Best place to hire experienced sign people?

[ams]

So I started out hiring people from craigslist with no experience, (bad idea) then went to indeed.com and got some decent people but no experience. I recently tried signweb but those people seem to want $60k+ and have 20+ years experience.

Where else out there is a good place to find people with at least a year of sign experience?

 

[Gino]

Call your competitors and offer their help more an hour.

 

[Rick]

So I started out hiring people from craigslist with no experience, (bad idea) then went to indeed.com and got some decent people but no experience. I recently tried signweb but those people seem to want $60k+ and have 20+ years experience.

Where else out there is a good place to find people with at least a year of sign experience?

I've seen your Signweb posting and it's poorly written, the one thing I scratch my head at is... a project manager with 1 year experience?

Be specific about the experience requirements, say minimum 1 year experience and spell out each job description... not every detail, but enough to directly target who you are looking for.

 

[Rick]

I just saw your "Indeed" posting, I can see why you are getting better results, your postings are on point on who you are looking for...

 

[ams]

The reason my signweb posting is basic is because if I say "You must have a minimum of 5 years experience in project management, or you must be above 35 years old or you must have mig welding experience" I would lose a ton of potential people. I want to find some people first and then see what they have to offer. A little experience is better than no experience in certain cases.

 

[ikarasu]

I haven't seen your ad, but if your hiring a manager... $26 an hour doesn't seem like a lot to ask for.

Generally good people with experience already have a job. The only time they don't, is if the business they work at went out of business, they moved, or they're looking for higher pay.

I used to help with hiring for a company that hired 10ish new people per year. Once you have experience in hiring, you know how to weed out the bad ones.

Craigslist is the lower tier... Then indeed, but both can produce good results. What's your hiring process like?

I don't know how things are in your city... But there are temp agencies here also, a few of our hires were from them. You could ask for a new temp every week... Eventually you'll find one who fits your needs, and you pay the company a finder's fee.

It bypasses the need to hire / fire people for.not working out, and if you're not.good at selecting the right candidates... You get to trial them out for however long before committing.

Sometimes you might feel like your paying too much - but just remember... A good worker will waste Less money / materials and be worth the extra cash.

Im not saying pay some new guy $28 an hour... But if you pay bottom of the barrel, expect bottom of the barrel employees.

 

[Johnny Best]

Are you a Linkedin member, or find a good recruiter who handles that type of work.

 

[ams]

Yes I am a linked in member.

 

[papabud]

you can also check with your local unemployment office. find someone that wants to work and learn. find a younger kid that may of had it rough but needs a mentor.
one of my best installers was a hard luck case kid. took him under my wing and shown him a better way.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

Gino is right. You're probably going to have to poach somebody from another company if you want somebody who is good, reliable, but can be hired for a reasonable rate. Even then, you could end up paying anywhere from $14 to $16 an hour if the company they're at wants to keep them and counters. And that's if they're still pretty new to the industry. Somebody with 5+ years is probably going to want $18 to $20 if they're good and reliable.

[Edit: I should note that's here in town. I think we're somewhere around -10% or -11% on the cost of living scale versus the national average.]

 

[Gino]

Gino is right. You're probably going to have to poach somebody from another company if you want somebody who is good, reliable, but can be hired for a reasonable rate. Even then, you could end up paying anywhere from $14 to $16 an hour if the company they're at wants to keep them and counters. And that's if they're still pretty new to the industry. Somebody with 5+ years is probably going to want $18 to $20 if they're good and reliable.

I didn't say anything about being reliable. If someone is gonna leave for a dollar more an hour, they ain't reliable. They're going where the money is, so you hafta buy reliability. You want security, then you pay for it. If they are worth it, then you can make an educated decision.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

I didn't say anything about being reliable. If someone is gonna leave for a dollar more an hour, they ain't reliable. They're going where the money is, so you hafta buy reliability. You want security, then you pay for it. If they are worth it, then you can make an educated decision.

I just meant you were right about poaching from other companies, wasn't trying to put any words in your mouth.

I also meant reliability as in the "shows up for work on time, works overtime if needed" type of reliability. You're 100% correct that you have to buy loyalty. People are only loyal to a certain point. Everybody has to eat.

 

[Gino]

While many people can come in via working for another shop, there used to be a network of that crap going on around this town years ago.

There were 3 big players in town and they got all the top jobs in quite a big radius, stretching into neighboring states. So, Sign Shop A hired all the good guys for top buck to get their particular job done. When it was over, they just laid everyone off and they went scurrying to another shop, unless they were scarfed up if Sign Shop B landed a big one. That went on for years, until the digital world came along. Anyway, now 2 of those shops are gone and the last one remaining is far from what it used to do. In those days, there were maybe a dozen shops in the whole county..... today, there's like 125 in our little town alone. So, that crap doesn't happen much anymore.

Sometimes, they'd pass by our shop and ask for work.

One time, there was this guy who was so overly talented and competent and was willing to work for $8 an hour. He was over-qualified, I think is the term. I was basically afraid to hire him, as I knew as soon as I started depending on him, he'd find a better paying job. $8 an hour...... remember, this was back in the 80s. Most good mechanics were getting around $10 or $12 an hour.

