Trying to hire... what's the best place to advertise?

[jbett98]

I had one guy who had talent, but his addictions got in the way.
Paid on Friday, and would show up on Monday with an extra large cup of 7/11 black coffee, a nicotine patch on his neck and three sticks of Nicorette gum in his mouth. And that was just to get his eyes to stay open.

 

[etrain16]

No offense to you Ben, but the roofing business will always be hard. It is not like you are hiring journeyman electricians and plumbers.

I'm a journeyman wireman myself. I've been out of the field for a while now, working inside the office. I can tell you, even among the more elite trades (as they often consider themselves), finding good people is still very difficult. Our local industry has had a drug-free policy in effect for a long time, yet we still get regular issues with folks failing their drug tests - and it's done at least once a year, so they know it's coming. People make good money in my industry, yet they still make foolish choices.

Attitude is a big problem, even among those that had to go through years of training in an apprenticeship program. My apprenticeship was 5 years on the job and in school two nights a week. Busted my a$$ to get through the program so I could make a good wage. When I got out, I busted my a$$ further, so I could stay employed, and have managed to do so my entire career. Funny thing is, busting your a$$ really only means showing up on time, doing your job well and having a decent attitude. Yet it's amazing how many folks in the trades can't do those simple things. Finding good help is a problem, for us too.

@Ben Beckerich - I like the idea above about checking with local trade schools. But I would expand that to local community colleges - they would likely post your listing right on campus. And even the local high school career counselors would likely take that info too - and all of that is probably at no cost to you other than your time (which I know is a premium). Places like Benson Tech used to turn out folks ready for many of the building trades. I worked with some in the apprenticeship straight out of Benson and they were well ahead in skills and attitude among many others.

We are occasionally contacted by places like PCC looking to place workers - but if they want to be a trades person for us, they have to go through the process with the apprenticeship program to apply. Heck, it's worth giving them a call.

 

[oknow]

I hear an ad on the radio that advertises on 20 plus job boards for you and it says you can try them "free" no clue what the catch is but will get the web address tonight.

 

[CoastRange57]

You could also find out about training programs for veterans. They are usually a pretty good bunch, being fairly disciplined and with a good work ethic.

You have to look at your positions as somewhat tranistory anyway. As etrain mentioned, anybody worth their shot is working, and you are going to be looking at younger guys. In the trades, getting off the tools and into project management, estimating and operations management is usually what everyone needs to do, in order to remain in the business, and still be able to work a physically demanding job.

This all depends on the persons involved, and the company culture, but turnover in the lower trades is going to be high. Establish pay scales and performance expectations and if you find that person who can do the job and has potential to help you grow your business, then you need to pay them well. I would rather have a pool of 5 workers making $ 18 an hour than 10 making 12 or 13 and fing off half the day. It is a sad state that our work force is in when a trades job paying $ 18 or more per hour goes lacking for someone who can piss clean, have a good DL and show up every day. They are out there, but you have to expect to pay a premium wage for them and give them a reason to stay with you.

The word gets out pretty quick that Ben has his shot together, he pays good, he has good equipment, he manages his jobs well and makes sure he does not put everything on the back of the workers. It will also be out there that if you are tweaking, if you are hitting the bong a bit too much at night, and if you like to drink to the point of intoxication 2 or more nights per week, that maybe Ben's Roofing is not the place to apply or work.

I did a turn around for a company years ago where the inmates were running the show. We had a process we used to effect these turn arounds it involved drug testing, attitude "adjustments" and how well you were going adapt to and be able to working the new system we put in place. The next morning a white van showed up and did random drug tests on everybody, which was already in the employee manual and process was a watershed moment. 2 guys admitted and walked off, 2 were hot for meth, and 4 for weed. 2 had alcohol, one was .04 and scheduled to drive a CDL truck that day. 9 out of 27 was not unexpected pretty much average.

