to all shop owners.where did you find good help?

I'll quote nobody for this:

Power lies with the man in charge,

Production lies with the worker.

The man in charge is the boss.

Boss spelled backwards is Double S. O. B.

 

There are no more good employees....................just retard-a-cons!

 

Hell yeah I'd be willing to move somewhere else! The best paying job where we live at the moment is "Meth cook"...Me and the wife are still talking about moving to Austin...

 

I'm a self employed shop owner. This is what use to go through my head when I was looking for a job in any situation, I don't know about the rest of the country, but down south , they will not hire people that can't pass a pee test. Now, it don't matter if you can't speak english or have a valid social security card or drivers liscense, but the insurance co. demands to know what you do in your private time. I will never pee in a cup for a employer or a insurance co. I cross those places right off the list.
Maybe that keeps potential employees away. I know its what made me start my own business many years ago.A employee has to fill trusted, like you hired him for a purpose. Like in the old days , if somebody messes up to much, it don't matter whats in there system. they have to go down the road.
Creative people don't do drug tests, and consider yourself lucky if they stay awhile before they hone thier skills and move on to thier own shop. Does this make sense, or am I way off?

 

i have worked for myself for over 20 years.
what i have done is learned to delegate work,and to keep moving,checking on my helpers to make sure everythings going well.
i've had some good helpers and some bad ones too,the bad ones arent here long.
the best helper i've had was a girl,girls seem to keep the area clean,are more organized and are on time.
but i will say that employees are a major PITA and i only have one now,and he only works 2 days a week.i can make more money by myself with no help.
Randy

 

It IS that hard. I have had a hell of a time finding good help- apparently the Northeast just doesnt create many of 'em.

I found my help through word of mouth (and they are GREAT guys I may add) and one actually used to work with me many years ago when I was a tech.

Depends on what you are looking for as well. Auto Body guys are easier to find that metal guys. Painters are harder to find than metal guys.

Ive placed wanted ads in my monthly newsletter- may not get the guy from someone on my mailing list, but almost always the info was passed along. I also put the word out there I was looking for somoene (and on my website). If you dont have either of those- maybe see if the local tech school can offer a list for job placement- just remember that most of the tech kids are beginners.

Good luck though- its great when you find a good crew (like I have).

 

I've been in business management for 26 years and I can tell you one thing...no one has a simple answer to your question. All the theory and books in the world go out the window when you start to deal with creative, independent people. I tell them what I want and expect and how much it pays. If things aren't working out it's because the pay isn't were it should be or the person isn't capable of doing what I want done. Either way, something is gonna change. I've tried the Hitler approach to management and let me tell you, it doesn't work and your hired help will hate you. When employees hate or disrespect you for whatever reason, your tools disappear and they don't show up, etc. One thing you need to know is this: sometimes there is a fine line between freinds and employees. You need to learn when to draw that line. Managing people is the hardest part of any business. Good luck.

 

You might want to PM him, Jester. This thread is 2-1/2 yrs old & he might not see its been brought back to the top.

*EDIT*- Looks like I was mistaken!

 

good thinking!!! haha

 

call me up. i don't bite. just a few questions for you.

what can you do?
how good are you at it?
what do you want to work on?

answer them truthfully, and we'll go from there.

-danny

 

Hey Danny.

Best wishes on finding good help.

I have the opposite problem, I cant find anyone who will pay me on time, pay me all of what they owe me, short change me when they do pay, say they will catch up with me on the next check, etc.....

Regards.


Ricky.

 

I"ve found out over about the last 10 years,the younger guys are good with computer and diagnostics,but dont the first thing about fixing minor mechanical problem,thats on diesel and gas engines ,had a dt366 international diesel with a shutting down problem and starting problem,hooked up his laptop worked on it for about an hour,laptop not truck.Came to me and said no codes at all,what did I think.asked him if he checked the cam sensor,didn"t have a clue what it did or where it was.I pulled cam sensor and sure enough,hairline crack,repaced with new and ran perfect.If your shop builds rods,just find you a couple of retired mechanics,work-em part-time and get the jobs done.theres alot of bored to death older mechanics around,that would jump at the chance to turn wrenches again and be appreciated for their work!

