It sounds unlikely, but TikTok is already influencing car sales.

Buyers are discovering models, watching reviews and shortlisting options long before they step into a dealership. TikTok has shared how automotive content on the platform is driving real interest from people actively researching cars.

The important part is not TikTok itself, it’s what it shows us.

Decisions are being shaped earlier, often before people realise it. That same shift is showing up in recruitment too.

Automotive recruitment today is no longer just about who applies for a role. It’s about who stands out for the right reasons early on.

Recruitment Has Changed

Recruitment used to be fairly predictable. A motor trade job was advertised, applications came in, interviews happened, and a decision was made.

That still exists, it’s just no longer the full picture.

In the same way car buyers research earlier, candidates and employers form opinions earlier too. Impressions are built before interviews even happen. How a role is communicated, how clearly expectations are set and how a business comes across all start to matter sooner.

Modern automotive recruitment is no longer just about the process. It’s about the impression people get before they meet you.

What This Means for Candidates

No one is suggesting you need to start dancing on Reels or filming day-in-the-life TikTok videos to get hired. Please don’t.

What does matter is how you present yourself.

What helps, regardless of outcome:

• You know what you want next
• You can explain your experience without fluff
• You keep your CV and LinkedIn profile accurate and current
• You understand how the automotive industry is changing

None of this guarantees an outcome. It just means you’re ready when the right opportunity does come along.

What This Means for Employers

The same shift applies to employers.

Candidates are doing their homework. They’re reading Glassdoor reviews, checking social media, asking around and forming opinions before they apply or accept an interview.

Industry titles like Car Dealer have been urging dealers to take platforms like TikTok seriously. That alone says a lot about how expectations are shifting.

By the time someone engages with you, they often already have a feel for what a business might be like to work for.

That means a job advert on its own is rarely enough.

What matters more is:

• Being honest about what working there is actually like
• Making sure what appears online reflects the reality of the role
• Looking at your business the way a jobseeker would
• Remembering that candidates are weighing you up too

Most people do their research before an interview. Things go better when businesses work with that rather than against it.

This Isn’t About TikTok

People don’t wait anymore.

They look things up. They ask around. They make their minds up early.

That’s happening in recruitment too.

By the time someone applies or turns up to an interview, they often already have a view of the role and the business. Sometimes that helps. Sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, it’s there.

So what’s the point?

TikTok influencing car sales is just a visible example of how the motor trade is changing. People are forming opinions earlier, whether you like it or not.

We don’t do TikTok (yet!). But we do understand how businesses come across to candidates and how candidates come across to employers. Whether you’re hiring or considering your next move, getting that right early on makes a bigger difference than most people realise.

First impressions now happen much earlier than most people think.

That’s really it.