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xrac

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And don't have the guts to tell you. Had an interview last Saturday... He was 10 minutes late. I called him and sounded like I woke him up. Said he was waiting for his MAMA to get his kid so he could head this way ( 45 min drive). I asked you didn't call or try to email? He couldnt find the number he had called three days before. I told him don't bother, Ill call you. Hope he's not waiting for that call. 

On 1/30/2018 at 12:13 PM, xrac said:

My how times have changed.  Over the past 24 months I have experienced something that has never occurred before in my 19 years in the business.   On four different occasions I have interviewed potential employees, extended a job offer, offer was verbally accepted, a start day was established, we shook hands, and then the person never shows up and is never heard from again. Have any of you had a experience like that? I figure the place where they were at upped the offer and they decided that staying was easier and safer than leaving. 

 

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I had another interview this week, fellow does not want to work under an incentive based pay plan. I am afraid to hire him because I feel I will just end up in the place I already am in, with guys that do just enough to get by and never shoot for bonus. I pay out my guarantee every single week. It is getting old.

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3 minutes ago, xrac said:

He dont sound like a keeper. 

You know, it is funny the things they say. I do not need the flat rate carrot dangled in front of me to produce. Then why would you not want the extra money from all the flat rate time you could make?

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17 hours ago, Hands On said:

I had another interview this week, fellow does not want to work under an incentive based pay plan. I am afraid to hire him because I feel I will just end up in the place I already am in, with guys that do just enough to get by and never shoot for bonus. I pay out my guarantee every single week. It is getting old.

Back when my shop was young I offered a guarantee of 30 hours. What I found was that a tech with a 30 hour guarantee will produce between 28 and 32 hours consistently. They will also blame the shop for their lack of productivity. Then they want to strut around like some sort of hero if they flag over 40 hours once every few months, feeling like that's clear evidence that the problem isn't with them. So I backed the guarantee down to 20 hours. Guess what happened? The techs (I had two at the time) became even less productive and more disgruntled.

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2 minutes ago, xrac said:

What guarantee do you offer now.  

I guarantee that I'm going to do everything in my power to keep the bays full and the work flowing. I also offer the official Department of Labor guarantee, which is that if you don't flag enough hours to equal at least minimum wage for the hours you were present in my shop, I will pay you minimum wage. I also guarantee that if I ever pay you minimum wage, you're fired.

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3 hours ago, AndersonAuto said:

I guarantee that I'm going to do everything in my power to keep the bays full and the work flowing. I also offer the official Department of Labor guarantee, which is that if you don't flag enough hours to equal at least minimum wage for the hours you were present in my shop, I will pay you minimum wage. I also guarantee that if I ever pay you minimum wage, you're fired.

I need to grow the balls to get this done in my shop

This is my current ad, posted in two local cities on craigslist. I have received ONE interested fellow, the one that wants the salary instead of incentive based pay. How do I get more candidates?

 

https://boulder.craigslist.org/trd/d/wanted-experienced-auto/6471665424.html

Edited by Hands On
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19 hours ago, Hands On said:

How do I get more candidates?

I wish I had the magic answer to this question. I do have a few suggestions though. Top talent is going to be interviewing you as much as you are them, and they're going to start at your Web site. My Web site is in process of being updated, so don't go by my example.

First thing that jumps out at me is the family photo. Change it. Nothing wrong with a family photo, but not that family photo. You're dirty and unshaven, and you sat the family down on a curb outside the shop and snapped a pic with a cell phone. Pay someone to take a picture that you would frame and hang in your home. Also ditch the pic of the old jeep Comanche. Those things sucked when they were new. No one with the euro experience you're advertising for wants to see that. Then I would make an employment tab at the top. On it you should include a mini application, and show pics of the shop full of the kind of vehicles you say the prospective tech needs experience on, with pics of scanners and other high tech equipment being used on them. Look at stock photos of guys using scanners etc and try to emulate the look and feel. And make sure the shop is sparkling clean and jam packed with cars to work on. The goal is to portray a clean environment where a guy can knock out some serious hours. They certainly don't want to crawl around on the floor working on 80's vintage jeep pickups.

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On 2/9/2018 at 6:23 AM, AndersonAuto said:

I wish I had the magic answer to this question. I do have a few suggestions though. Top talent is going to be interviewing you as much as you are them, and they're going to start at your Web site. My Web site is in process of being updated, so don't go by my example.

