I’m curious how you all find employees, ads/flyers/referrals? and if not too personal: how much do you pay per hr?
Is it me or is it extremely hard to find a good employee? If I could only clone myself…:rolleyes:
Back when I was doing construction I used a temp agency a few times. It gave me a chance to “try out” the person w/out the headaches of going thru the paperwork on someone only to have them bail in a day or two.
Haha, how many times have I said that.
2 people called me today looking for work. One even wanted to be my partner. :rolleyes:
Both hung up the phone without even saying goodbye or thank you after I told them I wasn’t hiring at this time. Wow, great prospects out there. :rolleyes: x 2
I used Criagslist for finding people…expect to get hundreds of replies. I take down the ad after a few days and just read what stuff people had sent me.
Then I wrote some follow up replies to the people I like, and then an interview from there from who’s left.
During training I pay per hour.
We have a sign in front of our shop… And we tossed a ad in the local paper.
Craigslist doesn’t really work around here… its weird.
This year training pay is $8 an hr… that lasts for 2 weeks then they go to commission pay.
SIDE NOTE:
Yesterday was our first training for the year. We started with 10 people, today there was 3 left.
5 failed drug tests
2 scared of heights…
Better to weed them out now! Ugh I even warned them about the drug test.
Some people are just idiots
I think the cloning part should be looked into…seriously
We post in the local paper. I have had the worst luck with craigs lists. My main problem is getting those who want a check but don’t want to work for it. For training we pay $8/hr and then commision.
[B]This is a long read but if your thinking of hireing anyone… You have to read this:[/B]
How to hire–and get hired–in a recession
Unemployment in the United States is going to race past 10% in the
coming months and probably peak at 11-12%, according to the smart
folks with whom I’m privileged enough to spend some time. There’s an
outside chance (call it 20%) that we might have a "disastrous event"
that causes it to hit 15-20%. Sounds impossible, I know, but there are
many regions in the United State already in the mid-teens.
The smarter folks who I speak with think the recent market rally is
"dead cat bounce" in nature and that we’re “testing the top” before a
return to the bottom. Who the heck knows what’s going to happen with
the stock market, what I want to talk about today is your
employment–or employee–market. Stock market is the 10,000 foot view,
but butts in chairs working? That’s the 10 foot view. Let’s stay micro
for an email shall we?
Witness: We just put out a job for an entry-level researcher and had
200 resumes from highly-qualified candidates in under 24 hours. We
posted the gig at $10 an hour. Recent searches for a Director of
Product and various sales positions at Mahalo resulted in 400+
applications per position in a week. My inbox is flooded with really
great folks desperate for a lead on a gig ("Hey Jason, We’ve met a
couple of times. I’ve been working in the internet since 1997 and I
was laid off in October… "). My heart goes out to everyone who is
stuck, or up against it, right now. I been there, it sucks.
Anyway, let’s cut the small talk get to the big pink (slip) elephant
in the room: who gets laid off–and who gets hired–in a down market.
Some Background
Over the past 15 years, as a CEO and entrepreneur, I’ve hired well
over 500 people, laid off over 50, fired a couple of dozen bad apples
(many of whom are on this list!) and have actually help make a handful
of people millionaires. Before I ran my own company, and even while
running my companies, I’ve received countless job offers.
Bottom line: I’ve been around the block and I know exactly why people
get hired and fired.
Before the recession hit, I was actually convinced that my techniques
for hiring could land almost any willing candidate a job. In this
current mess, I can’t make any guarantees, but I can definitely tell
candidates that if they follow my advice, they’ll have a much stronger
chance at landing their dream job. For employers, I promise you that
these tests and techniques will land you more killers then duds.
In each of my points below, I’m going to start with an overview and
then move on to a “For Candidates” and “For Employers” section. I’m
really blending two essays into one here so that each party can
understand the other’s perspective. I hope this isn’t too confusing,
but it’s an email newsletter, and you guys understand that sometimes I
ramble before getting to something worthwhile (and some of you are
part of “the 17”).
For Candidates: People Who Work Harder Win
Wait, don’t give up on me yet! I’m well aware that this first point is
absurdly obvious, but for some reason, many folks overlook or discount
this basic fact. The truth is, hard work pays off in almost all
things: sports, education, relationships and work.
The more you put into something, the better it tends to work out.
(Brilliant observation, I know).
