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Finding good employees

Posted by eon morgan 
Finding good employees
November 10, 2003 04:55AM
<HTML>How do you find good, hard working employees for you companies. I have to hire about 3 good trust worthy people very soon that I can train but I don't know where to start.</HTML>
Re: Finding good employees
November 10, 2003 05:43AM
<HTML>Eon:

I'm in the same boat as you are. Next season I'm going to need about 5 good reliable guys because I'm picking up a few more marinas and yacht clubs. It's a gold mine out there but can't do it all myself.

What I plan on doing is talking with friends first, even though your not supposed to hire friends. If that doesn't work, I'm going to ask my cousin (owns 2 detail shops in-house dealerships) for a few guys when they're slow...or...place an ad in the paper.</HTML>



Take care,

Brian
Precision Auto & Marine

Learn to detail boats! Visit www.detailtheboat.com
Re: Finding good employees
November 10, 2003 06:12AM
<HTML>What city/state are you folks located?</HTML>



The problems of yesterday have produced the blessings of today.
Lot-A-Details, In Seattle
Re: Finding good employees
November 10, 2003 06:29AM
<HTML>Hamilton, New Jersey which is in Trenton and right next to Princeton.</HTML>



Take care,

Brian
Precision Auto & Marine

Learn to detail boats! Visit www.detailtheboat.com
Dan
Re: Finding good employees
November 11, 2003 12:55AM
<HTML>The only thing I can suggest is to read the E-myth book. The ideas you will get on organizing your business so that ordinary employees can understand your complete system is amazing. Worked for me, now I need twice the amount of business and feel inadequate!!! Good luck and keep it simple for the employees.</HTML>
Re: Finding good employees
November 11, 2003 01:15AM
<HTML>First of all you DO NOT hire experienced detailers. If they were really any good they would be working or have their own business.

The typical experienced detailer is a transient worker who is not looking for a job, they are looking for basically "day work."

That said you also must operate on this philosoph, in my opinion:

"Don't hire people with good skills, hire people with GOOD VALUES and teach them the skills they need."

Further, if you hire an experienced detailer and that is even suspect since there is no real training that most have, their experience is only good if you let them do what they want. Then who is in control?

What you need to do first is determine how much money you can pay these people per hour. Say it is $8.00 per hour.

Then ask yourself this question: "Who is the best employee I can hire in my specific area for $8.00 per hour???"

Keep in mind few people can live on $8.00 an hour can they?

The only ones in Portland, Oregon who could afford to live on $8.00 an hour are:

a. High school students
b. Jr College students
c. Hispanics (mainly because they do not speak English well enough
to get better jobs)
d. Women who need to supplement their husband's income

Hope that helps you with an approach to hiring only the best. We even have an interview sheet that we use that objectively rates them.

REgards
bud Abraham
DETAIL PLUS SYSTEMS
buda@detailplus.com</HTML>



buda
Re: Finding good employees
November 11, 2003 05:53PM
<HTML>high school students and hispanics are your best bets. when i was in school i joined the co-operative education program - which means i was able to leave school early to go work. i got out 11:50 am, so go to your local high school and hire them. they will work out for 2 - 4 years then they leave for collage or till they find a higher paying job. some of them dont have there license yet so you will probably have to pick them up. only draw back in hiring school kids is that they are going thru puberty so hormones are kicking in so if you are detailing a car for an a women make sure there hormones and inapproiate comments stay home. hispanics are the same way as high school kids, most of them are fly by nights till they find a job making a dollar more an hour. secondly most hispanics work more then one job so lateness and sloppy work come into play because he was washing dishes at the local outback till 4am. DONT HIRE FRIENDS BECAUSE 1 friends wont keep up the quality, 2. they walk around thinking they r the boss 3. friends think it might be a social time verses work time any questions email back</HTML>



