Pulling my hair in San Francisco- Trying to find an employee

[PDES-SC]

Have you considered going to the local temp agency? You get to "test drive" these guys. Yeah you pay a bit more for a while, but you get to learn and know them and their work ethics.

I have the perfect vision in my head ... young male, early 20s, no or some community college, has a wife and a baby. A kid that is trying to do the right thing and is trying to be responsible. Hope I can give them a career (and if I am lucky an out in 15 years or so when I want to sell). I am not ready for a full timer yet, but have tested a couple of guys and a day or two with them lets me know what I need to know. First guy would probably have worked if he would have talked less. Hard worker, but talked himself out of a job telling me how he was going to be an electrician, or God - not sure which path he was set on. Don't think he would have been prime for solo customer interface either. The other kid I ran ragged ... and when an old fat man runs a kid ragged ... he ain't what I am looking for.

Some agency's charge a fee if you hire a person in less than XXX hours of work, some do not (LaborReady does not).

 

[ruff]

Ofer.
Sometimes the things we use as markers aren't really good indicators of actual potential talent. Like a customer who finds a penny in a closet and assumes you did a bad job.
I know from experience that my Dads employee is someone I would have definitely passed on. He would have failed all my personality indicators.
But I got swamped and used him last summer. The kid was awesome. Nonstop hustle great quality. Of course a lot of that is how he trains people. But I would have passed on him and missed that opportunity.
I also have a guy that works for me. Big guy. Huge. But works great. I've tried a less rigid approach to hiring. A lot for patience and praise in the training process. That's hard for me because I'm nowhere near as patient as dad. But it has worked

Justin, though I agree in principle on another level I disagree.
If I've learned anything in my career, is that ignoring red flags are done at our own expense.
Weather it is a client or an employee!

My standards are not that rigid, they are, as Sherlock Holmes used to say: Elementary.

If someone can not follow a very simple instruction on how to apply. Like do not send an attachment, or call on time, there's very little chance they'll follow my directions or show up on time. And why should they? They've already demonstrated to me in advance and in unambiguous terms (only in less words) that they won't.

If they don't sound personable on the phone, chances are they won't be so in person either.

I am not looking for a hose pusher, I am looking for someone that eventually will be able to work by themselves, be fairly compensated, treated nicely, represent my business well and take good care of my clients. And I don't really think that those reasonable expectations are a pie in the sky.

The simple criteria of- will I let this person clean in my home being there with my wife or kids, apply just as well to my business.

Ignoring red flags, in my experience, is a risky proposition indeed.

 

[Carpet Cleaning Fool]

Does Oakland have it's own CL?

It has more of a blue collar vibe and 50k might be enough for someone living there to make the short commute into the city.

 

[ruff]

You do a San Francisco Bay Area ad and you can specify Oakland.
In the ad I actually emphasized that we have a BART (bay area transit) station by and that I'll pay the travel cost. Trying to target the 80 corridor (East Bay), as people there make substantially less money than closer to S.F.

 

[JS41035]

I understand that logic. In Texas I hired and fired a bunch of people. 90%of the time my gut instinct was right. If I ignored a red flag it almost always came back to bite me.
I guess my point was that I've been wrong a few times too. And sometimes the shy goofball ends up being a very teachable good worker. If you can't hire an eagle Get a trainable duck.
A lot of young men these days haven't had a father to show them how to work or tell them they are doing a good job. Some people blossom when they get a chance.
If your a big business with systems it's a little easier to plug someone in and be ok. But an owner-operator has it rough. Hard to attract long term people when it's easy to see that the company is totally dependent on you. Plus it sounds like the labor pool is shallow out there.
Also you might try putting a rainbow in the ad. It is SF




....

 

[Chris A]

Ugh. I just had a guy quit on me because I reposted my cl ad after he called off two days due to illness (in his first week). Funny thing is I wasn't going to fire him I just wanted to have my nuts covered in case he flaked out... on to the next one

 

[Desk Jockey]

Man that's tough.

