Where to look for quality employees

[electricblue]

From the guys who have been through this. I ask. Where have you found the best place to put the effort in finding decent employees? Craigslist is out.

 

[petersonra]

usually the best place is outside of stores that sell MD 20/20.

 

[Loffgren]

re

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From the guys who have been through this. I ask. Where have you found the best place to put the effort in finding decent employees? Craigslist is out.

Any luck?

 

[stickboy1375]

Im on the other end, finding a good employer is just as important, so if you can't find a good employee, (don't take this personally) sometimes the problem lies at hand....

 

[Strife]

Im on the other end, finding a good employer is just as important, so if you can't find a good employee, (don't take this personally) sometimes the problem lies at hand....

Quality employees are like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Seems so close, yet you'll never find it(the pot of gold).
One of the problem is we have become a nation of spoiled brats.
There's two types of people in this world(when it comes to work). There's those who want to work, and there's those who want a job.
Unfortunately our nation has become one of those who want jobs. And not ANY job. It has to pay 100K a year to do nothing.

The other problem lies with the employer.
One time, I had a guy that could run pipe and pull wires. And I mean THIS GUYS COULD RUN PIPE. Most productive worker I ever seen. And I mean 2-3 times more productive than others. He never wanted to get any other position, he was happy working with his tools. I tried to convince my superiors to give him more money. The answer was always:"He's already way above his pay scale". Yes the guy was making already 23/hr(which was a lot for an installer non union), but this guy could run 300-400 feet of pipe a day. I usually consider 140-180 feet a day acceptable. Sure enough we eventually lost him.
Way too many times the good employees get lost in the shuffle, or even worse, because of the greed of the employer.

 

[stickboy1375]

Quality employees are like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Seems so close, yet you'll never find it(the pot of gold).
One of the problem is we have become a nation of spoiled brats.
There's two types of people in this world(when it comes to work). There's those who want to work, and there's those who want a job.
Unfortunately our nation has become one of those who want jobs. And not ANY job. It has to pay 100K a year to do nothing.

The other problem lies with the employer.
One time, I had a guy that could run pipe and pull wires. And I mean THIS GUYS COULD RUN PIPE. Most productive worker I ever seen. And I mean 2-3 times more productive than others. He never wanted to get any other position, he was happy working with his tools. I tried to convince my superiors to give him more money. The answer was always:"He's already way above his pay scale". Yes the guy was making already 23/hr(which was a lot for an installer non union), but this guy could run 300-400 feet of pipe a day. I usually consider 140-180 feet a day acceptable. Sure enough we eventually lost him.
Way too many times the good employees get lost in the shuffle, or even worse, because of the greed of the employer.

I know the feeling about todays candidates entering the workforce, they simply don't know what work is... bottom line.

 

[ptonsparky]

I know the feeling about todays candidates entering the workforce, they simply don't know what work is... bottom line.

They enter the work force suddenly at 18, but have never been allowed to work prior to that. Tools are to dangerous. Streets are to dangerous to allow them outside. Shoveling manure into a wheel barrow was almost forbidden to youth just in the last year. May still be if you don't happen to live on that farm. "Green time" is now ordered by doctors.

I'm done

 

[blueheels2]

I must say I have come to the end of being nice as an employee. This may not be you so dont get offended but in my experience an employer is only interested in getting the most out of me for the least amount of money. And the ones who claim that you are family are the biggest liars. Thats why after 10 years I finally realize that all that matters to me as an employee is MY MONEY. Good employees are out there but dont ask them to care about the business like you do. They dont get the same reward you do.

 

[K8MHZ]

From the guys who have been through this. I ask. Where have you found the best place to put the effort in finding decent employees? Craigslist is out.

Have you tried Michigan?

Lots of very skilled electricians either out of a job or out of the trade due to the economy here. Just a hint as to the condition of our economy, we have to work to sell a 1000 dollar service upgrade because we have to compete with people doing them for 700.