PRECISION POWER WASHING &amp; AUTO DETAILING
Re: Finding good employees
November 12, 2003 02:18AM
<HTML>You want "good, hard working employee's"?! HAHAHAHA smiling smiley

Im sorry, somehow after all the retards Ive seen come and go here lately it kind of cracks me up. heh I know what you are going through. Finding people that actually care about quality and performance is hard. I was involved this Monday with a firing of a long time employee and it is kinda ugly. We caught the guy scaming us by making TONS of personal purchases on our company accounts! And this guys was even a cousin of myself and my father who owns the business. Right now the police are looking for him if they havent allready found him. I understand the troubles of finding good employees to bring into your small business yet you cant do all the labor yourself forever and really make any money either. Eventually to move forward with the business we are forced to make the choice to hire somebody to do work.

I dont know the exact secret to getting a good group of guys. I think its just trial and error for the most part. You mentioned you can train them so prior experience isnt a major issue just finding a decent worker with some smarts is what you want. I have found that the trial and error method of hiring new guys under a "probation" period is ok. If after the period is over and youve decided the person doesnt cut it you are clear and free to let them go. The way I figure it is if the person is doing a lousy job then how can I do worse? If the next person is lousy also Ill fire them too until I get a person I want to keep. On the other hand if the guy IS a keeper then you move forward making them a regular employee with the goal of keeping them on the team.

Another thing I would consider is get real applications for the to fill out including references. Let them out their education history, health problems like allergies or diseases, and address and numbers. Call the references listed. Its amazing the kind of references some people put on applications. We had girls applying for an office job recently and some of the them even listed places they had been fired from! hahaha

Another thing you really should do is put together an employee manual. In the manual explain policies like missed days, payroll and such and then when you hire them have them sign it showing they accept the terms. If youve ever wanted to fire sombody youll know how good it is to have a prior agreement in writing.

Best regards,
John</HTML>
Re: Finding good employees
November 12, 2003 02:25AM
<HTML>Oh and when I said I have seen the "retards come and go here" I meant in my shop, not on the forum. I realised later how that might have looked and I dont want everybody to think Im talking about any of us. hehe

Thanks,
John</HTML>
Re: Finding good employees
November 12, 2003 03:11AM
<HTML>Rob, please accept this post in the educational way it is intended.

Your comments about Hispanics , I believe, are inaccurate. To sterotype in such a way is in slightly bad taste. I have three children , ages 5. 7 & 8 , who my wife and I adopted . They are Native American/ Hispanic, and if someone was to make such a comment in reference to my children I'd be a upset to say the least. I am know you did not mean any offense , just your observations I am sure, but please dont make such generic statements about racial groups .

Thank you .

Jim.</HTML>
Re: Finding good employees
August 09, 2006 06:41PM
bud,

do you have the interview form that objectively rates potential employees. Does it comes in a package of sort that I may order online... THanks in advance...



Sam Robinson
Mike's Mobile Detail Salon
1722 Paris Road suite C
Columbia, Missouri 65202
telephone: 573-356-3037
email: mikes.detail.salon@gmail.com
Re: Finding good employees
August 09, 2006 07:52PM
Sam:

As a matter of fact we do have a special interview form that helps you to objectively evaluate a potential candidate for employment. It has a number of questions you might want to ask to determine the candidate's qualifications for the job.

It is part of an entire Operations Form Kit. Another great one in the kit is our 3-Part Sales and Service Invoice which includes:

1. Sales & Service Invoice that allows you to writeup the order and individualize what services the customer is getting

2. Customer's Copy

3. These transfer to a Job Service Order that goes with the car to allow the
detail tech to know what to do to the car (this is on card stock)

4. On the reverse side of the Job Service Order is a dual form:

a. Vehicle Inspection Form that allows you to not in and out any
existing damage on the car. This not only protects you with the
customer but gives you a chance to sell other services like paint
touchup; pinstriping repair or replacement, windshield chip repair, etc.

b. Final Inspection Form - when the car is done the manager, owner
or last person to work on the car quality control inspects thecar.

