Hayley Finch

Hayley, you have one of the most unique job combinations we have come across - Automation Lead and trained car auctioneer. Can you explain what you do to someone who has never set foot inside a car auction?

My role is finding ways to make things easier and faster for our team and our customers. So if customers keep calling to ask where their vehicle's up to, I look at how we update them before they have to chase us. If staff are drowning in repetitive admin, I look at how tech can take that off them. I'm not buying or selling cars; I'm improving everything that sits behind it.

How did you end up at Cox Automotive?

Not a traditional route. My background is in nursing, but when my maternity leave ended, the hours didn't work for my family so my partner mentioned an administration job at his work. I cringed a bit; my Dad restores classic cars, so I spent my childhood dragged to car shows and decided by about four years old that I wanted nothing to do with cars. I went for it anyway. I started in pre-auction checks, moved into salvage, became an auctioneer, then Team Leader. The turning point was our first automation project; it turned out I had a knack for the logic side, and that led to Automation Lead. Now I'm stepping into the AI CoE role. What's kept me here is the people.

What does a typical day look like for you at the Altona site?

There isn't a typical day, which I love. On non-auction days, I'm talking to teams about what's causing friction in their work and how to fix it. The best solutions come from actually understanding what people deal with day to day. Auction days are a totally different energy: busier, a real buzz. My role isn't auction-focused anymore, but I still put my hand up when they need auctioneers.

What are the most important skills that you need to do your job well?

Curiosity. You know that kid who asks "but why?" on repeat and drives everyone mad? She grew up to be me. That's probably done more for my career than anything. The rest is business knowledge and relationships, a change in one area has flow-on effects elsewhere, so you need the bigger picture. And I always try to understand the problem first, because automating a bad process just gives you bad results faster.

Car auctioneering is one of the most male dominated spaces in an already male dominated industry. What made you want to train as an auctioneer and what was the process like?

Honestly? A bit of family competition. My partner's an auctioneer and had just won Auctioneer of the Year, so it became "game on". And growing up, my dad always made sure I knew that if a boy could do it, so could I, so it never felt off-limits. The hard part wasn't the auctioning itself; it was practising on imaginary cars with imaginary bidders. I'm neurodiverse and learn by doing, so the second I got on a real lane with real buyers, it all clicked.

You graduated from the Cox Automotive Auction Academy as one of around 50 highly trained auctioneers across Australia. What does that training involve, and what surprised you most about it?

What surprised me is how much you're processing at once. Everyone assumes it's just talking fast, but you're actually listening for bids, watching buyers, tracking prices and reading the room all at the same time. There's way more strategy to it than people realise.

What does it feel like to stand at the front of an auction lane and call a sale?

Controlled chaos. A bit of good nervous energy at the start, then you settle into the rhythm and stop thinking about it. I'll never forget my first auction. It was online, a Jayco Outback caravan; I was so nervous "statutory write-off" came out as "s-s-s-statutory write-off". After that sale, the nerves settled and I loved it.

Have you ever walked into an auction room and felt like people underestimated you? How did you handle that?

Absolutely. It's still very male-dominated, and people make assumptions before you've even stepped on the rostrum. I let confidence and performance do the talking. Once people see you can run an auction, those assumptions disappear fast.

Cox Automotive is making a real effort through the Auction Academy to address the gender imbalance in auctioneering. Why do you think so few women have traditionally gone into this space and what needs to change?

Traditionally, there just haven't been many female auctioneers, so it hasn't felt like a path women would consider. When I did my first public auction, a lot of female team members reached out afterwards, and what stood out was that they could suddenly picture themselves doing it. Sometimes that's all it takes. Great auctioneers come from all sorts of backgrounds; it's about confidence and communication, not gender.

Your day job is Automation Lead, what does that involve, and how does it connect to what Cox Automotive are trying to build for the future?

Helping the business work smarter, finding the pain points and either automating them, improving them, or challenging whether we're solving the right problem at all. What excites me is we're only scratching the surface. There’s a real opportunity to use automation, data and AI to take frustration out of everyday tasks and give people time back for work that matters. That's why I'm excited about the AI CoE role.

Technology and automation are transforming the auction world with digital platforms, simulcast auctions even data tools. What excites you most about where things are heading?

It connects buyers and sellers in more ways than ever. A lot of what we do now didn't exist when I started. But the exciting part isn't the tech itself. It's watching someone get what they need faster, or have a smoother experience, because of something we built.

What is one thing the industry could do right now to bring more women into roles like yours?

Visibility. You can't be what you can't see. The more women we see in auctioneering, ops, tech and leadership, the more others will see it as an option, and just as important, backing people when they put their hand up.

What is your advice to a young woman who is curious about a career in automotive, particularly in the less obvious corners of the industry like yours?

Don't put yourself in a box, unless it's the auction box! If someone had told me I'd go from nursing to auctioneering to automation to AI, I'd have thought they were mad. Be curious, ask questions, and put your hand up for things outside your comfort zone. Back yourself and get comfortable being uncomfortable.