Dang near impossible.
The company I work for owns a small chain of pawn shops in Georgia, Alabama, and
Florida. The shop I work at has lost three full time employees in about six weeks. Two, including the
manager, moved to other cities. They both gave ample notice. One, who had been trained up to handle
all the paperwork, etc., just texted one morning at 7:30 that she was through. The asst. manager,
who is also the bow tech, has been trying to handle managerial duties along with his bow work.

We have scheduled interviews and had applicants just not show up. We have conducted interviews and had
applicants balk when the found out about the required drug test and bg check. Our shop isn’t the only
one short-handed. Two of the other shops are running ads for full-time positions.

The starting pay isn’t great, but is well above minimum wage, with the opportunity for raises and benefits
after a probationary period. There are no stringent qualifications as far as education or experience.
Right now, a trainable warm body, able to pass a drug test and cursory bg check can get hired.

That shouldn’t be so hard to find, but it seems to be nearly impossible.

__________________
Georgia On My Mind

Sadly, seem to be fewer and fewer these days.

__________________
PTLAPTA!

Before she retired, my wife was an executive with a major bank, they had a constant problem with trying to employ today's youth. New employees wanted to set their own hours, wanted vacation before working the first full year, frequently quit because they felt overworked, and generally made poor employees because they didn't like following directions. Starting pay wasn't great but benefits were generous and advancement was relatively easy.

Almost a perfect starting job requiring no experience. The young just didn't really want to work. A frequent excuse was that their parents didn't want them to work that hard. I guess the parents preferred them living in the basement if that were true.

Hell I am old and i dont want to work either!

__________________
Possum—The other white meat!

Many companies doing away with the drug tests because it eliminates a very large amount of the working force ..

My daughter is a manager for a company and they always have trouble with workers staying .. Seem a lot are moving out of the area because both husband and wife can't find a job when the other can ..

The town here is dying with all the manufacturing jobs going elsewhere ..

If your young get a career in health care of some kind .. it will one of the few areas that are hiring ..

After I retired from the post office I was lucky enough to find a job in a small pawn shop that was looking for someone to handle the firearms transactions. Didn't really care how much I was paid, didn't really care about the hours as long as my 2 days off were consecutive. In the couple of months I was home I was bored to tears, so this was a godsend. The owner keeps trying to give me raises but with the social security rules it would just cost him and not help me. He's happy, I'm happy, and I'd never leave without notice barring the unexpected dirt nap.

A local lawn care company almost cannot hire temporary summer help as he requires drug testing. His requirement for that gets him good jobs in expensive neighborhoods because people feel they can trust his workers. He says most young people if they take the test fail it.
Sad statement on todays up and coming workforce.

Employers could cherry pick during the recession.The pendulum has swung in the other direction-that's all

Sounds more like loungefarce than workforce.

There is a in law's family member that has had several jobs, but when she finds out you are really supposed to show up and to work when you get there, she quits. Some really silly excuses, of course her Dad pays her way.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

I have a buddy who is often involved in his company's recruitment. It dawned on me a little while ago that since they legalized pot in NV and he works for a defense contractor, that his life might be getting interesting. So, one day recently I asked "How's recruitment going?".... and that's the last time I'll toss a grenade in that particular nest of vipers.

Quite a few employers in NV have relaxed or done away with their drug tests for the same reason that others have given; almost everybody fails.

__________________
Release the Kraken

Finding someone who is willing to work after passing a drug test is the greatest challenge facing employers these days


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was an apartment owner. We had problems with getting someone (anyone) to show up an hour late and any number of days a week they wanted! Nobody wanted a job that had no stating requirements and didn't pay 100 grand a year!

When it came to hiring maintenance men, you are in a whole different twilight zone. Good help is in business for themselves! Mediocre help knows nothing but will show up on payday! The art of being boss, is getting them to want to become good enough to go into business for themselves! Often with a above average for the industry pay scale, their lack of self control gets them into debt so far they can never work for themselves! These guys become very good long term employees. Just expect them to go bankrupt every 7 to 12 years! (50% of them will be alcoholics!) The drug users (even recreational) are a risk that just can't be tolerated. I've had men get hooked on prescription meds, about half will beat it after treatment.

Now one of the problems is the insurance Bond requires all employees to not be convicted felons. That is really getting tough to find in tradesmen!