 

[eahicks]

All interesting perspectives from everyone. We are about to need to hire a Graphic Designer, hopefully someone with sign experience and can help with table work, nothing crazy. But need someone talented and smart, which seem to be the hardest 2 qualities to find, next to loyalty and reliability. Looking forward to the search, should be interesting. I know there are a ton of graphic designer positions open in DFW now, most are requiring HTML/Web Design/Social Media and other things, which are not needed, so maybe since our field is a bit narrower, we can get someone quickly.

 

[rjssigns]

Intern from a local tech college. One local to me trains students on all types of wide format equipment. Students also learn cut vinyl and do various wrap projects. This semesters students are doing command car graphics for a local fire department.

 

[AKwrapguy]

So I started out hiring people from craigslist with no experience, (bad idea) then went to indeed.com and got some decent people but no experience. I recently tried signweb but those people seem to want $60k+ and have 20+ years experience.

I think it also depends on what your looking for, what your looking at paying, benefits, and expectations. If your willing to put in the time and train/teach someone you can get someone with less experience and cheaper but if you want hire someone that can for the most part hit the ground running your probably going to have to pay for it.

Rant time:
As a younger person this is probably one of my biggest issues working in this business. I have years of experience with Flexi, Photoshop, Illustrator, Versaworks, Wasatch, Muse and more. I've worked with/on Mimaki, Roland, HP Eco-Solvent and HP Latex. I'm a 3m certified installer, and have a BA in a design field. I have years of experience in Marketing, Sales, Customer Service and Design. I've run a small shop, I've been a lead installer for another and more.

Yet every time I see posting for a job it's $14-$16 an hour. This would have been a great wage in the 80's or early 90's but today, this is just not acceptable and I know that sometimes the margins on these jobs are tight and with the lower cost of entry into the industry more and more people are fighting for the same dollar. Also now every kid with an I-Pad thinks that they can design. For fucksakes most 'designer's' I deal with can't comprehend the fact that a vehicle is a 3 dimensional object and taking a image from Facebook to put on 4'x8' banner is going to look like shit.

 

[ams]

I live in a town where $15/hour is considered a good job.

 

[AKwrapguy]

I live in a town where $15/hour is considered a good job.

I live in world where $15 an hour is pretty much minimum wage.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

...Yet every time I see posting for a job it's $14-$16 an hour. This would have been a great wage in the 80's or early 90's but today, this is just not acceptable...

Absolutely agree. 100%.

When you have guys opening shops and then head hunting and offering people with lots of experience and wide-ranging skill sets $12 an hour, it's offensive. I get that you just opened your shop and you need someone who can do design, run your printers, do installs, and deal with customers, but that's an offensive offer. That's an offensive offer for someone just out of school with a design degree. Yet it happens all the time, because people think, "Well, minimum wage is $7.25, so this is a great offer!" No. No, it is not.

$15 an hour here is barely above a living wage for a married person, much less someone who has a family, a car, a house, and all the other normal life bills.

 

[Gino]

I think it also depends on what your looking for, what your looking at paying, benefits, and expectations. If your willing to put in the time and train/teach someone you can get someone with less experience and cheaper but if you want hire someone that can for the most part hit the ground running your probably going to have to pay for it.

Rant time:
As a younger person this is probably one of my biggest issues working in this business. I have years of experience with Flexi, Photoshop, Illustrator, Versaworks, Wasatch, Muse and more. I've worked with/on Mimaki, Roland, HP Eco-Solvent and HP Latex. I'm a 3m certified installer, and have a BA in a design field. I have years of experience in Marketing, Sales, Customer Service and Design. I've run a small shop, I've been a lead installer for another and more.

Yet every time I see posting for a job it's $14-$16 an hour. This would have been a great wage in the 80's or early 90's but today, this is just not acceptable and I know that sometimes the margins on these jobs are tight and with the lower cost of entry into the industry more and more people are fighting for the same dollar. Also now every kid with an I-Pad thinks that they can design. For ****sakes most 'designer's' I deal with can't comprehend the fact that a vehicle is a 3 dimensional object and taking a image from Facebook to put on 4'x8' banner is going to look like ****.

Absolutely agree. 100%.

When you have guys opening shops and then head hunting and offering people with lots of experience and wide-ranging skill sets $12 an hour, it's offensive. I get that you just opened your shop and you need someone who can do design, run your printers, do installs, and deal with customers, but that's an offensive offer. That's an offensive offer for someone just out of school with a design degree. Yet it happens all the time, because people think, "Well, minimum wage is $7.25, so this is a great offer!" No. No, it is not.

$15 an hour here is barely above a living wage for a married person, much less someone who has a family, a car, a house, and all the other normal life bills.

I agree with you guys 1,000 %. Times have changed and not proportionately.

However, there are some people whom are willing to work, just for the sake of working and having a steady income. They probably feel much the same about having a job, as I do about having customers coming in. I'd rather have 90% of something, than 100% of nothing. If that means taking a cut in pay, so be it, but beware, they might not be here tomorrow.