I'm hurting for tech's I could use a handful this week.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Ugh. I just had a guy quit on me because I reposted my cl ad after he called off two days due to illness (in his first week). Funny thing is I wasn't going to fire him I just wanted to have my nuts covered in case he flaked out... on to the next one

Sounds like you dodged a bullet anyway

 

[bob vawter]

Ofer....get in yor car an' drive to Santa Cruz....
Shawn and i saw a half dozen or so men wit little signs
saying they need work.......
i know they'd be great workers as their eyes were as wide as saucers...i bettcha they
could see in the dark real well.....they also had the skiniest arms i've ever seen...could reach into places you could never reach.....
yep go over to Santa Cruz is the place you wanna be....

 

[TomKing]

First off I accept your offer. Stop acting like I am a dead beat and don't want to work.

I use CL for ads. The only thing I have gotten is carpet cleaners from other companies. I have hired 6 in the last 5 years and only one is still with me, the others have realized their true potential and moved on.

When I have had several candidates I invite them all to the same one hour open interview. This way when half of them flake out I do not waste a bunch of time.

The best employees have come from other service industries. We try to eat out 1-2 times per week looking for solid servers.

I just sent a constant contact newsletter out to our customers looking for a additional office position. I got 3 good applications and we will be extending an offer this week.

I had a 40% open rate on my email. I also had over 20 forwards.

Send your customers a email and ask for their recommendations they know the quality you need. They also know you are aging and I am sure want to see you succeed and find a great team member.

My night guy very solid former bartender. He loves not working weekends and a 4 day work week.

My newest day tech full time former waiter for the last 10 years.

Just hired a young man that is in the Air Guard. Yes Sir No Sir how fast do you want it done Sir. Team player.

Our local university have job boards we have been using

I feel your pain finding people is the hardest part of the business.

I talked with a customer that owns a temp business. He stated there is a shortage of good candidates for service jobs. He had 35 office personnel openings he could not fill. His statement the people that do not have jobs at our level are almost unemployable.

He also told me he made 5 bad hires for himself in the last year. Staffing is the hardest thing we do.

 

[TomKing]

I offered you 4 weeks and use of the truck to clean your carpet twice a year. Come on I am not that cheap.

My first ads did just that. Didn't work either. Exact same kind of responses.
It doesn't say $50,000.00 in the ad. Another "difficult" addition subtraction test . However, if they bothered to do the math, that's what it will add up to. I almost wish I could hire illegals (not doing it!) as I am sure to find much better people.

I'm not looking for a helper, I am looking for someone that can do his/her own cleaning. Otherwise, though it will help a little, it will not solve the issue of attending more quickly to some clients needs, which currently I can't. Unless I give up on seeing the family altogether.

Tom refused. He wanted either to be paid less money or to buy my business for a week's net gross .

 

[Connor]

I looked under the CL resume listings.... Of about seven or eight folks, one was willing to work, but only after 6:30 pm. My last helper was unemployed and living I a trailer park when I found him, I was doing a repair for his landlord and the guy had a sad story about getting laid off and having two kids, so I worked him as a laborer and he did well, but I had to shuttle him to and from his trailer. When he finally got some transportation it was all down hill from there. He was late almost every day and started calling in sick. When he got his refund check, about 6k, he laid out for a week. I replaced him a week later with a guy who's also a customers tenant, but he was working three jobs! He quit two of them to work for me and kept his weekend gig delivering pizza.


I'm a jerk.

 

[ruff]

First off I accept your offer. Stop acting like I am a dead beat and don't want to work.

Tom, Just in case you're serious, I DO NOT THINK YOU'RE A DEAD BEAT OR THAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO WORK.
Quite the opposite. So don't take me too seriously. Even though on some issues we think quite differently, I have great respect for you. Being exposed to and considering different ways to conduct business can be quite fruitful.

I offered you 4 weeks and use of the truck to clean your carpet twice a year. Come on I am not that cheap.

That's the problem, Tom. I don't want to clean MY carpets twice a year! Personally I'm more of a clean the carpet once every few white house administrations, kind a guy.
Once I'm done, I don't even want to see a carpet cleaning machine. Unless, of course, I get Bob Vawteries


And I'd be darned. After all the dud Craig's List responses (catatonic comes to mind), last Friday I interviewed a guy that I really liked. And wait for this- He actually followed directions.

Can I dig it?!!

He's starting tomorrow.

For once, I'm speechless. And since a group hug is not available, you guys, hold your fingers crossed for me.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Sweet! Good luck.

We're still hunting.