I answered a help wanted add in the paper. When I called and talked to them, I said I wasn't what they were looking for. They insisted I was and were paying $8 an hour more than I paid myself, so I went to the interview. They had a woman in charge, not a problem for me, but she had to prove to everyone she was in charge. I had a trip downtown in rush hour, an expensive parking fee. There was A big pot of coffee and doughnuts in the interview room so I'll stay and see what's up. Nope, they really didn't want me, nope they don't validate parking, and nope, you certainly cannot have a cup of coffee for all your trouble! 3 months later I was hiring 15 new maintenance men for my new employer, I sent all the guys that failed drug tests (about 35!) to the But whole company, "Cause I heard they were hiring!"

Ivan

A friend of mine was a geologist for a gravel & concrete company. 15 applicants were told that they wouldn't be hired without passing a drug test, If you know you won't pass, just don't show up at the testing facility. All 15 showed up; all 15 failed. That was several hundred dollars wasted!

Ivan

These days people quit looking for work as soon as they get a job...
A friend runs a big company in town. I asked him "How many people work there?" He said "Probably about half of them!"

Gee, you mean all those years of busting my hump wasn't necessary?

Worked in coal mine company
Sent every one one the property
To be drug tested about 400 people 6
People tested positive they were all
Company bosses CEO said the
Union men drove his bosses to drugs

Company I used to work for was hiring for various positions. Drug test was mandatory. 50% of those who took the drug test failed. One of our mechanics accused me of being on drugs. Arrangements were made that afternoon for the both of us to get tested. He tested positive for marijuna and I tested for nothing. He got a three week suspension, 45 days in detox and witheld his quarterly merit raise.Case went to arbitration and the judge threw the case out and told him with all his years that he was lucky to have a job. Frank

You say "these days", but I think the first time I heard that gag was about 4 days into my first job in the late 70s. There have been slackers since the first mastodon hunting party.

__________________
Release the Kraken

Same here in Ocala-dope dope dope. Tree trimmer-landscape guys. A fried of a friend just closed his automotive machine shop, and is taking a job as the foreman in a shop in Colorado. He just could not get anyone dependable. They would show up and start to steal anything they could-parts off of the customers cars-you name it. Crank is the big offender. I had a guy show up to trim the suckers off my Oak trees, and finally started IN THE DARK!!! The saw ran wide open the entire time. I didn't want any dead bodies in my trees-good bye!

Drug tests were the biggest for non hires I had to deal with. The strange thing is when they were told they had to pass the test to get the job probably 80% of them went for the test and failed! I guess drugs really do fry the old gourd.

I have been in my own business my entire adult life and finding competent employees is a full time job! There were times it was harder and times (that because of the economy) a bit easier, but I found out for the most part , you get what you pay for.

I was known as a person that treated employees quite well and for the most part I "over paid" them. Not only was I able to lure them away from jobs that were unwilling to pay them more, but I tended to keep them for a long time the most part. I had many employees for 25+ years!

Yea, I made less of a profit in the short run because I had to take money out of my pocket to give to them, but in the long run I could count on the work being done properly, expediently and efficiently! Having 18 employees wasn't easy because every day you hear 18 different stories! I wanted the best caliber employees I could reasonably afford and it made my Company grow in leaps & bounds because employees became one less factor I had to deal with on a daily basis. Still, getting competent, loyal and reliable people took me years to master - but I wound up with a pretty darn good group and could then focus on growing he business rather than dealing with employee problems.

Many times small business owners don't "get that" and never get the opportunity to grow their business because they can't get enough competent staff to do what they need to be doing and they wind up dealing with minutia all week long. That in turn keeps them from focusing on building their business!

Now that the economy is improving, good employees are going to go where they can earn the most money - so they need to be "convinced" to stay which is challenging, but the smart business owners will figure that out while the not so smart ones will loose them to the competition.

An employer / employee relationship is a delicate balance! You need to pay them enough to be fairly happy and want to stay while they need to produce enough high quality and competent work not to get fired!

I am semi retired, still go out a supervise a couple jobs a year. Mostly in oil refineries. In order to work in a refinery you need to pass a drug test, most of them now use hair testing. Plus, most of them have a port and those require a TWIC card. which is a federal ID similar to a TSA ID. Plus, most require a background check in addition to that. As these things came into being it narrowed the work force up more and more.