 

Danny pays on time and then some. Never shortchanged.

Not sure what your insuinuating but Bruce's and Danny are on the up and up. Not your average shop but then again maybe you are the average employee.

They do right by me, and then some.

 

Guy working on this was one of your younger good guys?

An L1 goes along way these days.

 

glad your having fun. it's been great having you part of our family.

-danny

 

will you hire a canadian

hehe

whats the wages?

 

High speed low-drag,not only was he a young,suspposed to be good guy he attended a diesel institute school but said they never told him about cam sensors.i put him on a mack grantite roll-off with lighting problem,he couldn"t even find fusepanel.he didn"t last long.replaced him with 53 year old wrenchhead and was able to get my own jobs completed.

 

I'll use my tax return to fly down there, live on a mattress in the shop and do whatever you need done. Haha. New York can go straight to hell for all I'm concerned. Can't even get a job at a supermarket here.

 

Problem is the world is a different place than 20 30 years ago. Things are changing way too fast. I can go on, but i think its against hamb rules.... If you find someone as good or better than you, take care of them well and hope they stay with you.

 

as much as this website bashes tech schools have you tryed the student survives offices at UTI and WYOTECH? I get a letter in the mail from potential employees from wyotech at least 2 times a month.

 

most of the good ones are happily employed or unemployed cause they want to be...

I werk in a heavy collition shop as a frame tech and hard to fing good people....

let aone people that will even show up every day

 

No offense but I'd bet a whole nickle that Brent would have interviewed this young, good, diesel school guy and found out during the interview that he didn't have the skills that he claimed to have. Just because a guy has a laptop and tells you that he can diagnose problems doesn't make it so. Many of the younger guys think that that "they can read without knowing the alphabet", if that makes any sense. Just my gut feeling having been in the bosses chair for many years.

 

I have the problem of finding a shop that will employ me who pays on time and what they owe me. I gave up and decided I am going to work part time, watch my kid during the day while the wife works, work during the evening or night/early morning shift somewhere. And, on weekends run my business until I get it off the ground a little better then I will do that full time. I like being the boss even though it a pain in the ass when it comes to paperwork and customer service.

 

I am skilled and looking for employment. whats your rate, is it permanent, and is it full-time? lol

 

At our plant we are hireing a 3rd shift crew, we have to go through an employment agency to hire. We hire 1 1/2 times the amount of people to train. After the background check and drug testing we have to get another 3-4 people to train. After 1-2 weeks of training, we again have to go through the agency to get more trainees. There are people that show up late on thier first day...thier gone. there are people that just don't get it after a couple of days....thier gone. Young people now don't have a clue about holding a job. Some don't care in the least. These jobs pay from 16-22 hr/ with healthcare,dental,vac, bonuses etc etc.

 

I wish I could find a good shop to work for.

Tired of making a ton of cash for people that dont care if I fall over dead in the shop!

 

When we had a business it always amazed me that people will go out of their way to avoid work when it cost them - not me money. I had people who were independent contractors so the harder they worked the more they made. Time and again it was like herding cats. And when you get one that is a go getter they either leave and start their own place like you said and in our case we sold our business to one of them . At least in that way I got the last laugh so to speak...

 

I am waiting for a fellow to give up and call me to take away his 37 dodge cab and front clip. It's practially rust free and has a modern chevy tilt already installed. I'm just waiting and ironically this stuff is in central Florida but.. sorry ..good luck on your hunt...

 

Hi HighSpeed LowDrag.

I wasnt insinuating anything, just relating that I had the opposite problem.

I put "Best wishes" with a smiley face and a "Regards" at the bottom of my post.


I dont know Bruce or Danny and have nothing against them but was wishing them well.

I reread my post and cant see anything crappy in it.

Hate for yall to think I am a jerk or something....


Regards and have a great weekend !


Richard.