I already had my new leads picked out, took them in the shop and asked them to help me get this operation back to where it needed to be. They got immediate $ 1.50 raises, new titles and a sense of ownership and a very high level of accountability to management.

We usually got rid of about 30% of the work force both in the field and in management. The other 70% were pretty decent workers and people, but dominated by the culture of bad behavior and managements inability to enforce their own rule and set a culture of where the company was going and how they all were going to perform, execute and represent the business. There was some pretty good potentials in that 70% and we were able to find our new forepersons and lead people in that group. We then asked them to find potential suitable workers in family, friends and associates. If they did and that person worked out, after 6 months the person who brought them in got a $ 500 bonus. Lot of pressure to bring in good people, so they did not look bad. Worked pretty well.

 

[Jamie6.5]

http://www.rosettastone.com/learn-spanish

Sorry Ben, but that's the state of things anymore.

 

[mjbskwim]

Looking for a journeyman composition roofer.

Professional, reliable, pass a drug test. I just can't believe that's too much to ask for, these days.

He put roofer and pass a drug test in the same post

 

[clearconscience]

I was pushing really hard to hire Vets at my work and I was really surprised at how their work ethic and ability to self manage themselves was so bad. I would still try to hire a Vet over anyone else. But man we had some really bad employees and still do.
Of the 7 vets we had over the last 6 years or so only one of them was worth anything and even they turned to crap before they left.

I have such a high regard for our military and our Vets having not served myself and it was always so disappointing to me.

 

[CoastRange57]

The military is a slice of our society. Within that slice you will have individuals who do not stand out, who may be just getting by or even a bit substandard, just as we do in society in general. I think maybe the ratio in the military is a bit lower.

After one of my boys got out of boot camp and MOS in the Corps, he said " Dad, there is a lot of fing idiots in the Corps". I laughed and told him " Son, there are a lot of fing idiots everywhere in society, so get used to it. "

 

[oknow]

This is that website

Ziprecruiter.com/news

 

[Sgt Nambu]

Perhaps a stupid question! Ben, have you tried the state employment service? Do they even exist anymore?

 

[CoastRange57]

http://www.rosettastone.com/learn-spanish

Sorry Ben, but that's the state of things anymore.

You might need this too.. if you are in the tile, flooring or carpet business or towing cars.

http://www.rosettastone.com/learn-russian

 

[rdt]

if you live in at Helens it should be no problem. I'm a journeyman/foreman formwork carpenter and 8 out of 10 of the best hands have been this:

***neighborhood farm boy. ***

18 years old just graduated high school. team sports experience preferred. talk him out of college by comparing the financial position he will have at 25: student loans & no job or 1/3 of a house & a universally marketable trade. you should know his parents socially, though by blood is better - more leverage.

the other 2/10 are either women In the trades or the random all-star.

I say this based off of seeing no exaggeration 500 apprentices. I'd say 50 of them are top notch, another 100 are people I'd hire.

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

Ben, I think journey-level may be too much to ask for..

Having expressed that, I have this suggestion:

When I went through my first AA degree program, there were several journey-level people in the program with me....a lot of vets, a lot of workman's comp const. rehabs..., and some were former contractors/home-builders.

A person who graduates from a BIT program knows the codes pretty well; add some OR OSHA classes on fall protection, and you have a winner.

I don't want to start a discussion about Building Inspectors, but you may call Chemeketa or PCC and invite them to one of your job-sites, or ask to talk to the class about your inspection experiences, or post an opening on their bulletin boards.

I seen a couple fellow students talking to the Project Managers about working while we were on our job-sites visits. And the program "heads" usually try to help their BIT students...unless they are an army retiree with no tolerance towards academic corruption....

I went all the way through grad-school knowing many people who knew the construction skills really well (even in the Occupational Safety and Health programs); if I was going to run another construction company (non exempt), I'd advertise at one of the continuing ed events (short-schools), or on the higher ed bulletin boards.