TOTAL PRICE FOR ALL OF THE FORMS $99.95

You can call Sharie at 1-800/284-0123 or email her at sharie@detailplus.com


Glad to help

Bud Abraham



buda
Re: Finding good employees
August 10, 2006 10:17AM
One thing that should also be considered is employee-employer protection.

Avoid training new employees to become your next competitor by protecting yourself with a non-compete agreement. The agreement must be fair and balanced in order to prevail legally. Used properly, it is a powerful deterent against an employee that you train... leaving and competing with you in the same marketplace.

We've used Employee-Employer Professional Agreements with great success for many years and recommend them to our cleints.

Steve

S.M.OKUN & Associates
www.SMOKUN.com
Re: Finding good employees
August 11, 2006 11:07AM
Yes, this has been a concern for some detail business owners, but it is all about hiring the right type of employees, in my opinion.

Not to discount what my good friend and collegue, Steve is saying, but if you hire the right employee in the first place and take care of them psychologically and by reasonable compensation they will not bolt nor start their own business.

Why give them any ideas by having them sign a non-compete agreement?

In my 10 years of operating two detail centers in Portland, Oregon I never had one person leave my employee and start their own detail business.

In operating my own company for the past 26 years I have never had an employee leave the start their own export-import company; car wash manufacturing company; or detail equipment and supply company.

I have had many employees leave over the years as all businesses, but it was due to moving; pursuing a better job; etc.

It always boils down to hiring the best employees available, and sad to say today it seems to be people from other countries, in my area, Hispanics and Eastern Europeans at the entry level. They want to work, they understand how to work, they are dependable; they never seem to have social problems that cause them to be late or absent from work, and they will work as many hours as you want them to work.

Regards
Bud Abraham



buda
Re: Finding good employees
August 13, 2006 04:22AM
Gentlemen : I may not be qualified to weigh in on this one but I have a lot of life behind me so here goes : If you sense something bad about a person, tune into it. Don't screen out your intuition. If a prospective employee comes across as a con artist or seems to look at you as a mark or an inferior, pay attention to the warning.

Acquaint any new employee with the facts about how much money you make and how much you can afford to pay employees, how it will be his duty to show up and how much damage it will do if he doesn't. Many employees probably think they are not important enough for it to matter if they simply don't come to work. And some assume their employers make a fortune and pay them as little as possible.

Consider a formal training session, for which you will charge the new hire.
If he works for 4 months, his tuition will be refunded. He should understand that his training will be useful to him elsewhere so he should pay for your knowlege.

Detailing services seem to be selling for the same price they did ten years ago. How can you pay a decent wage when you are operating at a loss.
Think about scrapping your "non-profit" status.
Doug Delmont

" No one ever proves the boss wrong and keeps his job ."
Re: Finding good employees
August 25, 2006 12:54AM
It sounds like you guys arent going through the same problems we are in Australia right now. Theres so much uncertainty with fuel costs, interest rates, fuel blends and other factors I had to be made redundant this week. Made me wonder why they let the one go who enjoyed working there and never complained, but kept the one who whinges and bitches all the time about how she isnt getting paid enough.
I think it goes both ways... employers need to look after their hard working staff, and employees need to see that without a good employer they'd be without a job, or in one they hate.
Re: Finding good employees
August 26, 2006 01:26AM
xa : America has been in the age of the disposable employee for some time now. We are also a welfare state with half of the welfare in the form of government jobs and government contracts. With all of the 'welfare' available, it is hard to find people who want to work at real jobs for low pay and detailing doesn't pay well.

Hope that explains our situation. Stay tuned to see what happens when this socialist mess catches up with our fragile economy, saddled as it is with a huge national debt Social Security headed for bankruptcy.

