HELP..Help wanted

jlpressure

JL Pressure Washing
Man I need help. I placed a craigslist Help Wanted Ad. I have about 90+ applicants so far in the past 18 hours.

How the heck do I choose, many sent from bad to good resumes. I just don't know who the heck to even bring in for interview. I have gone through this before, I just really don't know the best group to look at. Do I want a young guy, old guy.

Many are over qualified as in Project Managers or have done carpentry, electricians for past 5, 10, 20 years. I know theres a great chance as soon as a better job comes up they will leave

Some are young and sound willing

lastyear I interviewed 9 guys, 4 I hired none of them are still with me, fired 3 one quit. So I am thinking my interviewing skills and choices arent good.

I find its hard to keep guys when you can only offer 7-10 months of good busy work

I have a base crew of 4 +1 other guy and they are good, one or two of them I could get rid of because of small issues.

Any thoughts
 
If you go on WCR look for Chris' posts about hiring off of CL. Lots of good info.
 
I just went through the same thing Jeff. Pretty sure I read some good things on this board that helped me fine tune the process.

I posted my ad with no phone number and no company name. Just a very detailed description of the position. I asked for resume, references, work history...let them know that they would be drug screened and have to pass a background check. This helped to limit the number of unqualified people.

The rest sent what was requeted and I was able to narrow the field down to who I wanted to call.

I planned this so that would I call them all over the weekend. I would talk with them and see how they sounded, some would be eliminated, the rest were told to call back at 8am on Monday morning.

Those that called back on Monday morning at 8am were then interviewed in person. The rest who called back later were not.
 
What Mike said. With emphasis on the simple call back part. If they can't call on time they won't show up on time.

There also is seasonal unemployment compensation. It of course adds to the unemployment rate you pay but it may help keep key employees. Plus they can't stay on it for years at a time since you offer them work in the spring. If they refuse the work they are off. You just have to weigh out the benefits vs cost.

If you do a lot of lift work I'd look for commercial roofer/painter experience. A lot of really good workers balk at getting off the ground.
 
Those that called back on Monday morning at 8am were then interviewed in person. The rest who called back later were not.

I like this method. :yes: Going to have to try it.

We just found our first real good employee from craigslist who worked for Sparkle Wash for a bunch of years. But went through 3 in 6 months before him. I would try monster.com or jobbing.com. I was planning on trying those sites out next. Seems like it will be harder to find an experienced pressure washer but I am willing to train and keep someone around for longer. I think people who look on sites like that are committed for a long term career.
 
First off, Find out what they were making at there old jobs. If say they were making more money ther and you wont pay that much, they wont stay around. So if you hire a guy that was making 20 hr and you are only going to pay 12.50hr they will be gone asap.

How long have they been at old jobs? If they only have short term times, they wont be good for long.

One post above got it on the nose. Say in any advertising that they will be drug tested. You will be without 50% plus of people that apply.

Theres a few things to start with.
 
Man I need help. I placed a craigslist Help Wanted Ad. I have about 90+ applicants so far in the past 18 hours.

How the heck do I choose, many sent from bad to good resumes. I just don't know who the heck to even bring in for interview. I have gone through this before, I just really don't know the best group to look at. Do I want a young guy, old guy.

Many are over qualified as in Project Managers or have done carpentry, electricians for past 5, 10, 20 years. I know theres a great chance as soon as a better job comes up they will leave

Some are young and sound willing

lastyear I interviewed 9 guys, 4 I hired none of them are still with me, fired 3 one quit. So I am thinking my interviewing skills and choices arent good.

I find its hard to keep guys when you can only offer 7-10 months of good busy work

I have a base crew of 4 +1 other guy and they are good, one or two of them I could get rid of because of small issues.

Any thoughts

So many people are out of work right now, I would think that you should choose the over qualified people who are having the hardest time finding work. Most of them will be in the 30 to 50 yr old catagory and are well aware of what is expected to keep & hold a job?

My son-in-law is running into this same problem, he has been out of work as an IT tech for almost a year now. He has been working with me part time and looking for work, but alot of employers are wery of hiring him at a lower pay scale thinking he will leave as soon as something else comes along for better pay. But in reality after a year you have to start beleiving that something better is not out there anymore!!
 
