How to find good help in a production machine/toolmaker shop

I wish you the best of luck. My friend that owns the local hardware store cannot find full time help. He has a bunch of retired guys working part time.
 
You might consider getting with the instructor, and outlining some necessary skills for employment. Doesn't help now, but maybe later. Consider a sponsored tour of your facility /field trip/w lunch for a few hours, or sending a few simple jobs to the program for fundraising. The labor market is tight.
 
Unemployment rate is the lowest it's ever been here.
I find high wages does not mean spectacular employees either.:mad:
When you do find someone, treat them very well. I spend a lot of money on bonuses, gift cards, paid time off to keep people.
 
Jim F said:
How do we go about finding good help nowdays,
all but 1 in our shop are old and getting close to retirement age.
Tried a few hires that did not work out.
Can't seem to find young people that will work, have any idea about mechanical theories, can't even count, let alone follow directions......
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Welcome to the show Jim. Add the above to the hiring of new straight out of college grads trying to tell the 40+ year mechanics/machinists how to do what we do is quite amusing . ( at double a mechanics salary ) Why anyone would want to get into this trade nowadays for a " living " is beyond me . :grin: Hm.........................part time work in Williamsport ? When is that series again ? :)


Oh , I'll be coming thru your area very soon . I'll pm you when I head north . :encourage:
 
RalphF said:
Contact some trade schools in your area. If you already did that, search further out. Could be that a promising person for the job is too far away and would need to move to your area. It's hard these days to find qualified workers.
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Some thoughts on that... I teach commercial photography at one of the top community colleges in SoCal. While it's true that we are a good source for intern/assistant/associate-level employees, our placement system is dysfunctional. The placement office doesn't understand our industry or know our students, and our department office has no funding/staff for placement. One-time emails or phone requests from employers can easily fall thru the cracks. With 4 full-time and 6 part-time instructors, none of us knows every student. One-off recruiting requests may also suffer neglect from poor timing... At the beginning of the semester we don't know students well enough to recommend them. At the end of the semester we're swamped with grading.

I've helped many students find jobs. But in 24 years teaching, I've never spoken to anyone at the college placement office. Those connections happen thru industry relationships. Organizations and employers who show interest in our program, volunteer as guest speakers, participate on our advisory board, sponsor/host events or just regularly attend our department events... they are the people we think of first. When bright, motivated career-minded students come to us asking about next step, we put them in touch with the people/organizations we know and trust.

Yes it is difficult to find young talent these days. But young talent often finds it just as hard to find internships and first-time employers willing to invest time mentoring them. Chicken/egg.

tldr; support your local college programs, get to know every one of their instructors by name. They'll send talent when they know and trust you.
 
Jim F said:
We have a school in town, grads think they are 20yr exp programmers and expect that pay.
The ones who came by a few years ago, did not know how to square up stock.......
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The question you need to ask is are they getting that pay elsewhere? If so, you probably won't stand a chance hiring them until you re-think your compensation structure.
 
cjtoombs said:
The question you need to ask is are they getting that pay elsewhere? If so, you probably won't stand a chance hiring them until you re-think your compensation structure.
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Machining jobs have historically been mid range pay. The responsibility and stress associated with being a conscientious machinist pay does not reflect that or actual acquired skills to value ratio. One screwup and you are looking for a new job. Not many people are willing to do that type of work anymore I fear.

If you find someone do your best to keep them.

Times are changing and not how we would like. We must adapt to stay relevant.


Cutting oil is my blood.
 
cjtoombs said:
The question you need to ask is are they getting that pay elsewhere? If so, you probably won't stand a chance hiring them until you re-think your compensation structure.
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I started PT in Nov. 2021 as a general laborer.
I was made FT in Apr. 22, I have had my pay go up $4 ph in that time frame.
If you prove yourself, the owner notices.
 
We had a similar problem a few years ago in this area. At the time the shops weren't keeping up with the current pay rates of competing industries, and the schools weren't teaching the skills necessary to run modern machinery. It was almost embarrassing in that some of the local shops were advertising that new hires with journeyman's papers could make up to $44,000.00 per year. At the same time the state government was offering welfare benefits to a family of 4 making the same amount of money. Adding to the problem the technical schools were barely touching training on CNC machines. We had shops that were underpaying, and schools that were turning out students unqualified for the majority of job openings.

It all came to a head in 2012. The industry was suffering from lack of qualified employees, so major employers and trade groups had a meeting of the minds with the local technical colleges officials. They came up with a plan to resolve the problems. The employers and trade groups financed an overhaul of the school shops to include dozens of CNC machines and replace the worn-out manual ones.

The schools started hiring instructors qualified in teaching students how to run the more modern machines. In many cases the new instructors didn't need a teaching certificate. If they had over 15 years in the trade or had a Tool & Die Maker, or Master Machinist certificate the teaching certificate was waived.

It took some time, but the pipeline of qualified employees is now up and running. The schools have a waiting list for students wanting to enter the machining curriculum, and the shops are flourishing and, in many cases, expanding.
 
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