Where to find techs and advisors

[totalautocare]

We've placed ads and spent $1000's between monster. Com, indeed. Com and Craigslist and we simply cannot find experienced techs or writers. Suggestions?

 

We simply can't find them. It's like hide and seek.

 

Thoughts? Strategies?

 

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[mmotley]

Network with vendors has been my best result so far

[xrac]

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[Jeff]

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[xrac]

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[meowpox]

We are currently having the same issue. It's been crazy busy at our shop, we're booked 2 weeks out. So we started searching the beginning of this month.

• Our facebook job ad was super popular, and tons of people shared it and tons of people tagged mechanics. But not too many resumes were actually submitted.
• Also have ad on indeed.com....which was free but only started getting traffic when I "sponsored" the ad for $5/day. Still no applicants
• Craigslist got a couple bites but no one qualified.
• Tried autoservicejobs.com which was recommended on this forum and this one is getting some traffic but no applicants.
• Monster --have not done this because says its $290 for 30 days. Not sure if this will even work.

We've interviewed several people. Found two awesome techs...both by personal referral and not by job ad. Offered both techs more than they're making now, but they both had commute issues and I think leaving their stable job for a new shop (we've only been around 1 year and 4 months) was too risky.

 

I'm new to this and have to say...this search is pretty frustrating. Maybe I'm just being impatient.

[williamsca]

Tried this, gots lots of inquiries, but not many qualified applicants. Most didn't even have their own tools.

[Jimbob661]

Talk with the tool truck guys and managers at your parts vendors. I even paid a bounty to one of my tool guys who referred me a tech I ended up hiring. I told him I would make it worth his time if he sent an applicant to me that I hired and saw he was going to work out.

[mmotley]

Talk with the tool truck guys and managers at your parts vendors. I even paid a bounty to one of my tool guys who referred me a tech I ended up hiring. I told him I would make it worth his time if he sent an applicant to me that I hired and saw he was going to work out.

How much were you paying for finding employees?

[Jimbob661]

Once I was sure the guy would work out, I gave him $200. Might be high, but the guy is productive and does good work! Well worth the cost to me!

[weighit]

How about looking in another state? Sometimes hunting out of your own area might pay off. Once i was working in Detroit and someone in Chicago contacted me. He paid for me to fly in for an interview, offered at least 10% more than I was making, would pay for the movers to move me and gave a $1,000.00 advancement check towards the cost of deposits on the new apartment. That was to be repaid over the course of the fisrt year. He said he was having a hard time finding qualified applicants in that area and was willing to pay for help outside his area. Of the 20 or so mechanics I bet 5 or 6 were from other states. Some areas of the USA are probably better at having employees willing to leave and move to another area especially if they can not only make more, but learn and become a better tech.

[DUFRESNES]

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[meowpox]

How about looking in another state? Sometimes hunting out of your own area might pay off. Once i was working in Detroit and someone in Chicago contacted me. He paid for me to fly in for an interview, offered at least 10% more than I was making, would pay for the movers to move me and gave a $1,000.00 advancement check towards the cost of deposits on the new apartment. That was to be repaid over the course of the fisrt year. He said he was having a hard time finding qualified applicants in that area and was willing to pay for help outside his area. Of the 20 or so mechanics I bet 5 or 6 were from other states. Some areas of the USA are probably better at having employees willing to leave and move to another area especially if they can not only make more, but learn and become a better tech.

 

Good idea but wondering how you would go about looking for out of staters...would you just list your job ad under the other state? and how would you pick where to post or which state to look in?

 

This month was the first time we actually had a hiring process and put ads for mechanics. We got a couple of out-of-state and out-of-country applicants. But there were a couple things that we had to think about.

• We are in the SF Bay Area, which I think in 2015 became the #1 most expensive place to rent in the US, so we have to make sure we can provide a pay that is reasonable. which also means we have to make sure that person is worth it....but then how can you know this for sure until they actually work in your shop for a while? You really have to take big leap of faith. Then we were thinking how much pressure that is because we wouldn't want to put anyone in a bad living situation. Definitely a big decision. I think people want to live here but they look at the rent prices and are like NEVERMIND. lol
• One of our reasons for denying applicants who were qualified (on paper) but coming out of state was because someone who is already involved in the car scene in CA can bring in more potential customers (from old jobs) or have contacts in the community (vendors and organizations etc)...meaning they have more to bring to the company than just being able to work well on a car...as opposed to someone just moving to the area, not familiar with the scene, the local organizations, etc. But if there was someone extremely qualified, we'd still be open to the idea. This was just out thought process.

[bstewart]

How about looking in another state? Sometimes hunting out of your own area might pay off. Once i was working in Detroit and someone in Chicago contacted me. He paid for me to fly in for an interview, offered at least 10% more than I was making, would pay for the movers to move me and gave a $1,000.00 advancement check towards the cost of deposits on the new apartment. That was to be repaid over the course of the fisrt year. He said he was having a hard time finding qualified applicants in that area and was willing to pay for help outside his area. Of the 20 or so mechanics I bet 5 or 6 were from other states. Some areas of the USA are probably better at having employees willing to leave and move to another area especially if they can not only make more, but learn and become a better tech.

 

With recent advances in technology, you shouldn't even have to fly anyone in until you've done at least 1 or 2 Skype interviews.

A good friend of mine took a job in Australia after doing multiple Skype interviews with his future company (not auto repair).