Every time I put a job ad on CL I get slammed with resumes and calls and 99% are waste. I make an email account like jobs@foxcpm or career@foxcpm so I can block it when I don't need any more soliciting. All current employees have been hired by recommendation.
I have found that most of the CL people are young guys. I have discovered that most reliable workers are older, over 40-50 especially for the jobs I offer. It is illegal an employer to specify age range in a job ad, so I can't do that.
Another funny thing is that if the resume is over colored,most likely this person will not fit that type of job. I don't really need professors, but rather rough and tough guys who would just take the phone and say I need work now!.. :)

D.
 
You'll probably get more work and appreciation from the middle or older guys.

I had 2 guys at 23 and 36 years old, both started great and after a few months got too comfy with the work and ended up losing their jobs. I had to go after them, spy on them and waste time and stress, worrying that they might cheat on their duties.
Currently, I have 5 full time guys and around 5 part timers/on call.
All five full time guys are at age between 50 and 67. The are absolute concrete on their positions. They are not smart asses or back stabbers trying to steal my business or unstable teenagers. The only thing they need is to provide for their families. I never have to worry about their work performance, always steady and reliable. I sleep well when I have such team..

P.S. The jobs I offer do not pay $100k an year and do not require 2 PHDs, so the mentioned above is based on that criteria.
 
I had 2 guys at 23 and 36 years old, both started great and after a few months got too comfy with the work and ended up losing their jobs. I had to go after them, spy on them and waste time and stress, worrying that they might cheat on their duties.
Currently, I have 5 full time guys and around 5 part timers/on call.
All five full time guys are at age between 50 and 67. The are absolute concrete on their positions. They are not smart asses or back stabbers trying to steal my business or unstable teenagers. The only thing they need is to provide for their families. I never have to worry about their work performance, always steady and reliable. I sleep well when I have such team..

P.S. The jobs I offer do not pay $100k an year and do not require 2 PHDs, so the mentioned above is based on that criteria.
50's on up for an employee is just to old for what we do I would think. Its go go go, 10, 12, 14 hour days for months straight. I would like the older employees better work ethic for sure. This is a younger mans type of work

I'm looking for ex military, maybe someone with a little college and good past work references
 
I would be careful with "who" you hire in that hiring the over qualified may result in them doing research and becoming a competitor over time. Make the applicants go thru some simple hoops like mentioned above and then interviews, no-compete agreement and try em out. This is something that we can all learn from.
 
I like guys with a wife and kids....guys that need to provide are better employees. Over 45 is too old for this type of work in my opinion. We stay busy 12 months a year, require long hours in very hot temps most of the year. 5-8 houses per day for our residential guys can tak a toll in 100+ degree heat.

I would much rather hire older guys because of their work ethic but I just don't see it happening. I know there are guys reading this that think I am full of it....you are the exception to the rule, I understand that and respect that.

I have never used Craigslist to hire someone for pressure washing, only landscape maintenance positions. All my pressure washing guys have been friends, friends of friends, neighbors, referrals or people I have seen at other jobs that I stole away. I think that pressure cleaning is a hell of lot harder and takes a different kind of person than a landscape tech. The learning curve is much longer for pressure washing too.
 
Should I hire this one?????

hi my name is XXXX i am 22 and im interested in working for you. i have pressure washed before with my friend around the golf courses im not dumn and have common sence. my number is xxxxxxxxxx thaanks and hope to heir from you. i dont have a resume cuz a ll my life i have played muisc but its slowing down now.
 
Should I hire this one?????

hi my name is XXXX i am 22 and im interested in working for you. i have pressure washed before with my friend around the golf courses im not dumn and have common sence. my number is xxxxxxxxxx thaanks and hope to heir from you. i dont have a resume cuz a ll my life i have played muisc but its slowing down now.

Why not sounds to dumn to ever leave.
 
Do we need to watch saying that some people are too old. We live in a sue happy society. Could people claim age discrimination if they were to see a post that talked about not hiring people that were TOO OLD.

Just Curious
 
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