been tough lately

[Mopar Lady]

Been tough lately,finding good help lately.Ended up firing 2 employees last week and was really fed up what they did.First one,comebacks galore my other employees or I had to fix.It cost me money with him too.He did a timing belt job in a 2007 Subaru Outback last time,came back on the hook with the timing belt broke pulling the engine out taking the heads off sent to the machine shop replacing valves.Customer was glad it was taken care of.The other employee,disrespect of me and felt like coming in when he felt like.I did find two new people and are doing good so far.Seen they double and triple check their work and keep their work area clean.Both are veterans like me and I am starting to hire veterans more.I have read of the veterans go through finding a job.Figured out a dirty work area is one of my pet peeves..Come in on time too also respecting me.I have to hire 3 new mechanics next year,3 are retiring in December

[challengermaniac]

Definitely a lot to be said about good hiring practices including interviews to verify their knowledge and experience and cross checking references.  Good to determine why they are looking for work to understand their motivation.  Bad hires literally can put you out of business so it's up to you to put forth the effort to verify perspective employees.  And have a checks and balances system over inventory, sales and payments to make sure it all adds up.  Best of success!

[Chryco Psycho]

 :thumbdown:Well after 37 years trying to get my mechanic certification & never getting it & 37 years trying to get into the USA I moved to Panama & I love it here  .
I have no green card & I hate winter so I am sorry but I cannot help you out 
If I could get a green card I likely would have been helping out Ammo for a number of years already .
Often there is a lot of pressure on speed but it is more important to do the work carefully & thoroughly as doing it twice never pays !!

[CNUMB]

Good people are hard to find.. Seems everyone wants top pay, but produces less than minimum wage results!! I am a Plumbing Contractor here in Florida, been in business for myself the past 30 years.. Work ethic is sure not like it used to be back in my day.. My wife always tells me one day I may get shot for the way I hire then fire, but I tell it like it is..
Best of luck to you finding worth while people, we are a dying breed.. God help our future!!!

[jimynick]

The real problem is that everybody wants to hire a "good guy" and most don't give a thought or damn to the fact that they don't grow on trees. I can't tell you how many times I heard that in a shop, and when I asked the boss how many licenced guys they had, he'd invariably say 2-3-4 or whatever. When I asked him how many apprentices he had, he'd say "none, but we HAD a guy, and just about the time he was trained, he left!"  That was his reason for not hiring any more apprentices. I'd usually then ask him if he drank beer, and he'd agree that he did. I'd tell him that beer turns to piss, but did that prevent him from ever having another beer?; and you could see the wheels moving in his head. EVERYBODY wants a "good guy" but unless you help to train them, the supply of them is drying up as they all retire or just get out/changes trades. By all means check/vet them, but for the love of God and to ensure that there ARE prospective job applicants, hire some apprentices and get those old, retiring good guys to teach them, so that one day, THEY'LL be the good guys. Here endeth the sermon, but it's serious. 

[Chryco Psycho]

Exactly Ian
I have had 25 jobs as a mechanic , never got signed up to the apprenticeship program , they wanted me to bust tires & change oil forever but didn't want me to go to school for 2 months as the bay would sit empty & then when I returned from school [assuming I ever got to go ] they had to pay me more so while they are charging out $125/ hr to the customer for my work they don't want to cut into their profits & pay me more than $10/hr .
So I am over 60  & can completely rebuild a car & I never got my 1st year completed which also prevented me from opening my own shop unless I hired a licenced guy to watch me work .

[hanksemenec]

How the hell did he cause a timing belt to brake? That job is stupid proof.

[tparker]

I used to be in the car industry just out of high school but moved on. Went in the army then into computers. Was rought getting in, but has been good so far.

I don't know if it is a "todays generation" thing or not. It feels like it. Though I am sure Gramps who hired me when I was 18 thought I was a looser too. LOL. I am all about work ethic. I hear @Chryco Psycho, the same happened with a friend. I started going to automotive school out of high school but dropped out as life got in the way. So I learned a "few" things. My buddy went in knowing nothing about cars and stuck it out for 25 years or so. He worked under the table and only did certain things. He never went to school and the boss never invested in the guy. Sad situtation.

Its a two way street. You want someone to stay with you for the long run. You have to find decent people, but then you got to groom them. Provide them with the opportunity to grow. Many people don't want that, they just want to clock in, get paid, and clock out. Others want to actually learn something. Good bosses encourage and invest in good employees. Good employees pay that back in dividends by being more productive and more useful. Unfortunately the Auto industry has it's share of shady people. ugh.

Anyways, I hear your plight. It isn't easy weeding through applicants to find good ones, if you even have more than one to screen. Consider carefully picking interview questions that might weed out people your not interested in. Think of the qualities you want or don't want and tailer some questions around that to help find out  more about the person. The tech industry is full of that sort of stuff. THey do interviews that see what kind of person you are. LOL.

Just some thoughts.