I live in a good construction market. That’s good.
But, finding good help is difficult.
Prospects either have no car, no drivers license, no phone, or no work ethic.
I was signing papers with the bank a couple weeks ago for one of the houses and was moaning to the loan officer about needing reliable help. And she says. “Well, this is a mother talking, but my son just got out of the Marine Corps and is looking for work. He doesn’t know anything about building, but he knows how to work.”
So I hired him. Great “kid” with an excellent attitude. in shape, has a phone, two good vehicles, shows up early and actually does know a little bit of construction basics and….blah, blah, blah!
AND, he has a couple of USMC buddies….I hired them too! Now I’m running my a s s off keeping them busy!
Life has become good….and I’m on schedule, and the lunchtime stories are very good….and the news media hasn’t a clue.
Replies
hey notch where do you live? maybe i can join up too? i was also one of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children. it sounds like a good group, congratulations.
He doesn't know anything about building, but he knows how to work."
Hired a marine officer once who quit the corps because of Clintonesque politics. He now has his own business and does my occassional framing jobs. Great guy. Think we f-ed up when we did away with the draft.
Best move you could have made. As a former Marine I can tell you I some times wish I had my old platoon working for me instead of some of the people I've had to hire, the things I could have accomplished. Good help IS hard to find.
Treat those guys well and they'll work hard for you and become loyal employees.
Semper Fi,
Rick
Edited 8/5/2003 2:25:34 PM ET by R!CKL
I'm fortunate enough to have some fine tradesmen working with me but I remember back after Gulf War One, I hired a guy who was the best worker I ever saw, and paid attention....
his wife gave him the dickens so he ended up leaving town though. She didn't deserve him..
Excellence is its own reward!
The last time I placed an add in the paper it said " no experience needed but you must have transportation and speak some english" . Over 20 calls and not one of them met both requirements. A big waste of time and money.
When my reserve unit was Called up in the spring of 2002 and sent to Bosnia I decided to stay on active duty. Two deployments in two years and no chance of getting out is tough on a bussiness and I was tired of starting over every few years.
HERE'S THE BIG SECRET. One out of about every one hundred applicants make it into the military today. About half start to question their own convictions. That pesky high-school graduate thing DQ's a whole bunch. The written test(ASVAB) Knocks an equal amount out. of the ones who do get this far, a background that keeps them from ever holding a security clearance is the last hurdle.
Please don't spread the word too much. The publics impression that we are a bunch of simple rednecks who are underpaid( both myths) lets us sham on lots of stuff.
Maybe one day i'll tell you a story about a young officer, a pistol, and a porta john
We've got a guy that just recently got out of the Army (Airborne) The shop foreman declared that the army makes you lazy and ex military people couldn't hold down "real jobs" like ours, but he gave him a shot anyway. He just had his 90 day review, they gave him two more dollars an hour and told him that they wanted him to start running his own truck. He's been my helper for the last month and I've been spoiled bad. He's the one guy you never have to worry about. We have a few guys that have been here six months or longer and haven't picked up on half the stuff he has.
As a bonus he's also in the National Guard and is going to machinist school in January courtesy of Uncle Sam. He's going to be a big bonus to our ironworks and metal fab shop, that's always short on help.
As far as the stories go on some levels he can almost match me, but then again I've had a very interesting life so far.
Who Dares Wins.
It's kind of fun sometimes...us old guys swapping windies with some young guys...and we're all, pretty much, on the same page.
Yea He thought he was the king of cold weather survival until he met me . Big DaddyWho Dares Wins.