They gave him several "signing bonuses" contingent on a 4 year contract (if he breaks the contract he has to pay back a portion of the bonuses).

[xrac]

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[carolinahigear]

We hired a guy named Ricky. Was supposed to be at shop the next day to start work. Never showed. At 8:20 I told my assistant that "Ricky lost that number." The next two hires never showed so we called them "Ricky." The next hire is named Kyle and he was our top producer his first month.

 

Moral of this story.....there are lots of "Rickys," but sometimes you have to go through them to get a Top Producer!!!

 

If you don't understand "Ricky lost that number", ask Gonzo or Xrac!!!

[mspecperformance]

This is not sage advice, just kind of my brain turning. We all do the same stuff to attract people. Ads, craigslist, etc. One idea that I liked was running a contest with your tool guy. Sponsor some sort of free raffle for $250-500 gift certificates in exchange for phone numbers and e-mail addresses of techs. I haven't ran one of these but I would assume this would at least net you a lot of good prospects. Another avenue that us owners have to explore is really hitting the streets and meeting people. Shake lots of hands. Go to places with great customer service reps. This will at least get some people to look you up and/or call.

 

The second part is where its vital to become a salesperson and a master at marketing. I know most of you guys out there are not natural sales people. You lean on the technical side and the people side can get a little muddled. What I mean by sales and marketing is that you have to build an image and reputation that will make good prospects want to come to you. All people are attracted to success and align with organizations that call to them. If your shop has a stellar reputation, great online reviews, great looking website, nice clean facility then you will get calls. The second part (salesperson) is to sell the prospect on who you are, what you are about and why should they come work for you. I am pretty good at this part and I have to tell you, every person I have interviews and sold them on our culture and our organization has been amped to start work immediately.

[skm]

why are you guy not hiring around me LOL ? ASE master tech, L1 State inspection license and Master emissions license 25 years experience still working at the same shop. Way under paid! lol

[eeeautoservice]

When hiring a technician, always try to check their certifications and online reviews. Many mechanics will try to offer parts or services you may not need. Checking online reviews will give you an idea of what the shop reputation looks like. Stay aware shop owners, its not like the older days when we could rely on anyone.

 

Heres an example of how i stay connected with my local audience. I wrote an article on how customers can trust us for Auto Repair in Tracy CA

[dfrisby]

When hiring a technician, always try to check their certifications and online reviews. Many mechanics will try to offer parts or services you may not need. Checking online reviews will give you an idea of what the shop reputation looks like. Stay aware shop owners, its not like the older days when we could rely on anyone.

 

Heres an example of how i stay connected with my local audience. I wrote an article on how customers can trust us for Auto Repair in Tracy CA

I'd recommend some spell check and grammar review first. Second, any shop can tell you how good and honest they are. I think you would have better results not talking down other shops and just focusing on your shops principals. By talking down about other shops in area, and telling how great your shop is, my first instinct is to be suspicious. You have 1 "customer review" and because it's also written in improper English, just as the rest of the page, I suspect that the author is one and the same. As a consumer, I'd see this page as one giant red flag and take my work elsewhere.

 

Just make a page for customers r

 

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[dfrisby]

Sorry, two year old cut me off short. Just make a simple page with actual quotes and statements about your business. Your audience will trust what your customers say about you far more than what you say about you.

 

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[dfrisby]

I just read your other articles, and I think your intent is good. After reading them, I have to strongly recommend getting somebody to proofread them. The AC article is the best, with useful information for the consumer. I'd recommend continuing with articles like that about brakes, cooling system, maintenance, driveline noises and such. Don't create distrust for the industry with negative comments about other shops. Just keep it about the positive things your shop provides.

 

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[bluewater182]

The problem finding seasoned techs has been around for years. Best way to find someone (for me) have been Tool Trucks and ATG Training classes. If they are driven enough to learn, they will probably fit in with your business. If you have the time, do not forget your local Trade or Vo-Tech school, get to know the instructors, get involved with their advisory board! My local schools LISTEN to their advisory board ( you can give input on curriculum). If you want to teach them your way, why not start there? My master Tech was a graduate, and I am molding him to the way I want it done, He has achieved his Ase Masters and has been a solid guy. He was the Auto tech Instructors "pick of the litter".

[tirengolf]

Spent 2 hours on the phone yesterday with a local shop owner that has retail shop in my area as well as a nationally syndicated radio program . He had 2 of his four techs leave him in 4 weeks , really unethical stuff. The tech industry is in serious trouble as we speak. How many years will this go on, the instant gratification these guys want today is unreal. I really interact with my customers which in tern my customers interact with my techs. I recently had a GM master tech work 3 weeks with me, 32 years with GM , only 2 shops , over 600 GM classes, poor guy is lost out in the real world. Had to fire him after only 3 weeks. Just seems like these guys can't get past the glory days of the stealership years they had. The large dealerships trend appears they are firing the high paid guys and replacing with lower paid techs. The dealership high paid days over. The dealerships in our area have gone to a Team Leader program with 4 parts changers below them. Shoot I had rather be behind and do it all myself. Our business is very good in our area , people are starving for ethical shops. I have been aware of the tech shortage reading all available resources possible, guys it looks dismal. Will this shortage get better ??? Am I missing something , maybe I just don't get it, maybe all those years of low paid techs has caused this or is it just evolving society. This has become a very serious issue to me. You guys have a good weekend. David

[xrac]

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