If you’re looking for a job, you want to send out as many signals as
possible that not only are you not afraid of hard work, but you’re
actually turned on by it. You must understand that, right now, there
are too many candidates fighting for each position. The leverage that
led to bidding wars between employers two to three years ago is
gone–just like the bidding wars over houses are over.
There is no sense in fighting the balance of power. In fact, you need
to embrace it, because it will flip again in a couple of years.
The best way to signal that you’re hard working is to explain your
routine and method for working explicitly to your employer. As someone
who does a couple of hundred interviews a year, I can tell you I
almost NEVER get a proactive candidate who does this!
If I were coming into a meeting with me looking for a job, here is the
script I would follow:
Candidate: “Thanks so much for having me in to discuss filling the
role of VP of BLAHBLAH. May I tell you how I’ve been able to make an
impact at the companies I’ve worked at before?” (Translation: I’m
confident I can fill this position. That’s why I didn’t put the word
"possibly" in front of “filling the role”).
Employer: “Certainly.” (Translation: Thank the lord! Finally a
candidate with which I don’t have to pull teeth!")
Candidate: “My belief is that hard work–not busy work, but hard
work–is what differentiates the teams that win from those that lose.
My method for working is that I like to prepare for the week on
Sunday. I read up in the trades on where the industry is on the
weekends and I prepare a game plan for myself for the week ahead. This
only takes an hour or two. Just a simple list of some goals I want to
achieve and what I think will help the company reach its goals. I make
it a point to get into the office on Monday an hour or two early. This
gives me a chance to get an even bigger jump on the week–something I
believe is very important. I tend to do working lunches with clients
or hit the gym to get myself thinking. Finally, I’ve made a philosophy
of not leaving the office until my boss does…I think that’s the
honorable thing to do.”
Employer: “When can you start?”
Seriously, I’ve been waiting for someone to say that to me for a
decade and it still hasn’t happened. Now, I’m not saying folks can’t
have a life and family–let’s not start that whole controversy up–but
in a market like this, people are going to seriously need to
sacrifice.
Bottom line: Employers are going to hire the hardest-working people
and layoff the clock-punchers first in an economy like this (as they
should). If you want to get employed, your best strategy is to put
yourself into the hardest-working bucket.
For Employers: How To Spot the Hard-Working People
Wouldn’t you just love to fill your open sales, marketing or
operations position with a candidate who gave you that speech above?
Yeah, me too. Too bad it never happens! You’re going to have to figure
out exactly who the hardest and most resilient people are when you’re
hiring. You only have a certain number of slots on your team and you’d
better start looking at it just like that.
You can not–and you will not–give one of your few remaining slots to
anyone who is not going to bust their ass. If you do that, your
company is fracked. Period. You have to be cutthroat in an environment
like this, because you’re not doing anyone any good if you bring
on–or keep on–a weak team member. Those folks can, and will, sink
the entire ship in a market like this.
Let the weak people collect unemployment while the strong folks create
strong companies that create more positions. (Positions that will,
ironically, go to the weaker members of the herd).
So, how do you find out if someone is a killer? Here are some of my
favorite things to ask in an interview:
-
Do you live to work or work to live?
-
Do you consider yourself a workaholic? Do you think there is
anything wrong with being a workaholic? -
Are you able to turn it off at 6pm and on Friday for the weekend…
You don’t get obsessed by work, do you? (Trick question!). -
Do you consider yourself a balanced person?
-
How would you feel if we all needed to come in on the weekend to
make a deadline? -
How would you feel if this happened two weekends in a row?
-
It’s a tough time right now and we’re super short staffed–how
would you feel I asked you to cover for INSERT JOB LOWER THAN
CANDIDATE’S EXPERIENCE when they’re on vacation? -
Speaking of vacation, do you bring your BlackBerry and laptop with
you to check in? Or do you like to unplug completely?
These types of questions will quickly get you to the point of
understanding the kind of person you’re dealing with. There are folks
who work to live, and that’s just fine. However, it might not be fine
for your company at this time. In a hot market, you might deal
with a clock puncher, because the people who really kill it are in
short supply. However, in a market like this, you should start with
the killers and work your way down to the clock punchers.
Hey, wait a second…are you anti-family and life/work balance?
Absolutely not!
If folks hate their day job and want to get out at 5:01PM, sure, go
for it. I just think it’s better to find a job you’re super passionate
about, so you don’t feel like running out at 5PM on the dot. Also, you
have to keep in mind the backdrop in which I’m writing this piece: an
economic tsunami that we haven’t seen in our lifetimes, or our
parents’ lifetimes for that matter.