 

[kwired]

For an employer and employee to have a good relationship they have to understand each others wants and needs as well as understand there needs to be some compromise from both in order for them to have a good relationship. The employee has to know the employer needs him to accomplish his business goals, the employer needs to understand the employee is a person and if he is not happy he will look for happiness elsewhere. Then there are employees that will never be happy. They often don't understand if they do get more pay they usually are responsible for more things, yet they don't want to work very hard at anything. The occasional new guy that has a lot of ambition and gets things done is hated by everyone else, they don't want to be outperformed by a new guy, they also don't want to work harder than they have before even if they are capable and the new guy is making them look bad.

 

[bbaumer]

I was told once by an old timer that when you start on a new project and you have the authority, fire the first guy who isn't pulling his own weight at the first opportunity you have and do so in front of the other guys. Everyone else will react by stepping it up.

Now then, I've never tried it but it is an interesting thought.

 

[petersonra]

I was told once by an old timer that when you start on a new project and you have the authority, fire the first guy who isn't pulling his own weight at the first opportunity you have and do so in front of the other guys. Everyone else will react by stepping it up.

Now then, I've never tried it but it is an interesting thought.

Most of the time the need to terminate an employee is an indication that there is a management problem.

 

[DavidA]

By management problem do you mean a lack of leadership or that the employee never should have been hired in the first place? We had to man up for a larger project this year and as for the ones who had to be let go it seems like my inexperience in interviewing people (it was the first time I was put in that position) lead to people getting hired that should not have been.

 

[K8MHZ]

I was told once by an old timer that when you start on a new project and you have the authority, fire the first guy who isn't pulling his own weight at the first opportunity you have and do so in front of the other guys. Everyone else will react by stepping it up.

Now then, I've never tried it but it is an interesting thought.

Intentionally fire someone in front of the rest of the crew?

I consider that bad advice. You are taking his word that everyone reacted by stepping up. The reaction may have been the first step toward a morale problem causing the best employees to start looking for work elsewhere.

 

[electricblue]

I was told once by an old timer that when you start on a new project and you have the authority, fire the first guy who isn't pulling his own weight at the first opportunity you have and do so in front of the other guys. Everyone else will react by stepping it up.

Now then, I've never tried it but it is an interesting thought.

I like this. This does work. Hiring and firing till you get a keeper.

 

[Strife]

I like this. This does work. Hiring and firing till you get a keeper.

Hiring and firing can get very expensive. Consider JUST the unemployment compensation. You pay about 6% for the first $ 7.000.00 worth of payroll. So if you replace 30 employees every 3 months it can easily cost you and additional $ 42,000.00.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. It takes quite a bit of human resources to hire and terminate someone.

 

[stevenje]

I was told once by an old timer that when you start on a new project and you have the authority, fire the first guy who isn't pulling his own weight at the first opportunity you have and do so in front of the other guys. Everyone else will react by stepping it up.

Now then, I've never tried it but it is an interesting thought.

Wow! Managing by fear and intimidation. There's team building. "Shaking the bush boss, shaking the bush!"

 

[kwired]

Intentionally fire someone in front of the rest of the crew?

I consider that bad advice. You are taking his word that everyone reacted by stepping up. The reaction may have been the first step toward a morale problem causing the best employees to start looking for work elsewhere.

If you are going to fire employees in front of the rest of the crew maybe you should interview prospective employees in front of the crew also. Maybe even let them cast votes to whether or not to hire the candidate.

 

[ActionDave]

From the guys who have been through this. I ask. Where have you found the best place to put the effort in finding decent employees? Craigslist is out.

I can't speak from the perspective of the one hiring, but I can speak from the perspective of the one being hired.

Look for someone who is a good worker and ask them to work for you. He or she doesn't need any electrical experience, just a strong work ethic. This is how I got into electrical; but in reverse.

I was framing houses, but looking for a way out. I kept bugging a EC to give me a try. He finally did. It has worked out well for both of us. In the meantime there have been many "experienced" electricians come through our shop that were more than useless.

 

[kwired]

I have a solution, I can probably retire early with it also - an "Angies List" of employers and one for employees