I have placed local ads and all I'm getting is alarm guys and satellite installers responding. I've made it very clear in the ads that I am after AV techs.

I understand that I'm in a smaller market (approx. 300, 0000) than the major cities but there's got to be some people out there that would fit the job description.

Is everyone else finding it difficult to find qualified installers? What have you done to successfully recruit good employees?

I would gladly take an alarm guy who fishes wire. You can teach him AV. Do you really want a guy from Competitor?

Don't hunt unicorns.

^

Finding good people regardless of industry is usually a challenge.

I'm a strong believer in recruiting the guys you want to hire (some might consider it poaching), but often the best people are not satisfied with where there at and are open to new opportunities...the challenge is it usually costs more for these 'unicorn's' but if it's the right fit it well worth it in the long run if your can keep them happy.

I am hiring off of gut instinct. In a small business ATTITUDE and personality out rank skill, for me anyway.

I do not think finding good help is the most effective way of going about it IMHO. Find someone who you get along with and is willing to learn and follow direction. Make it worth his while, and you will create good help. There has to be a next generation at some point, right? You might as well be a part of building it.

And yes, existing good help is expensive. :)

I've worked with two handymen who would be GREAT audio/video guys if only I had enough work to keep them busy full time. And it IS personality that makes it, in this case being willing to listen and learn.

There's a truism about people, expressed thus: if she left someone to be with you, don't be surprised if she leaves you to be with someone else. The same goes with poaching. I've seen poaching work in one way, though: if you find someone who seems to be a good fit personality-wise but who isn't doing A/V, you might have found someone who would stay with you for quite a while.

As you've probably seen, I'm going through this now. Here is my take:
I think getting someone from another company is fair game if that person isn't happy. I think poaching just to poach is sort of crappy but I guess all's fair in love and war. If it comes down to my family eating or someone else well......

I'm much bigger on finding the personality to fit our mold and give them the tools to become great. Here is the glaring problem with that, IT TAKES TIME! Perfect example, today I had an interview with a great guy. He had worked for Comcrap for 14 years! He was a level 4 tech making $25 per hour plus all of the benefits of a large company. We could easily pay him that money but he really doesn't know how to truly "install" equipment. He might pick it up quickly but I need someone I can hand a job over to now! We literally need to be in 3-4 places at any given time. His experience level is more around the $20 an hour mark but I don't want to lose out on an opportunity.

I finding good guys is extremely difficult and there isn't a large pool to pick from.

Don't feel bad about offering this guy $15 an hour. He's worth $25 at Comcast but only $10-15 with you until he learns more. If he turns out to be a unicorn (lol at that term) then great go ahead and give him a pay bump and hand over the jobs to him. If he ends up being a dud then it only costs you $15 an hour and he can pull wire and carry stuff.

Sometimes the qualified installers already work for you. What i mean is that you may not actually need to hire a "unicorn". You might just need to hire some helpers for the guys you already have.

I cant say this without sounding like an @ss so here goes...i get twice as much work done vs most of the installers i have come in contact with. I would wager that this is the case for most of the lead techs who post here at RC. We have been around the block, nothing really surprises us, we can see into the future and around corners in terms of estimating how much time things will take.

Being with the same company for a while makes it even easier because we know how things are done. You can bring the best guy from your competitor and he won't be able to keep up with the guys you already have just because they don't know your process/routine etc.

Hire some $12-15 an hour 20 year old helpers who wear their pants up around their waste and know what a razor and soap is. Let those guys lug the tools/parts/products in while the lead guy handles the white collar stuff. At the end of the day the helper can clean up and load everything up while the lead guy makes notes and logs time and updates the punch list.

After a couple of years your 20 year old will able to manage a helper of his own. Now you have 3 guys. The unicorn, his seasoned protege and a new helper to make their lives easier.

Yes very.

Especially a lot of the younger guys we have hired.

Don't want to put in the hours or take direction, but they all seem to feel that they "deserve" to make a lot of money.

We just hired new tech starts next week. I think we finally found a good one. I hope...

Bingo, Matt.  I concur on every point.   Entitled Millennials with no concept of a work ethic makes for a pretty crappy labor pool.  Most of them are completely worthless.

I'm wondering what all of your experiences have been with hiring veterans?

A/V or Military?

I'm fed up with hiring younger people. They don't have much work ethic and can't think beyond the moment. I've gone through a few of them and it's very costly to train them; then to find out that they really don't have the desire or aptitude to learn this industry.
I find myself working the tools more and more because if I don't the work won't get done in a timely manner. Very frustrating.

While I can agree the next generation can be difficult to work with as their views and motivation are much different than ours.

They need to be pushed! Read up on millennial and the data shows they posses many skills that fit our world well but they have never really been challenged. The are referred to as the "Trophy Generation". They came from an era where score was never kept and everyone that participates gets a trophy to help them be happy.

I have found excellent young talent and oddly enough many come from pretty wealthy backgrounds. They realize what money is and what comes with it. They end up making the decision to find happiness and not riches.