In this market, it’s going to be A LOT worse for families if mommy or
daddy doesn’t have a job than if mommy or daddy has to work late. This
is not play time everyone–this is real time.
Bottom line: Employers should focus on the hard workers first so their
companies survive long enough to hire the 9-5ers!
For Candidates: Establish That You Can Move the Needle
In my mind, there are three basic types of people in the world: people
who make it, people who sell it and people who support those first two
groups. If you’re a developer or designer, you’re obviously making the
product. If you’re in sales, you’re obviously selling the product.
CEOs, COOs, accountants and administrators obviously support those
groups.
Folks who are most dispensable in this market are the folks who are
not directly selling (i.e. bringing in money) or making the product:
- Marketers/Public Relations
- Strategy
- Business Development
- Product Manager
- Managers in General
Like you, I’ve watched layoff after layoff at companies, and the first
groups that get cut are the ones that the business can survive
without. If you cut a couple of project managers, PR people and your
strategy folks, the business keeps running.
Does it run as well? Perhaps not. But it survives–and that’s what
matters in a market like this.
In fact, Google could cut half of their staff tomorrow and their
revenue and earnings would be exactly the same, in my estimation.
Would they be building cool new stuff? No. Would they be as effective?
Probably not. However, their revenue machine (text-based ads) doesn’t
require this huge staff.
This is all really depressing stuff, I know, but I’m not telling you
this to get you depressed. No, I’m telling you this to help you get
your next job! If you want to get one of the small number of positions
that will open up in 2009/2010, you need to place yourself in the
"high impact" bucket of employees, not the “low impact” positions.
If you do strategy, marketing and business development, I suggest
positioning yourself in sales.
If you do product management or are a mid-level manger, I suggest
positioning yourself as “player/coach”–someone who does a bunch of
work AND manages people in their “spare” time.
For employers: Hire Impact Players
As I’ve mentioned above, you have a small number of positions opening
and you need to be very selective. Once you’ve narrowed your pool down
to the folks you think are the hardest working, you need to do another
round of figuring out the folks who are the smartest and most
versatile.
It’s great that someone wants to work hard, but do they have direct
experience closing a client? Do they have direct experience leading
the building of an actual product that makes it to market and is
embraced by customers?
Here are some very basic questions I like to ask folks in an
interview. (Have I interviewed you? How was it for you?):
-
Who are the top three clients you’ve worked for? (This could be
internal or external.) -
What problem did you solve for these three clients?
-
How long did you work for these clients?
-
Can I have the names of these clients as references?
-
What was the best product/service you ever created/sold and why?
-
What was the most disappointing product/service you ever
created/sold and why? What did you take away from that?
If folks can’t answer these types of questions quickly and sharply, it
might mean they had one of those “soft jobs” where they didn’t have to
produce a product that absolutely delighted customers. Every position
has a customer in some way: the mailroom guy services the people
getting the mail, the IT person services the people who bring her
frozen laptops and the CEO has to deal with a range of “customers” in
the form of investors, partners, employees and board members.
This is a long and obvious way of saying that you need folks who can
get stuff done.
If you’re one of the 17 folks who made it to the bottom of this email,
I’m wondering the following:
I hope this doesnt sound stupid :o, but how do you pay employees commission? I’ve always done hourly…
We have been on the commission thing since 2005. It has been the best move for both employee and the company. Our commission rate is 30% of the gross sale of the job. $300.00 job= $90.00 commission for the employee. Vacation is paid out at an hourly rate (I pay my guys $12.00 an hour for vacation pay).
Vacation pay is based on when we gear up in the Spring (basically when I start using the payroll service again). My guys accumulate 4 hours per month on the anniversary of being called back (Example: March 15 - April 15 = 4 hours). I will pay them up to one year vacation-thats it. All my guys except one will draw unemployment for 2 1/2 months. I wont go over 1 week vacation because of this.
You will most likely see your PROFIT GROW in your bank account if you switch over from hourly to commission. Employees are responsible for the work they get done and in control over the outcome for the days pay instead of “milking the system for hours”.
There are a few downsides to commission though. If you pay workers’ compensation, it could go up quite a bit. I am in a group rating through my local BBB at a 75% discount so that isnt an issue for me.