Finding young people who want to work and are responsible is tough. Half of them believe that their phone is more important than the work you have assigned them too. Unreal. The responsibility part to me covers, getting to work on time, doing your work safely in a reasonable amount of time, and getting along with your co workers.Seems simple, but I guess it isn't.

The idiots who take and fail drug tests. There are a ton of products out there that claim to clean your urine, shampoos that claim to clean your hair. Some morons buy and try this stuff. Some MAY work on cheap home tests, I haven't heard of any that work on professional tests.

I personally could care less if some one smoked some pot on Fri or Sat night. No worse than sucking down some suds. But, on work days you best have a clear head. I am sick and tired of Joe six pack and his hang over, even a mild one. He is worse than the guy who smoked pot an Saturday. If your brain isn't in it 100% I don't want you working around me. The stuff I do can bite HARD.

The skilled trades work force is getting older and older. Every parent wants their kid to go to college and get a "good job". LOL. A liberal arts degree means you can be an assistant manager at McDs and make $15 per. Pipe welding certification means you get $40 per and up. You don't need a degree to do the math.

I hear you brother! If I was working now (retired steamfitter/welder) my pay would be $45 per hour, with a large benefit package worth about $30 a hour. Many jobs have a lot of OT with them and that will build up your pay check quite nicely.

At many of the jobs including a couple well known national corporations I worked at, drug tests were mandatory. That consisted of a test when you first came to work, one a year after that and one ANY TIME there was a injury to you or someone you were working with or company property was damaged or forced shutdown by something you did.

I had no problem with that, still do not! I rather prefer to know the people I'm working around are not drug heads!

__________________
14 S&W Revs none with locks!

This is the natural order of things. The economy is better so labor gets scarce. Successful companies will need to raise wages to attract employees. This is good, wages have been depressed for 15 years or more. Unsuccessful companies will whither and die. Also a good thing. Economics/Capitalism 101.

Sam Walton understood this.
While not know for offering a generous pay scale, he did inspire employee LOYALTY!

Bekeart

I work for a defense contractor and we have been reminded that even if we are in a state where marijuana is legal, we are still required to obey federal law. We are subject to random drug testing and any positive test will result in immediate termination.

Things kind of went to the dogs at Walmart after Sam Walton died.

I retired after working 25 years as a mechanic for the city I live in. During that time we occasionally had to hire new mechanics. Mostly due to retirement.
Being government, there are a lot of rules that have to be followed. The job listing, which includes the requirements and necessary skills, is posted for 30 days. During that time, anybody can apply. Drug tests and background checks are required. For our shop and many other departments, a minimum of a Class B CDL is also required. If you didn't have a CDL and got hired, you had one year to obtain one and we would train you for it.
Let me say that the pay wasn't that great, but if hired there was excellent job security and good benefits. I mean you had to mess up really bad to get fired around here.
Now bear in mind that our shop worked on anything and everything the city owned. Police cars to garbage trucks, fire engines and ambulances, weed eaters to earth movers. Even the occasional desk chair and special projects. You just can't find a mechanic with those kind of skills. What we looked for was a person with a good, solid mechanic background and over time we'd teach them about all the various stuff we worked on. Generally, it took two to three years to break in a new guy.
We would end up with anywhere from 60 to 100 applications. This is where the problems start. Generally you could throw out 60-70% of them right away because they had never turned a wrench in their lives. They were just applying because its a government job and thought it would be easy. Then eliminate about half of what's left due to lack of required skills.
In the end, we might have 10 or 12 applicants worth looking at.
Half of those couldn't pass the drug test or background check. Of those that actually got an interview, half of them would blow it by not being able to answer simple questions, having a bad attitude or showing up late and looking like poop.
We actually saw times we we had to repost the opening several times in order to get any suitable applicants. Filling an opening took 3 to 6 months. Sometimes longer.
So you finally end up hiring one person out of several hundred applicants. Not long after starting, they realize that they're actually expected to work for their pay or decide the pay is too low or maybe they just don't like it here. They might last anywhere from a couple of months to a year, maybe two. Then they quit.
And then the whole mess has to start over again.