First thing that jumps out at me is the family photo. Change it. Nothing wrong with a family photo, but not that family photo. You're dirty and unshaven, and you sat the family down on a curb outside the shop and snapped a pic with a cell phone. Pay someone to take a picture that you would frame and hang in your home. Also ditch the pic of the old jeep Comanche. Those things sucked when they were new. No one with the euro experience you're advertising for wants to see that. Then I would make an employment tab at the top. On it you should include a mini application, and show pics of the shop full of the kind of vehicles you say the prospective tech needs experience on, with pics of scanners and other high tech equipment being used on them. Look at stock photos of guys using scanners etc and try to emulate the look and feel. And make sure the shop is sparkling clean and jam packed with cars to work on. The goal is to portray a clean environment where a guy can knock out some serious hours. They certainly don't want to crawl around on the floor working on 80's vintage jeep pickups.

I am working on this. The photo you saw of the family was done by a professional. It was to duplicate a photo for the band that was playing at our annual party next year.  We went to the exact location the band did their shoot and he used filters to get the same effects they had. The poster he designed turned out awesome, but seen out of context I see what your saying.

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1 hour ago, Hands On said:

I am working on this. The photo you saw of the family was done by a professional. It was to duplicate a photo for the band that was playing at our annual party next year.  We went to the exact location the band did their shoot and he used filters to get the same effects they had. The poster he designed turned out awesome, but seen out of context I see what your saying.

That makes sense, but yes, out of context it looks like you just snapped a pic at random.

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On 2/8/2018 at 9:19 AM, Hands On said:

I need to grow the balls to get this done in my shop

This is my current ad, posted in two local cities on craigslist. I have received ONE interested fellow, the one that wants the salary instead of incentive based pay. How do I get more candidates?

 

https://boulder.craigslist.org/trd/d/wanted-experienced-auto/6471665424.html

Dont take this the wrong way.

I read your help wanted ad and I would never consider working for you if I was looking for a job.

Why? Like most everyone out there that is looking for an employee, you list what you want and list very little as far as what your willing to give in return.

Reading your ad I get the sense that you are looking for a Superman. Very few Superman out there and most are self employed.

That is why no one is calling you. It is in the end all about give and take and like most people you want to take and give very little.

Like I said , dont be too hurt by my words, just learn from them and you will do better than most.

  

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What were you thinking... willing to pay people to work.    I have the same problem. All I get is Truck drivers tired of driving who worked at a Walmart Tire center in High School and think they are technicians. 

BTW, I think your ad is very well written. It just goes to prove  Allot of folks dont want a job, they want a check. Dont let that moron bother you 

Edited by Robert Crawford
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11 minutes ago, Nataly Kartunova said:

Dont take this the wrong way.

I read your help wanted ad and I would never consider working for you if I was looking for a job.

Why? Like most everyone out there that is looking for an employee, you list what you want and list very little as far as what your willing to give in return.

Reading your ad I get the sense that you are looking for a Superman. Very few Superman out there and most are self employed.

That is why no one is calling you. It is in the end all about give and take and like most people you want to take and give very little.

Like I said , dont be too hurt by my words, just learn from them and you will do better than most.

  

I am looking for these hard answers. I would love advice on how to write an ad. As I am a tech myself I am starting to think I should focus on looking for someone who will work flat rate that can part swap on European vehicles and some minor diagnostic work. How do I attract this person.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I was having the same problem as the rest of you. My coach told me about a company called Hire the winners .com. They are pricey but they found an A tech and and service writer for me in about a month and a half.

I will be looking for another tech in about a month and will definitely use them. They sent me about 15 resumes for techs in the first 2 weeks. 

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

         5 comments
      I recently spoke with a friend of mine who owns a large general repair shop in the Midwest. His father founded the business in 1975. He was telling me that although he’s busy, he’s also very frustrated. When I probed him more about his frustrations, he said that it’s hard to find qualified technicians. My friend employs four technicians and is looking to hire two more. I then asked him, “How long does a technician last working for you.” He looked puzzled and replied, “I never really thought about that, but I can tell that except for one tech, most technicians don’t last working for me longer than a few years.”
      Judging from personal experience as a shop owner and from what I know about the auto repair industry, I can tell you that other than a few exceptions, the turnover rate for technicians in our industry is too high. This makes me think, do we have a technician shortage or a retention problem? Have we done the best we can over the decades to provide great pay plans, benefits packages, great work environments, and the right culture to ensure that the techs we have stay with us?
      Finding and hiring qualified automotive technicians is not a new phenomenon. This problem has been around for as long as I can remember. While we do need to attract people to our industry and provide the necessary training and mentorship, we also need to focus on retention. Having a revolving door and needing to hire techs every few years or so costs your company money. Big money! And that revolving door may be a sign of an even bigger issue: poor leadership, and poor employee management skills.
      Here’s one more thing to consider, for the most part, technicians don’t leave one job to start a new career, they leave one shop as a technician to become a technician at another shop. The reasons why they leave can be debated, but there is one fact that we cannot deny, people don’t quit the company they work for, they usually leave because of the boss or manager they work for.
      Put yourselves in the shoes of your employees. Do you have a workplace that communicates, “We appreciate you and want you to stay!”
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