Need to hire another technician
 

I'm looking to hire another technician. Have one great guy but work keeps coming in and need at least one more and probably another starting 2021. If anyone knows of someone with the qualifications below, please have him/her contact me. There's a lot of potential in the position for the right person. My tech started 6 months ago at $15/hr and will hit $25/hr by the end of the month. He wrote the ad below.

Restoration Technician
Tru6 Restoration & Design is looking for a Restoration Technician to join our team. Tru6 is an automotive restoration company specializing in restoring parts for air-cooled Porsche 911s and 50s-70s vintage Ferrari's. We also do work for other Porsche models, as well as BMW and Mercedes.

We are looking for someone who is extremely detail-oriented. Restoring 30-50 year old parts to the standard of Tru6 requires a good eye and a close attention to detail at every step of each process. We pride ourselves in making each part that comes through our door as close to factory new as possible or most times better.

At Tru6, it’s our greatest satisfaction seeing an old beat up part restored to the beauty it once was, and we have fun doing it. We take great pride in holding ourselves to the finest standards in the industry. If this sounds like you, please apply.

The Restoration Technician must be able to
• pay attention to fine details and be extremely thorough at every stage
• have patience, and be willing to go back and redo parts that can be done better.
• take criticism in a positive way, and act on it.
• enjoy the process

The Restoration Technician will be responsible for:
• checking in parts that are shipped in: unpacking, taking detailed pictures, sorting
• cleaning dirt, oils, paints and sealants off of parts, including small hardware like bolts, nuts, screws, etc., using a variety of different chemicals
• sanding or grinding rust off of parts, and sometimes reshaping parts
• using a media blaster to remove rust, oxidized metal, or other impurities from metal surfaces.
• using acid to remove old plating from parts
• developing sanding techniques to shape parts and remove imperfections.

Beyond the basics, there are growth opportunities in Cerakote application and complete car restoration.

Starting pay is $15-$20 an hour with opportunities for raises based on performance.

Wow. No offense, but dairy queen hires at $12 an hour to flip burgers here. And after Mass taxes, what is that $3.25 per hour that you are offering?

You can't find any good help in Texas for that, and every is lower, taxes, housing, etc...

No offense, but I would not apply.

In our manufacturing location west of Boston we are hiring in new people at $15/hr with good opportunities for growth. It is definitely not easy to find the right candidates as like Shaun we are looking for people with the right attitude. We have been successful bringing on board 3 people since June so they are out there.

I think it is an excellent opportunity for a either a young person who wants to break into a speciality area in the business as opposed to changing tires / oil at a chain store - OR - someone who is retired that has that experience and desires to do something useful.

I disagree with about ninety percent of what he believes in that other forum and the fifty year old me would probably want to end the day in fisticuffs. And as a LL I'd be kicking him out in a jiffy for hot wiring my building. ;)

But the younger me would leap at the chance to work in that environment for as long as I could take it and if money was not the main issue. Shaun is driven, demanding and a perfectionist. It shows. That is more of a life experience and a building block for those motivated. There is a lot to learn there.

I try to stay away from the politics around here completely, and try to forget anything that I see that folks are involved in. PARFy subjects can bring out the worst in folks that are otherwise great people.

I have no doubt that working for him would be very educational and could lead to many great things later in life. Working at McD may pay almost as much, but what are the odds that you could make a good career out of it. If I could choose McDs or working for Shaun as a young man, I'd hope to work for Shaun for sure.

So if you were 18-25 and looking for an entry level job, you'd prefer McDs over doing what Shaun does?

Dairy Queen won’t move you to $25/hr after six months if you prove yourself.

It is "Ferraris". A detailed oriented technician will tell you that right away. :D

More unsolicited advice:
I know it isn't going to work too well with only one employee, but the best hires are referrals. Offer your employees a referral bonus to be paid if the referral is in good standing after x months. If you have a good work environment, your employees will be glad to recommend the company to a friend or former coworker.

Glad to see this take off so well for you. People restoring 100k+ cars will not be the first ones running out of play money either.

G

Good luck finding some good help. Hopefully some young guy with a good work ethic will see the opportunity here to work on cool, exotic cars, in a good environment.

So many entry level jobs are in a toxic environment, it's no wonder that folks would rather stay home collecting unemployment.

$12 an hour to flip burgers or $15 to $20 to do something interesting. If I was an entry level worker it would be a no brainer for me.

Congrats on growing the biz!!!

Entry level welding at a tool & die here in town is $24 per hour with opportunities for promotions. The owner will even let you fabricate some of your own things (on the side) to make a few more $$.

Parts guys at body shops make more than $15-20 per hour here, sit in an air conditioned office, don't get dirty and have health insurance. I bet most in that position didn't start out washing cars for the body shop.

Maybe it's just a really depressed labor market up there in Mass. Wouldn't fly down here.

Glad to hear you are growing!

+1

Shaun would be easy to manage. Just like that meme, let him know he's being unreasonable and he'll calm right down.

Dad is retired and would take that in a heartbeat. Well, he would have 5 years ago.

That's getting technical for sure. Just for the fun of it — when you pluralize 911 it is allowed to use 911's because it eliminates confusion from what could be construed to be a 911 S, or 911S as it is badged (not a real word). A perfect example is, "Don’t forget to dot all your i’s. Otherwise it would read, "Don’t forget to dot all your is".

