On January 12, 2016 at 13:32, Mac Burks (39) said...
I started at $5 an hour in the early 90's and after 1 year i was doing retro work, new construction, solo installations and i was even beginning to handle the front end of the service department. The next company i worked for i was making $7.50 for a year then $10.00 then $15.00 then $20 and so on and so forth.
I have seen dozens of people come and go. The guys who sucked after week one are the guys who sucked 5 years later. Cut them loose and hire another guy. Rinse and repeat.
The key is having the time and ability to train someone. If you wait until you are running around trying to put out fires your new hire will spend his career as a glorified gopher. 5 years later hes still worth $12 an hour but he needs more money to live. When i started we were busy but every day for the first month was spent being taught how to do things. By week 2 i was retrofitting in-ceiling speakers by myself...leaving the job without needing to paint. This is because the first 3 days of work were spent with me being taught how to do it.
Mac, I know you have experience, as do many of us. I have been on both ends of this topic. I started later than you in the industry, but as a helper. I learned quick and was installing things like TV's, speakers, and more in the first week. Fishing wires came easy to me and I have always been tech minded, so again it was natural for me. I saw others come and go, some could handle part of the job, some could not handle any of it. In the time I was with that company, I did not see a single person come that had the work ethic, technology minded, punctuality, pride in work, or dedication that I had. Some had some of these qualities, but not all. All of them went before I did.
As I transitioned to running my own business, I found out why it was that the old bosses never were able to find the right kind of help we needed. It was not from lack of trying. It was from lack of stock. The job market was just out of stock of the right minded people. As I have looked now for several years of that kind of help, I have come to realize that the job market is ALWAYS low on that kind of stock. To bring person after person after person in is draining. Can be both financially and definitely emotionally draining. It is easy to say just hire people. I used to tell the old bosses that. Just hire better people. They tried. I have now tried. It just doesn't happen that easily unfortunately.
Another big issue that I have seen. The older generation may have better work ethics, but are not always as sharp with new technologies. Now matter how much you train, most of these folks are just wired differently than today's younger generation and will not get how these technologies work. There are exceptions of course. The younger generation, Brendon included, have no work ethic. They show up for the paycheck, drag their feet to pad their hours, demand time off, do half assed work, and are generally not very professional. There are exceptions of course. Finding the right mix is a crap shoot at best, and until you have been in the position of looking for that right individual, you just do not have the understanding of how difficult a situation and task it is.
