Hiring new employees

[KhianaKlatt]

Hiring New Employees 

Now that we have entered a new year, maybe your goal is to expand your team in 2024? I have listened to a few webinars this past year about hiring employees. In the one meeting they made the comment that finding a good technician that is available to hire is like finding a unicorn – impossible. This problem is happening across the US and Canada both. Here are some tips I found that all the webinars had agreed on: 

• Focus on applicant’s internal qualities rather than on their resume. They may not have experience in the trade, but can their skills transfer over? If they were a good car salesman, can they be good at selling equipment?  
• Word of mouth seems to be the most common way to hire someone. 
• Get kids interested in your trade early. Visit middle schools and high schools. Start career campaigns in the schools and visit their job fairs. We have the power to impact their curriculum (maybe the school will begin offering more trade classes).  
• Gear your job ads to the new generation because a 25-year-old will be working for your company longer than a 55-year-old will be. We really need these young ones. The younger generation cares about work life balance so advertise how you offer this. Embrace technology in your marketing. Stats show that they care about making the environment better. How do you help with this? Does your company install energy certified equipment? 
• People want to feel like they are making a difference so when you visit schools, tell the students how they can make a difference in your field. In your marketing, explain how they are helping others in this trade. 
• Brand your job ads as the trade is never going anywhere – plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs will always be needed so they have job security. 
• Most new hires are looking for jobs that offer ongoing training or learning so consider partnering with schools or offering a mentorship program.  
• Consider working directly with trade schools in your area so you can have coop students join your team and then you can hire them on after. 

These are some of the tips I have found recently. Our company has had good success with coop students. Where have you found success in finding good employees? Do you know of any good Canadian resources to advertise job openings? Please share below! We would love to hear from you! ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️  

[MorganNovelli]

Sorry for the late response ! We have been busy rolling out iPad's to our managed technicians and the ST mobile app for our non-managed technicians. 

We have previously used Indeed and Craigslist. I also found posting at our suppliers has been beneficial in the past to get the word out. I would say most of our employees have been hired from them sending in their resume. We are definitely a close nit company and a new hire needs to mesh with everyone. We have had a few hires not work out on either our end or the employees. 

I would also like to note we only usually advertise locally and not out of province. 

[jsoch]

We have had really great success with Rapid Hire Pro, Jodi and his team had a booth set up at Pantheon. Excellent team that helps funnel potential candidates so that you are only dealing with the folks that meet your criteria, they also help to keep you accountable and organized. In our industry we have a really short window to staff up and we get an absolute flurry of applicants because we don't require any schooling or experience, with Rapid Hire Pro we can sort through hundreds of applicants very easily, cannot recommend them enough. They also help to advertise in areas that I know we struggle with like Facebook so we attract some people that I know we would have missed otherwise. 

[KhianaKlatt]

I haven't heard of Rapid Hire Pro! Thanks for sharing this resource here. Are they available across Canada for all trades? I will have to do some research on them!

[jsoch]

Absolutely, you tell them exactly what kind of candidate your looking for (minimum skill requirements etc.) and they will build out your campaigns etc. 

They work in both the US and all of Canada and their system can work with any trade. 

Nice thing too is that you can still run campaigns yourself, and just direct any incoming applicants towards the Rapid Hire platform so that they get funneled through appropriately so if you get any potential hires through your normal means (websites etc.) you still get value out of the program. 

[MirandaMel]

Indeed has been our best place for postings and for looking for candidates, along with Linkedin.  For us it is much more important to have a person that fits the culture first and the skill set second (most of the time!).  We use some personality typing to help determine if potential hires are a good fit.

[KhianaKlatt]

Our managers also have Linkedin! When I was job searching, I used Indeed. Our company also had success with social media (that's how they found me!). I agree with you - we also want a person to fit our culture so definitely consider the applicant's personality. You can often train someone in the skills with time but you cannot easily change someone's work ethics/views to fit in with your company's culture. What type of personality typing do you use? 

[MirandaMel]

We use something called True Colours.  But I have also worked at places that use a DISC profiling and I am a huge fan personally of the Myers Briggs typing.

[KhianaKlatt]

@MirandaMel @MorganNovelli @AlphaPlumbing How have you had success in finding employees to hire that fit your criteria? Do you have any tips to share with the group? Where is the best place to advertise job openings in Canada?