Interviewing potential employees

Every day I meet at least one person looking for a job. Never have there been so many people who fax me a resume, call to ask if we’re hiring, show up at the door looking for work, or e-mail me looking for job openings. On larger jobsites around town, spray painted signs hang on the fencing saying, “Not Hiring”.

Today I agreed to meet James, sent over by an architect. My main job during an interview is to get to know the person and determine their experience in the first 15 minutes. I’ve developed a checklist of questions pertaining to the various trades in construction.

Usually I weed out the guys without vehicles, without valid drivers licenses and the guys without tools. “I just sold them” means his work isn’t that important.

I started going through my checklist with James. So far so good, drivers license, a large assortment of tools and a van. He drifted off on stories right away and I had to reel him back in. I worry when a guy comes in and tries to dominate the conversation during an interview. Just answer the questions!

Then I asked if he could read blueprints. “uh yea, I read a book about it. I understand about the symbols and stuff.” So to clarify I asked if he’d ever built anything using blueprints and he talked some more about the books he read on it. “So, the answer is that you haven’t built off prints?” “Well”, he explained “my dad is an architect and I grew up around this stuff, so you could say it’s in my blood.” “So I’m hiring your dad too?” I asked, my patience quickly running out.

When guys tell me that their dad/brother/friend has a certain skill when I’m asking about their skill level, it’s a problem. Construction knowledge is not hereditary and it can’t be transferred from friends and if they’ve only “seen” their friend use a skill, it does not mean they acquired that skill.

Next I asked about his experience with stucco. Immediately he veered off to a tangent, rambling and rambling. Did he have any stucco experience? Turns out he took a window out once from a house that had stucco. I cannot figure out why it took four minutes to get to “no stucco experience”.

We moved on to framing, electrical and plumbing. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that installing plate covers on outlets and switches is not considered “finish electrical”. I was becoming frustrated with five minute answers in lieu of “no I don’t have experience in fill-in-the-blank”. Finally I told him that we only had ten minutes, so we better move on to the next topic.

It was becoming obvious that he was not experienced in construction. So I tried again by asking what jobs he had done and who he had worked for. Another warning bell went off. He described working for his mother. Never a good sign. Working for your folks is not necessarily construction experience. It usually falls under chores or hobbies. It’s also impossible to get an accurate confirmation or referral from mom or dad.

Clearly, he did not fit in with the apprentice level guys but I thought maybe I could hire him as labor if his rate was low enough. “How much are you looking for as an hourly wage?” I asked. The answer a guy gives will tell you an awful lot. If they don’t know what they’re worth, it’s very, very low. If they know exactly what they are worth and hour and confidently state it while looking you in the eyes, then that’s what you will end up paying them. But if they flounder around, they are fishing and do not know what they are worth. So James tells me his wage, it’s “between $15 and $20 an hour”. How many employers do you think will pay a dime more than $15 at that point? Not even one.

I’ll continue to interview potential employees when they take the time to stop by. There are a few gold nuggets out there, but sifting through the debris to find them can be comical.