When I was paying hourly, it really sucked profit from my business. #1 it was partly from employees milking the clock and #2 it was because some jobs werent profitable. Commission rate really opened my eyes to what jobs we were taking a hit on (my guys were complaining) and it made me take action to either raise the rate up or drop that customer.
My guys would quit if we went back to hourly (and so would I:D)
when i was on commision my rate was 11.875 percent. Thats because the jobs for the whole day dont total more then 30 miles. On average from time i left shop to time i got back was about 11 bucks an hour. but thats averaging 50hrs a week doing it too.
So what is the “good” rate of pay to keep the “good” workers? If I use an experience window cleaning for the first time, I start him at $15 an hour and pay for lunch. Commissions I have seen 30% for commercial and 35% for residential.
If someone is an asset to my company I like to see them average between $25 and $30 an hour. So the question is how to keep them happy so they don’t bail and become competition. I don’t have a set system yet so any criticism is appreciated.
At 30% for residential, my guys average around 25.00 per hour. This can easily be achieved without driving like a maniac and running up and down ladders. I have had guys average $50.00 to $75.00 per hour (the higher end of the pay is usually gutter guard installation). My “Love” for the commission deal is that I am “Guaranteed Profit”. hourly cant guarantee this.
Imagine sending a crew to a job and it starts to sprinkle a little rain. If they talk the customer into rescheduling the job (and some will pull this to get out of work) they dont get paid. Sure im out the gas but im not out anything on hourly pay.
You have to have quality guidelines in place as well. If they do unsatisfactory work, they have to face the music (they show back up to fix the problem). I try not to get too involved. I havent really got call backs since we switched. An occassional missed window is about all.
Tried the cloning thing … couldn’t get along.
Maybe I’m just cheap, but it seems like a lot to pay a worker 30%, is that per employee? I would have had to pay my 1 part time guy almost $400 for one day last week, (big gutter/window job) instead he made closer to $100.00…am I understanding the commission idea right?
Sharen,
Yes it is a good chunk no doubt about it. If you work next to this person then I would definately stay with the hourly scale. I have crews all over the place that I cant monitor them very well. Believe it or not, I have had more money in my bank account since switching than ever before. Hourly drained my account constantly. Maybe I should have kept an eye on payroll more closely back in those days? Should have ran the numbers at the end of the week more frequently to size up what I was paying out and what was actually getting done. Back in those days, we were running upwards to 40% payroll (which is terrible). Check your gross sales at the end of the week minus payroll. That will give you the lowdown on how efficient and profitable your business is doing. As they say, “the numbers don’t lie”.
Yes I work next to my part timer…my business, im sure, is much smaller than yours…i have 1 crew and I’m one of the “guys”…I will check my gross sales against payroll starting monday…why havent I done that before…
? Thanks for the advice, appreciate it…
Sharen,
Im not a big company compared to a few of the guys on here. Do the numbers thing from here on out to guage where you need to improve on. Commission really helps out when you have jobs scattered all over the place. Drive time will eat up profit if jobs are too far from each other. When I was hourly, I never paid for a lunch break but my guys took one any way ( they thought they were sneaky). Im strictly residential so I could be at my first job in the morning and have the second job in the afternoon 30-40 minutes away. Some on here hate the idea of paying their guys that kind of money. I can respect that. A friend of mine who owns a landscaping company thinks im just plain nuts. I look at his business and how he is always looking for help. Always stressed out with hiring a new guy. All season long it seems. As the saying goes"Some employers deservre the employees they get".
#1 is to have jobs that pay well enough to pay an employee decent if you cant be on the job ( you may decide that you want to be involved in the running of the business instead of the service end). Like I mentioned, commission whipped my company into shape really quick. An employee wont tell you that a $60.00 job took 3 hours when they are making an hourly wage. Why would they? They are getting paid regardless. If you take that job on a commission scenario, I would be getting a call half way through the job on my cell phone! Haha. Funny that when the shoes on the other foot, employees seem to take notice. This whole commission program is just what i use. When I first brought it up with my guys, i told them that it had to be a win-win situation for the company and for the employee. if it didnt work out for either side, we would scrap the whole idea.
If you are a small company, then you could pay hourly if you have a good idea how long a job should take as well as drive time. But for some of these guys who have 4 or more employees, its a pain in the arse to keep track so they just put em on commission. I would pay my guy hourly but thats cause like i said…i know how long it should take. then comm if you had more ppl and more accts
