Employers: Hiring tricks and tips

[Benno]

A quality guy with experience knows what he’s worth. You can’t buy gold for the price of bronze. If I’m your ideal candidate what about your company is going to interest me enough to consider working for you?

[easeup]

I found where we were missing things was placing too much value on experience and or skills. Those are important aspects but not nearly as important as the cultural/behavioral fit.

If someone had the cultural likeness that you desire you can easily teach them the craft. Doesn’t matter how great someone is or how much experience they have if they end up being a problem or cancer.

Line out some good culture type questions and place say a value percentage on it. Do the same on experience and skills. It will show you the talent you want to hire. If you are interested there are some really basic culture type question to ask that can lead down several different paths. This will expose their mindset and beliefs.

this is good right here.
One easy question to get the culture is simple...what is your favorite movie?
them ask them why?

[PlanoDano]

Hire a Veteran.
Shows to work on time.
Does what is told.
Works well in a team.

List job requirements not a wishlist.

[Dale Moser]

I feel like a pretty good judge of character, and mostly go by my gut feeling on that. One thing I will not tolerate is someone who agrees with everything I say, and says they can/will do anything we need done.

I prefer someone who isn’t afraid to tell me they don’t know how to do something, but can tell me about something else they couldn’t do, but learned how. I really like someone with questions for me about things other than pay.

There are no sure things, or absolutes. I’m prone to taking fliers over “sure things”. I’ve just had better luck that way.

There are no sure things, I KNOW that.


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[the-butcher]

This is a skilled trade. Blue collar. Hourly. Non supervisory.

I started hiring on character, values and what they want to achieve. Had few guys give me their plans on how they wanted to buy a house and plan for family. Key words that give hints into work ethic. Has worked well for me. The few we hired on skill alone were not top tier.


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[Artos]

I rarely if ever check references. Have you ever listed someone as a reference that's going to say you're a bad employee and poor performer?

I'm friends with my old bosses & proud to have have letter of recommendations on hand...it would be awkward to give a reference that would crawfish on a conversation of parting on bad terms to come back and bite you.

If your last employer cannot vouch for your value...who can??

The References I'm referring are not the weekend drinking buddy with no standing?? Research is required.

[fbchunter]

I found where we were missing things was placing too much value on experience and or skills. Those are important aspects but not nearly as important as the cultural/behavioral fit.

If someone had the cultural likeness that you desire you can easily teach them the craft. Doesn’t matter how great someone is or how much experience they have if they end up being a problem or cancer.

Line out some good culture type questions and place say a value percentage on it. Do the same on experience and skills. It will show you the talent you want to hire. If you are interested there are some really basic culture type question to ask that can lead down several different paths. This will expose their mindset and beliefs.

I wish more thought like this. I’ve been in power plant operations for 14 years. I’ve been trying to get on with a company that is more into transmission and distribution. Most of these companies require a two year tech degree to get in. I’m never afraid to bet on myself, but they won’t give me a chance at an apprenticeship. I’m willing to take a huge paycut, but they don’t give me the time of day. I recently applied for a helper position with the same company, making less than half of what I’m making now. Hoping it works out. I think many times too much weight is placed on a degree or experience. I’m hungrier than most any guy you’ll find especially the ones coming straight out of school. I’d look more for a guy with a good and honest personality and not be afraid to offer less money but willing to train him. Let him know as he progresses you’ll offer incentives as he learns the trade and skills needed.

[WItoTX]

Hand them a laptop where the only icon is the trash can. "Here is a laptop. Show me how to _(Insert skill they claim to have)_. You have 15 minutes. Go."

If they can't find the program, they can't do the task. Our work is mostly computer based, so basic skills on a computer are a must.

We have a lot of "Yeah I created this product using this software". So we make them do it in front of us, or if for some reason they can't I will make them walk me through in painful detail how to do what they claim to know how to do. I drive the other interviewers nuts, but results show we find the best new hires that way.

[DirtyDave]

Good machinists have good jobs. It's the turds that float around from shop to shop.
Gotta poach the good ones from other shops.

[J.Shoot]

I always describe the job, what we offer and watch reactions... then I start asking open ended questions, wait for an answer. Job history is a big one for us also, not so much what they did but how long they were there and why they left. Always ask if you can call the former supervisor, a lot of times how they respond to that can tell you a lot. You have to be careful what you ask, but you can get to the same answers by asking the correct way. Good luck.

[tgridley]

Call their last boss and ask, would you hire them back? HR won't answer many question because they are afraid and not sure what they can legally say. The person they reported to will usually open up if they were in fact a good employee.

[Goldeneagle]

We've had quite a few new hires here in our shop Mike. A couple of things I've noticed are, the more they say they can do, the less they really can do. And the ones that are in their twenty's and have worked in 10 different shops already, there is a reason. And just because they've gone to trade school for machining don't mean squat. They still come in not knowing anything. We've hired a few good one's, but still have to train just about everybody including the ones with several years experience. It's tough.

[tdwinklr]

Hire a Veteran.
Shows to work on time.
Does what is told.
Works well in a team.

List job requirements not a wishlist.

sorry, that isn't the case all the time. We got one who won't hit a lick at a snake except brown-nosing everyone above them. Always asking, never giving.

[bowhuntertex]

One thing is, when they come inside the office, stall them and go inspect their vehicle. If they don’t have a clean vehicle that is taken care of, they won’t care for your stuff either. It has nothing to do with how old or expensive, mainly with how well it’s kept. Trash everywhere inside and dirty isn’t a good sign. It doesn’t cost much to clean. Its more about taking pride in your belongings.

I wouldn't recommend this one bit. If I came in and you did this to me you would miss out on a great employee. I live on a ranch and my truck stays dirty with crap in it all the time. Of course mine isn't full of trash either. My truck is a tool, I don't drive it around to pick up women or impress people. I always find that a lot of people who keep their vehicles sparkly clean are the opposite of work. They are more of a dog and pony show.


One thing I did learn when hiring for trade type work is if they were from a small town they usually had a better work ethic. You gotta go with your gut feeling and don't feel like you gotta hire someone to just fill a position.

[Graysonhogs]

This is a skilled trade. Blue collar. Hourly. Non supervisory.

Hand them what you consider an average print. Asked them to walk you thru it. Setup, tooling, etc. That should tell you a lot right there. Pay attention to their expression when they look at it. If it's just an operator position, hand them a part with a print with no dimensions and have them write in the dimensions. But that's only one part. A few of the best machinists I know are flaky as hell.