Doug

P.S. : Barbara Ehrenreich's book, BAIT AND SWITCH indicates your best hope of landing a high-paying corporate job lies in 'networking' . In the meantime, get on a payroll of some sort ! Good luck.
Doug
Re: Finding good employees
August 26, 2006 05:18AM
Australia is going the way you guys are over there... Our prime minister has been sucking up to George W Bush way too much.
There used to be great workers here as well but it seems everyone now wants to take a sick day at least once a week. Now we have workplace reform laws where employers can dismiss employees on the spot without warnings... so the economy is starting to become as unstable here as it is there.
Detailing as it is there is a low paying job but I cant help but love it... here we clear $400 in a 40 hour week.
Re: Finding good employees
August 27, 2006 06:43PM
Seems to me that when an employer has control over the workers as you describe it is better for the employer. When employees know they can be dismissed for sluffing on the job, they might work harder.

We have that here in America. However, employees here have lost the work ethic that made this country great. Too many in this country have a "sense of entitlement" without understanding you have to work for what you want.

It is government and unions, plus a lack of family teaching core values that has caused this.

Detailng anywhere in the world can be a good paying profession for the business owner if they cater to high end customers and deliver high end service and work.

I have been in Australia to study the detail market and I find your customers are the same as we have here. Your detail shops are the same as we have here. Many of them in back alleys, dirty, disorganized, run by dirty disorganized owners and personnel. Did not find too many state of the art detail opreations in Australia.

Was going to work with Car Lovers to build a chain of detail centers in conjunction with their washes throughout Australia, but it appears the financiers of the Car Lovers program "pulled the plug." on the Australian operators.

Regards
Bud Abrahamxacoupe302 wrote:

> Australia is going the way you guys are over there... Our prime
> minister has been sucking up to George W Bush way too much.
> There used to be great workers here as well but it seems
> everyone now wants to take a sick day at least once a week. Now
> we have workplace reform laws where employers can dismiss
> employees on the spot without warnings... so the economy is
> starting to become as unstable here as it is there.
> Detailing as it is there is a low paying job but I cant help
> but love it... here we clear $400 in a 40 hour week.



buda
Re: Finding good employees
November 12, 2006 12:41PM
My dream here in Aus is to open a retail chain of state of the art detailing outlets...
Re: Finding good employees
November 12, 2006 02:47PM
Glo N Show

Check out our state of the art detatiling centers at www.detailplus.com and click on Detailing Systems.

We were in Australia a few years back, meeting with Car Lover to do just that, build a chain of state of the art detail centers. However, after I left the financing group out of Malaysia pulled the rug out from under the Car Lover program.

What do you know about them today?

Regards
Bud Abraham
DETAIL PLUS SYSTEMS
Re: Finding good employees
November 13, 2006 12:25AM
If we are revisiting this thread, one idea that might help you get good employees is to insist on non-smokers and prohibit smoke breaks. Of course it increases productivity when your employee isn't gone 10 minutes of every hour but there's a bigger benefit : Most alcoholics and drug addicts are smokers so if you ban the smoke, you ban the drugs.
Smokers are also hard to deal with when they go through nicotine withdrawl.
Doug
Re: Finding good employees
November 13, 2006 12:40AM
Well now you just answered the question about whether YOU ARE A professional detailer or not! Oh! be the way I'm a non smoker
Re: Finding good employees
November 13, 2006 01:06AM
Randy,
I take it you find the suggestion unrealistic because so many people smoke. If I misinterperet your comment, let me know. More important, if I'm wrong, by all means say so. I don't wish to pollute this forum with bickering over your opinion of me. If you contribute some of your knowlege, you'll do a lot more for the forum. So...How do you find good employees ?
Doug
Re: Finding good employees
November 13, 2006 01:56AM
If work was meant to be fun they would call it fun! But as employer's we need to make as enjoyable as possible, not like being in JAIL
Re: Finding good employees
November 13, 2006 02:14AM
Randy-
I know all about jail-you should see what its like at my full-time job.
Doug
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