Where and what are you looking for in a job

[jeichenauer]

I am a fourth generation family member in my families commercial food equipment service company in Illinois and finding technicians is one of the most challenging things we deal with. Being such a specific industry it is hard to find guys who have experience on the "hot side" of commercial food equipment let alone finding someone who can do both the hot and cold sides. I am just wondering where you look when you are searching for a job sites like this? newspaper? monster or other job sites? craigslist? others? It’s just hard sometimes to make the investment in some of these because they are getting so darn expensive and you don’t know what you will get. We are a company that is looking to grow in the service side but I don’t want to throw a ton of money at job advertising if its a place technicians are not looking?

Also what benefits would you say are the most attractive to technicians in this industry? Always got to deal with the fact that a benefit isn’t a benefit unless its perceived as one.

[dpam]

You just have to look in the right places. Most of us who work for major fast food places are allways looking for a better place to go. Find those guys if they have 5 years behind them they have seen and done it all. As for benefits time off, insurance ect.

[Hace Frio]

Craigslist seems very good for the local area. I like to search using Indeed.com and the next one I like is Simplyhired.com

Medical benefits would be #1 on my list having 2 dependents.

[theicecleaner]

We generate leads from a few sources:
Craigslist can be a great source of leads- it's even free in many markets (negative is the potential for SPAM- do not list your email address on the posting unless you absolutely have to).
Monster (can be expensive)
LinkedIn
Newspaper adds
Local schools (graduating and interning students)

It takes a balanced approach, targeting multiple sources, to create a good and sustainable talent pool.

In terms of benefits, our technicians are attracted to health and dental plans and stability. Not to mention that we outline a job progression path that shows them, realistically, a career path that interests them and could lead to a long term commitment.

[Joe Harper]

I'll tell you your first delima, finding a guy that does hot and cold side is almost impossibe. You get a ref tech that has had to do some hot work, and vice versa. I have yet to see a tech that was great at both. I'm not saying that they are not out there, but the hot/cold techs always had a strong side to them and there was always weakness on the non specialized side. A tech does not want to move into a position that may expose some weakness, or demand that he use a skill set he is not comfortable with.

As far as ads, you might to post a flier at the parts houses. The people you are looking for go there. A finders fee to the counter personell can go a long way. They have a good idea of who knows what, and probably won't be sending dolts your way.

Benefits- the benefit that I have tried the hardest to get with no luck is a guaranteed 40 hr check. Heck, someone could even pay me a salary and I wouldn't mind. I have asked for instance if you pay me 40 hrs last week of December (slowest week here) and I only worked 30, then keep it in a log and take it out of the first overtime checks. Employees on hourly pay want stabiity. Big overtime checks are nice but I have tp pay bills every month. I can't use my savings to put down on a car for the wife. Hw am I going to make the payment in the off season if I have a couple of really slow weeks. As far as health insurance, just about everyone has it, including sick, holiday, and vacation. A tool bonus would be attractive to me.

Sorry for the rant, but that's the way a lot of guys look at it.

[Tech Rob]

.

[Joe Harper]

Joe, if you swing by on Tuesday I will give you the fifty bucks I owe you.

Thanks dude..

[OBogue]

The problem I run into the most, is that when I am looking around at what other jobs are out there, I don't see many companies that actually advertise that they do the "hot side". There are HVAC/R companies everywhere. And the only techs that seem to work on cooking equipment are the ones who were backed into a corner, like the above poster mentioned.

SO the result is that I got A LOT of refrigeration experience at first, and then because I enjoyed the cooking equipment I began to spread the word that we did that as well. And now we have a lot of businesses that use us for their cooking equipment.

Even if I DID want to go to another company (which incidentally I don't, I think I want to start my own) I can't find any that are even close to my location that advertise that they DO kitchen work.

So I'd do whatever you HAVE to do to be visible as a Kitchen Equipment Repair shop.

As far as benefits go, I'd never take a job that didn't have health insurance, paid vacation etc.

I am a fourth generation family member in my families commercial food equipment service company in Illinois and finding technicians is one of the most challenging things we deal with. Being such a specific industry it is hard to find guys who have experience on the "hot side" of commercial food equipment let alone finding someone who can do both the hot and cold sides. I am just wondering where you look when you are searching for a job sites like this? newspaper? monster or other job sites? craigslist? others? It’s just hard sometimes to make the investment in some of these because they are getting so darn expensive and you don’t know what you will get. We are a company that is looking to grow in the service side but I don’t want to throw a ton of money at job advertising if its a place technicians are not looking?

Also what benefits would you say are the most attractive to technicians in this industry? Always got to deal with the fact that a benefit isn’t a benefit unless its perceived as one.

[wolfstrike]

Craigslist is taking over everything.

the way to have techs that you need is to train apprentices

[Stamas]

Exactly. ROI.