Hiring a new tech, our full time tech can't come back!

[pcservices]

Hi Everyone! I don't remember the last time I posted something, but get a lot of info from you guys when I search through forums. Currently our full time tech cannot come back to work- he is now the stay at home dad because his wife is a nurse. We tried to ride it out as long as possible without him, but now it's becoming clear that we need another person. We are small- Steve (owner, doing everything lol) and myself (manage shop, QB, billing, etc... and can do simple things to keep the flow going in the shop), we are a husband and wife team. Our full time tech that we had did a lot of the break fix repairs in the shop and helped with some of the business and residential on-sites. We are getting busier with the on-sites, and still maintaining a decent flow of machines coming into the shop for repair.

I posted on Indeed for a tech and we have been doing interviews last week and this week. The problem we are running into- either the person is excited, positive, did a few college courses for something in the IT field but no real repair experience, or we get the opposite- has certs, degrees, desktop support experience, little repair experience, but has the know it all attitude or is more introverted. We have always given the best customer service we can and are honest and upfront with our customers. It has created a lot of trust, repeat business, and referrals over the years.

What I'm stuck on is do we go with the kid with the great attitude who wants to learn but will def need training, or go with someone who is a bit more established with the experience that would need less training but who knows how long they would stick around, are they able to take direction from us and are they going to be personable with our customers? It's so frustrating because I don't want to make the wrong choice and hurt the business. For those of you that have hired techs, what are you generally looking for and what has been your experience overall with hiring?

 

[Porthos]

little repair experience, but has the know it all attitude

That there is a bad combination.

has certs, degrees

They usually want to be paid quite a bit due to those and might not be a solid fit for a small shop.
Experience and/or willingness to learn is more important.

 

[pcservices]

Yea, what we are seeing in the interviews are the ones with the certs, degrees and more experience seem to have little motivation or don't really put out the vibe that they are looking at long term employment. Personally, I felt that most are looking for more corporate level IT/helpdesk type of work. There's one younger guy (21) who did a few semesters for computer science but has no working experience with IT, however was thinking logically with some of the interview questions, took notes on what we were looking for, and has a positive attitude. If he had break fix knowledge, I wouldn't question whether to hire or not. Someone with more experience can hit the ground running faster with being able to work independently but we haven't been wowed yet. I honestly thought we would have had too many candidates to choose from!

 

[TurricanII]

Employ for aptitude not skills is my advice. I would probably want to go with the eager uncertified person - so long as they have the right interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills are are close to 50% of succeeding in the job. I would be looking for customer service experience in a CV, like restaurant, shop or bar work, even if part time.

Ask questions at interview to assess the person's experience troubleshooting skills, i.e. helping relatives/friends/setting up their home network. A smart eager person can quickly find the answer and learn for future reference, with little input from others.

Of course the younger employee will probably be cheaper which is better for smaller businesses and also you can take them on for a probation period. Don't forget that if they turn out to be a complete non-starter then you can hire somebody else.

 

[Porthos]

I would be looking for customer service experience in a CV, like restaurant, shop or bar work

As long as if they have not been burned out dealing with the public. Retail customers can be aholes and burn people out.
Some techs are great techs but are better suited for the back shop area.

 

[HCHTech]

Employ for aptitude not skills is my advice. I would probably want to go with the eager uncertified person - so long as they have the right interpersonal skills.

This. Although I appreciate it is easy to say, tough to do. I would expect to get it wrong a couple of times until you find someone who clicks.

I like the "30-day probationary period - either side can pull out, no harm no foul" idea. Training is made WAY easier if you have already documented SOPs. Kinda tough if your other tech was just carrying everything around in his head.

 

[pcservices]

I like the 30 day probationary period as well. We decided to go with the one with the positive attitude and willingness to learn but less experience. Guess we'll have to start writing SOP's though!

 

[callthatgirl]

I'd consider other sources, try the local tech college. The network students usually come from a gaming background and know hardware, yep...their goals are not be a hardware tech but will love the work and understand it. My best guy I ever had was right out of school, did a free internship with me for 3 months and forced me to hire him lol. He left me 3 years later for his career job and I was so proud of him.

 

[NJW]

Guess we'll have to start writing SOP's though!

Every problem is an opportunity! Give the new tech a stake in those SOPs and that covers a big chunk of training ('How do we do ...', 'What happens when ...').

 

[sapphirescales]

Most of my techs have no formal education. I find that the more "educated" a potential tech is, the more full of themselves they are and the less competent they are.

During the interview process, I find that if a potential tech has some self doubt, they're usually a keeper. NO tech knows everything and if they think they do then that's just hubris that will lead to trouble down the line.

