not a very good employee" and did not like the big-dealership feel. He started The Boat Shop in 2014 with a toolbox, a laptop, and two chairs. He is a technician by trade and still works on boats today. He is in the shop six days a week, shoulder to shoulder with the team, and by his own account is more often on the floor than at his desk.

He describes himself as direct, calling himself "the bulldozer," and pairs with his steadier brother to handle situations the right way. He runs a family-first shop where the crew fishes and hunts together and where the kids show up in the summer. He measures people by a simple test he heard and liked: "If you can't spend 8 hours in the car with somebody on a road trip, you probably can't work together."

"We are a group of winners. Everybody who's here, nobody was unemployed before they worked here."

Why Veterans Succeed Here

If you ran a parts room, a PLL, a supply room, or a maintenance control section, you have already run a version of this seat. The scale is smaller. The discipline is identical. Tracking 80 to 120 open work orders against parts coming from six vendors is the civilian version of keeping a fleet mission-capable while the repair-parts pipeline fights you. Logistics and supply backgrounds (92Y, 92A), watercraft and small-craft maintainers (88K, 88L), and wheeled-vehicle mechanics (91B) map directly onto this work.

The Boat Shop runs the way a good small unit runs. Early starts, direct communication, a crew that wins and loses together, and a leader who came up through the work and still does it. Raymond said it cleanly: "We all win together, and we all lose together," and when the day runs long, "It's not gonna be you working extra time, it's going to be us working extra time." That is squad culture. Shreveport adds to the fit. Barksdale Air Force Base is right there, the VA is minutes from the shop, and a service member who misses the camaraderie can still find it after hours. The hunting and fishing are, in Raymond's words, "endless," and the cost of living lets a paycheck stretch.

VHS matched this role because the operational tempo, the accountability culture, and the leader's direct, team-first style align tightly with transitioning logistics, maintenance, and supply NCOs and junior personnel who want to own a seat in a place that will treat them as a human, not a headcount.

Requirements

• Strong organizational and inventory-tracking ability Comfort with computer systems and vendor portals
  
  

• Customer-service and phone communication skill with a steady temperament
  
  

• Mechanical or technical literacy sufficient to learn parts schematics (12-volt and marine systems are trainable)
  
  

• Ability to coordinate with a service operation under volume
  
  

Benefits

Standard benefits package

Base: $20 per hour, with total target earnings of $65,000 and up. Performance pay: 2.9% of parts gross profit, paid as a monthly performance component. Raymond described the billed or commission dollars as "somewhat of a bonus at the end of the month." Saturdays: Every second weekend during the summer season, paid at time and a half. Raymond said it plainly: "On Saturdays, you're making time and a half, so it's well worth it."