Busy bees we are, sure could use a few more hands.

Oh well that's the nature of the beast. Feast or famine and its feast right now.

 

[TomKing]

Ofer you and I are good my friend.

Tom, Just in case you're serious, I DO NOT THINK YOU'RE A DEAD BEAT OR THAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO WORK.
Quite the opposite. So don't take me too seriously. Even though on some issues we think quite differently, I have great respect for you. Being exposed to and considering different ways to conduct business can be quite fruitful.


That's the problem, Tom. I don't want to clean MY carpets twice a year! Personally I'm more of a clean the carpet once every few white house administrations, kind a guy.
Once I'm done, I don't even want to see a carpet cleaning machine. Unless, of course, I get Bob Vawteries


And I'd be darned. After all the dud Craig's List responses (catatonic comes to mind), last Friday I interviewed a guy that I really liked. And wait for this- He actually followed directions.

Can I dig it?!!

He's starting tomorrow.

For once, I'm speechless. And since a group hug is not available, you guys, hold your fingers crossed for me.

 

[Terry]

Ofer, you mentioned Damiens script, any chance you could pm it to me as I'm putting together an ad and would like to see how it's set up.

Also how's your new employee working out?

 

[Moser Brothers]

I just meet them at a *$ and interview them.



try ofering less money, I think you're scaring them off. Is it a helper you're after or a Tom King to run your biz?

I'd hire a Tom King for $50,000 maybe even double that


....

 

[ruff]

Also how's your new employee working out?

Well.....
He interviewed very well, Nice personality. Worked 4 days, was getting a little moody and winded while cleaning stairs etc. On the fourth day I was ready to let him go. He beat me to the punch though. According to him he got an offer to work as a bus driver (a job he applied a long time before.)

What are the odds?!

Miracles in my opinion never cease to happen. Anyway, I was thankful I did not have to fire him.

Three weeks later (same ad) I got a very nice response. Followed all directions. Great phone and in person interview. Turns out he's legal but a foreigner. I'd be damned. And to add insult to injury, he's one year younger than me , which means that he's as old as the hills minus one year.

- I hired him.

So far, it is going very well. Nice personality. Always on time. Works hard. Nice to talk with. Takes a little longer to get things and still somewhat slow, however speed will come. I care more about reliability, quality of work and good people skills.

I'm holding my fingers crossed.

Kind of like my live in carpet cleaning telenovela.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Sounds like he might work out Ofer. There is something to be said for maturity as long as he can process the work.


We hired two last month. One is still here and I think might just make it. The other made it two days and we haven't heard back about him since.

Sort of like the cats at home, if you don't see them for a couple of days.......something got them.

 

[Bee Busy]

My helper for 1 1/2 years quit on me 2 weeks ago...here's my new helper who is surprisingly good, enthusiastic and likes working on tile and stone
. We have been friends for a while and she's in between jobs, but she seems to like the work a lot and it's been different for me because I've never worked with a female before

 

[Desk Jockey]

As long as she is capable of doing the job, I'd rather work with a woman than a man any day.

 

[ruff]

That's nice Bill.
Enthusiasm and a nice personality make a world of a difference. And those are qualities we can't teach.

 

[Bee Busy]

Yeah she's very detailed, we're in our 2nd day today of a 3 day job honing and polishing travertine job. I'm already fried on this project and can't wait or it to end but she's still enthusiastic about it which helps positive vibes all around.

 

[Desk Jockey]

I agree with Ofer a positive attitude is worth gold, especially as you mentioned when you're already spent.

Congrats hope it continues to work out for you!

 

[Able 1]

I have been thinking that I am going to steal some landscape workers, for real! I think I have one in my sights that works at night at a gas station(drive,and personality he has).. Landscaping work is hard and I would match his current pay.

I would love to hire a Mexican.. Carpet cleaning is a cake walk, compared to landscaping..

It's always a struggle, but i think us OO's give up too soon by saying "I can't find decent help". I think the problem is we don't look long enough to find what we are looking for(guilty here)..

 

[Desk Jockey]

I would love to hire a Mexican.

Keith look for a hard worker. Just being Mexican doesn't give you birth right to being a hard worker.

We've had our fair share of lazy or those that lacked attention for detail and cleaned too fast. They were unable to grasp it and despite the opportunity never made it here.