It's one thing to be able to talk the talk but they should also be able to walk the walk. Nothing is more effective than a hands-on demonstration. Pull up iDRAC and ask them to check something simple. See how familiar they are with the interface.

I don't want a tech with no interpersonal skills that I have to relegate to the back room. Those days are over. Test their skill level/confidence when dealing with a client, both in person and over the phone.

There's a lot more to being a good tech than education. In fact, education is the LAST thing I look at when I'm considering a tech. Experience is a lot more important than education in my experience.

 

[SAFCasper]

Keep in mind if you take on a younger, less experienced tech you need to make time to train them. If you husband is on-site and bogged down with calls all day as it stands... can he make the extra time necessary to train someone up?

Might be worth considering the first few weeks getting the new staff member in half-days or evenings so you can dedicate that time to training and nothing else. And by training I'm not necessarily saying "structured training" like a class. Just work alongside them and be available to guide, answer questions, explain workflow processes etc without being interrupted every 30 seconds by other stuff.

After those few weeks they should be up to speed enough to be left alone working through basic jobs to take some pressure off. Which in turn means you have more time to help them with the complicated ones.

NOTE:
I'm stealing this idea from real experiences. It's how I started many years ago! My first 3 weeks I worked a Tuesday & Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning. Then went full time after that.

 

[pcservices]

Keep in mind if you take on a younger, less experienced tech you need to make time to train them. If you husband is on-site and bogged down with calls all day as it stands... can he make the extra time necessary to train someone up?

Yes, what we decided to do was start him out at 3 days a week with a 30 day probationary period. He's pretty much going to shadow Steve with some of the onsites as well as repairs in the shop. (some of the smaller, simpler jobs in the shop he can already do). I'm sure there will be a few times that we'll be working after hours on training, but that's ok because we want him to really learn as much as he can.

 

[backwoodsman]

30 day probationary period

Going a step farther with that can make your life a whole lot simpler if things don't work out as well as you hoped. Once you find your guy, hire him via a temp agency for at least the first few months. That way he's actually their employee, not yours, so if things go sideways it's a lot less complicated, not to mention potentially cheaper.

 

[TurricanII]

I wouldn't use an agency. If you agree a probation period then it is usually easy to say 'it didn't work out' without risk of employment tribunal.

What I would/did do is set a three month probation, but also check your employment laws or hire a HR firm to make sure you are aware of any obligations (legal notice periods, contract requirements, holiday requirements, etc.).

I also read all the local employment tribunal decisions to see what employers did wrong, so I can avoid the mistakes (poor documentation/execution of disciplinary procedures, not giving wage slips showing tax paid, unlawful deductions from wages).

The key thing I would be looking for in the trial period if a junior staff member is empathy; do they care about the customer (e.g. understand how the problem is affecting the customer, feel the urge to call the customer back or get it fixed) and care about colleagues (e.g. offer eagerly to do jobs to pull their weight - "Can I do that for you?" and responding positively when asked to do supporting tasks like make the tea/coffee or fetch the lunch).

Hopefully it works out, please let us know in fue course if you can, OP

 

[backwoodsman]

I wouldn't use an agency. If you agree a probation period then it is usually easy to say 'it didn't work out' without risk of employment tribunal.

Maybe, maybe not; using an agency removes the risk. And new hires isn't the only situation it can help with. I once had an employee who tried to go into business competing with me, while he was working for me. He'd taken and used hundreds of customer emails, contacted my suppliers, made a website with all his prices $1 less than mine (web-based sales business), even talked to a lawyer to see what he could do without me being able to fire him. Fortunately, at the time I was using a temp agency to do payroll, and he forgot he was actually the agency's employee, not mine, so all I had to do was tell him not to come back. If not for that, he would've cost me a lot of headaches and expense; the agency was worth every penny I'd ever paid them that day. The kicker was, I'd known him and considered him a friend before I hired him.

 

[pcservices]

The key thing I would be looking for in the trial period if a junior staff member is empathy; do they care about the customer (e.g. understand how the problem is affecting the customer, feel the urge to call the customer back or get it fixed) and care about colleagues (e.g. offer eagerly to do jobs to pull their weight - "Can I do that for you?" and responding positively when asked to do supporting tasks like make the tea/coffee or fetch the lunch).

Hopefully it works out, please let us know in fue course if you can, OP

Just a quick update, so far he is doing great- understands more than what we thought he knew and understood, seems to be picking up on how we do things pretty quickly. Right now we have him in the shop focusing on the repairs and customer service and he's gone out with Steve to a couple of our business clients to help with some on-site work. We are keeping it at the 30 day probationary with a raise after the 30 days and I am currently working on things like SOP's, job description, stuff like that so that we are better prepared for the future.
Thank you everyone for your input!