He could have said, "...Ferrari's parts." ;):D

There's nothing wrong with posting a minimum wage ad. He just needs to have the realistic expectations. As long as he know's you do not get Ivy League work ethic while paying minimum wage. You can't expect people getting paid minimum wage to perform anything beyond minimal work. You get what you pay for. Reliable, thoughtful, competent people are not hard to find. However, they don't work for minimum wage. And that is ok.

+1

I would take young guy willing to work over Ivy League work ethic.

Ivy league work ethic is the very definition of people willing to bust their ass to the extreme. No one works harder.

If you say so.

Congrats on the growth Shaun. It definitely sounds like an interesting opportunity for the right person. I would agree that the pay sounds a little on the low side, at least by my local standards. But you’re also a young business so obviously there are budgetary concerns. If there are opportunities for growth maybe play that up a little more to help attract interest?

Benefits?

Working with Shaun.

Occasional electrical excitement.

I'm bored. Gimme some pizza and beer and I'll come over that way. I only want to work 3 days a week because I'll be busy visiting my sister and her family. And can I have the pizza and beer while I'm working?

Two past assistants have joked they should be paying me given all that they learned. ;)

Benefits
1 week paid vacation after 9 months

Paid holidays even though hourly

Surprise bonuses for exceptional work (completely subjective and minimal ($100 in cash) but I'm a big fan of little surprises... I give the guy I work with at the anodizer restaurant gift cards all the time, he cares about our window frames as much as I do. Same as the plater I work with) People like being recognized.

No stress, "need to take the day off to do something random" culture

I understand people saying it's on the low side but it really isn't. Some thoughts on the subject.

First, I have always wanted to hire apprentice level body shop guys. They make $15/hr for a long time with very little room for advancement. If someone applied with solid bodywork experience, they would start at $20/hr and move to $25 quickly with room for growth after a year.

A crystal ball for prospective employees would be helpful. My current tech was making $30/hr before his pandemic lay-off. He could have gone back to that job about 2 months ago. He likes the work, the atmosphere, the potential so much, he's staying. So that says something about working here. There is a level of reward in doing this work that isn't found in many other jobs.

I have started people off at $20 and $24/hr and it was like setting a pile of cash on fire for 3 months and then having to let them go because while they could do "decent" work they couldn't do exceptional work. The only way I could pay someone $30/hr starting off is if they have already done this level of work. That is such a minuscule pool, it's not even worth trying to find that unicorn. Have talked with Paul Russell, RPM and many other high end shops, all customers, and the best you can hope for is to find a person with the right mindset vs. one with experience. Same unicorn in the eye of a needle in a haystack though, the needle might be a little bigger.

I have hired 3 such unicorns in 5 years. One was brilliant but after 6 months followed his gf to Ohio. Another was excellent but I didn't really like him as a person, he was trained as an electrician, never worked as one, and was the kind of guy who would see that you just flipped a breaker but would sell you a complete house re-wire. Yuck. Third is my current guy.

All three had to be trained from scratch, all three excelled in 3 months. Have had others and they lasted 2-3 months, most were really good guys that liked the work and really tried to do it but it just wasn't in them. Apparently a lot of people think they are detailed oriented and are a perfectionist but they just aren't. We are developing a test for when I get more applicants.

A customer's son stopped by yesterday, he's in commercial real estate, mostly analysis and really has his finger on the pulse of the economy. We talked for a half hour about the economy and job market. I wish I had taped the conversation but the net-net was wait until after August 18 to post an ad on CL, Indeed, etc. He said I should be back to my 30+ applicant pool then. That said, when relaying that to friends at a party last night, everyone agreed the kind of person who is waiting to see what the government is going to give them to stay unemployed is not the kind of person I would hire. Agreed. Still, strange times all around so I'll wait unless someone comes up from this post or others.

I completely agree Matt on playing up potential for growth, that's a good suggestion.

Congratulations on finding 3! Yes, it's all about attitude* and finding people you want to work with, not just someone who can do the job. Makes finding someone extra challenging.

*That said, I have had people with the best attitude, really tried, but just couldn't do the work. It's hard letting them go.

I resemble that remark.

Sounds like finding someone to grow is exactly your goal, so definitely!

Just want to say, sent some parts to Shaun @ Tru6 and wish I had sent more. Perfect, makes sense the business is doing well.
Aigel has a good point about rewarding's a current employee for referrals of a new worker. The best employee I ever had & have never been able to find again, was better than I at most things and I didn't have to train him. Training is expensive. A few years later someone doubled his pay and benefits, so I was happy for him on that level and we are good friends to this day. If you have a talented employee, the business can cover a lot of ground.

This sounds more like an internship than a regular hire which is why the pay seems low. Your top customers with that top dollar Ferrari would demand your top techs I would think if they know any better.

So that's a solid no on the pizza and beer?

Only pizza Nick. Beer is best after a long day. Gin & tonic works too.

Okay, I'll skip the beer during the day but you have to provide the Gin and I don't want any of that cheap stuff. No Gordon's Gin! <<< there's irony in that.

only drink bombay sapphire

It's settled then! When do I start? On a side note would you call my wife and tell her I'm being paid more than just pizza and gin and tonics for the job?

If it helps much, some of my best paint jobs were done after 5pm when the beer started flowing. But to be fair that was back in the day of lacquer paint.