How do you find good employees?

[James L]

Paying them good is no guarantee of quality however.

True. However, paying them good guarantees you won't be keeping a bad one around very long.

I sympathize with you. I had a guy who was awesome on the first job, and very personable. So I trusted him to wire a kitchen unassisted. Big mistake.

I came back to find that 100% of what he did was not only wrong, but unsafe. I had to pull it all out and start over.

So I had him do something simpl, just add 2 receptacles in a shed, and it was a disaster. He had cut a feed and did a flying splice on (4) #12 romex above the ceiling joists. And the neutral came apart.

I have more.

My mom used to have a saying...
If you're not going to be a help, at least don't be a hindrance

 

[WasGSOHM]

He's looking for people to interview not help with his interviewing technique.

My bad. . .

So, just like with products there is no correlation between the price you paid and the quality y'all got.

Can't you test them first?
Present them with some commonly occurring situations or problems? Go from easy to difficult.
How they attack the problem may be more important than the answer they come up with.

 

[hillbilly1]

I designed and built test boards for our offices, we had some new hires to try it out on at our Midwest office. All three were applying for service tech jobs. One was pretty decent, one admitted he was only a helper, and lied about his previous experience, and the third, wanted way too much money for his skill level, and was offered a reduced rate. Still not 100% foolproof, some guys just freeze up under pressure, where left alone, could do a decent job.

 

[James L]

I designed and built test boards for our offices

But service techs aren't just fixing stuff, they're also adding circuits, receptacles, etc. Cutting, drilling, etc. can put you in bad shape if they tear up stuff at every turn

we had some new hires to try it out on at our Midwest office. All three were applying for service tech jobs. One was pretty decent, one admitted he was only a helper, and lied about his previous experience, and the third, wanted way too much money for his skill level, and was offered a reduced rate. Still not 100% foolproof, some guys just freeze up under pressure, where left alone, could do a decent job.

I'm curious about those Midwesterners. Anywhere near the Kansas City area? Guys around here are notorious for lying about their skills and experience. I guess they think they aren't gonna get found out. Maybe skate by 'til they get their first check, then they have some meth money

 

[acin]

Do the service guys have to collect payment?

 

[hillbilly1]

But service techs aren't just fixing stuff, they're also adding circuits, receptacles, etc. Cutting, drilling, etc. can put you in bad shape if they tear up stuff at every turn


I'm curious about those Midwesterners. Anywhere near the Kansas City area? Guys around here are notorious for lying about their skills and experience. I guess they think they aren't gonna get found out. Maybe skate by 'til they get their first check, then they have some meth money

There is also a conduit bending test on the board also. Point to point, they have to figure out how to run it with other conduits as obstructions to cross. One guy didn’t know the take up on a 1/2” emt 90.

 

[James L]

Do the service guys have to collect payment?

When I did service, I collected from residential customers 99% of the time. Only occasionally would someone ask if they could be billed.

Commercial work was almost always billed.
I remember once, going to a Quiznos Subs because a toaster oven cord end had melted itself and the receptacle. It was an all-day job because of extenuating circumstances involved. That owner insisted on paying the bill on the spot. It felt weird

 

[petersonra]

I don't think that's true based on other threads by the OP he is paying union scale which ought to be pretty good.

if you aren't able to purchase something for a particular price, generally it means you just aren't willing to pay enough. It doesn't matter whether it's Union scale or not. if the guy you need isn't willing to work for you for the price you're willing to pay you're going to have to up the ante.

 

[drktmplr12]

There is also a conduit bending test on the board also. Point to point, they have to figure out how to run it with other conduits as obstructions to cross. One guy didn’t know the take up on a 1/2” emt 90.

you mean I can bend the conduit? i thought the factory did that...

 

[gadfly56]

There is also a conduit bending test on the board also. Point to point, they have to figure out how to run it with other conduits as obstructions to cross. One guy didn’t know the take up on a 1/2” emt 90.

I would say that was me, but I've never applied for a job in your neck of the woods. The very few times I've had to bend conduit, I just made sure I had enough left over at each end and trimmed to fit. I never had to line up a rack or do compound bends of multiple conduits running across a space.

 

[James L]

I would say that was me, but I've never applied for a job in your neck of the woods. The very few times I've had to bend conduit, I just made sure I had enough left over at each end and trimmed to fit. I never had to line up a rack or do compound bends of multiple conduits running across a space.

Just make sure you have plenty of couplings. 2 couplings per stick should be about right

 

[gadfly56]

Just make sure you have plenty of couplings. 2 couplings per stick should be about right

Ohh, you've seen my work already?

 

[Coppersmith]

So based on the lack of on-point responses, nobody here knows how to find good employees either.

 

[infinity]

So based on the lack of on-point responses, nobody here knows how to find good employees either.

We call the hall and hire men as needed. The good ones we keep, the bad ones we get rid of as soon as we can. IMO the odds are about 50/50.

 

[hillbilly1]

I would say that was me, but I've never applied for a job in your neck of the woods. The very few times I've had to bend conduit, I just made sure I had enough left over at each end and trimmed to fit. I never had to line up a rack or do compound bends of multiple conduits running across a space.

We are a commercial only company, no residential. So pipe bending is a must.

 

[hillbilly1]

We have a hard time finding people that study for the drug test!

 

[tortuga]

So based on the lack of on-point responses, nobody here knows how to find good employees either.

Man that's really difficult, resi service truck?
Do you do any admin, shopping for parts , parts delivery, billing, inventory, job clean up, phones, intake, scheduling, reminders, permitting, payroll, estimating or stuff like that? If so you might train someone to do one or some of those for way less headache and keep doing your service work.

 

[petersonra]

At my previous place of employment The shop was a union shop with the local pipefitters union. People they hired didn't have to be journeyman pipefitters but they did have to join the union when they got hired. most of the guys they hired off the street were actually pretty good but they were more utility people than actual pipe fitters. They did good work but it was very limited in scope so they got very good at doing a very limited number of things.

Sometimes they needed real pipe fitters and they would hire them from the local hall. They had a deal with the local union that they had to keep anyone the union sent them for three days or maybe five I don't remember and then they could get rid of them if they didn't work out. I would say at least half of the people they got from the Union Hall were so bad they didn't last past their minimum. But some of them were actually quite good.

The real problem was getting tank and pipe welders. They had to come through the union too and the pipe welders the union had were really bad. I bet they'd go through three or four before they kept one and then they made sure they kept them.

I never realized that there was a big difference between a hack welder and a really good welder. It looks like welding to me. But when you're doing high purity work and food grade stuff it matters. Now I can look at a weld and realize the guy is a real hack just by looking at the weld.

 

[farmantenna]

why would someone who already has a job and is a very good electrician and employee risk all that to work for you? Why? They wouldn't. There's mutual scrutinizing going on.

 

[Coppersmith]

... and keep doing your service work.

Two problems with that: I'm getting very old and tired, I really don't want to be working with tools; and if it's just me, my income is limited to what I can do. If I hire people to do the work, my income can grow tremendously.