Back when I was hired in 1989, counting the boss and secretary, there were seven of us who worked together for 15-25 years. We were a pretty tight knit bunch. Over the years one passed away and the rest of us slowly retired. We all worked hard and were dedicated to our jobs.
Currently, the boss has been there 15 years and one mechanic has been there for 12. All the rest change out every couple of years. Now days, even if you can find a qualified person, they just don't have the commitment to stay.
Once in a while I run across former co-workers as I go about town. Usually folks I knew in other departments. They all say the same thing. The city shop ain't half of what it used to be.
I tell ya, the work ethic in this country has gone straight down the toilet.

Chuck 24; are requirements different for you? I'm retiring very soon and per the info I recently received from SS " When you reach your full retirement age, you can work and earn as much as you want and still receive your full Social security benefit payment?


It appears that there are no longer limits on how much you can earn before it affects your S.S.

__________________
Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

There was a recent article that stated that wages are still flat due to the demands of shareholders for maximum profit in the short term. Trouble is that when a business with depressed wages eventually fails, the stock market moves on to another business to repeat the cycle. That's because the balance between long-term investment and short-term profit in the stockmarket has skewed too far towards the latter, IMHO.

__________________
Release the Kraken

I retired at 62 therefore the limit

Once you hit your full retirement age, you can earn as much as you want, even if you retired on disability.

__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

On my last job my workload was increasing and the firm worked very hard at trying to find an assistant for me. However, I had three assistants in sequence hired to help me who eventually ended up not showing up for work. The fourth assistant turned out to be great and really helped me deal with resolving a lot of the increased demands that I was facing. The first time I knew what was going on but the last two I had no reasonable explanation for their not showing up to the point of getting fired. I think the added stress from all that contributed to my decision to retire.

I started a 39 year corporatevin June 1973. I can assure you at that time there was a lot of people that were as much of a slacker as the younger generation today. And I’m referring to management and labor.
Today the issue is compounded by very low unemployment.
Glad I’m out of the rat race.

I work in the oil drilling industry and have worked in it both onshore and offshore since the mid 70's. The last 3 1/2-3 years I have been working out around in the Permian Basin fairly close to Midland, TX. In the drilling industry you also have to pass a drug screen to get hired on plus are subject to random drug and alcohol testing whenever the company decides to do so. I would like to know what percentage of potential new hires fail the drug screening; I bet it is at least a 50% fail rate. Of the young ones working on the rig out here, I bet 25% of them don't make 6 months before quitting or getting run off for slacking or safety issues. I'm just glad I no longer work offshore as I don't have to worry about TWIC cards or water survival schools or other bothersome and rather stupid bureaucratic paperwork. But the work ethic of some of the younger guys out here is just pitiful. They do have some that are good workers though, which is encouraging in that not all the millennials are worthless as ---- on a boar hog.

Management treats employees like ****.

Employees have working as about last on their agendas of doing dope and collecting a paycheck.

There were some rules of mutual courtesy when terminating an employment. Both companies and employees have thrown all that out the window. No one expects to respect the other or get any in return. I'm old fashioned and I don't like that, but I guess that's partially why I haven't worked in a long time.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I will agree that in some ways more than a few companies have made their own bed. There was a time when the CEO didn't make 1000 times what the workers made, when companies looked out for their employees and didn't pay them the bottom line. When you work for a company that looks after you and doesn't chisel you for a nickle your way more apt to stick around.


The refinery I spend a good portion of my working career at paid top dollar when I was there. I worked overtime they brought tin a meal I ordered off an over time meal menu. I got paid a 1/2 to eat the meal. We were the envy of guys from other refineries. If you were a top hand you didn't have to worry about a lay off. When my wife got sick the regional manager said to take as much time as I wanted, just come in a couple times a month so he could cover me on the insurance.

My crew had an average age of 54. I could sent any 2 of them out to do a job and not worry about it. I could walk up to a big job and tell one guy to get the rigging, another guy to get the tools staged and another to get the blinds and gaskets. It happened like clock work. Every one knew just what to do, what to have where and when. I just took care of the details, went around and did little jobs to keep them off my crews back. After I left the contract went to a new company for less money. They chopped wages and benefits. Most of my guys left to become foremen somewhere else. Now they got 50% more people and more problems. Being cheap on labor doesn't save money it cost money.

I sniped most of steelslaver's post.

If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Bekeart

Read the post by KIWICOP about problems with new police hires fits right in with this post.

__________________
SWCA 1932 SWHF 135

Horrible companies drove me to self employment.

I am highly motivated and goal oriented and I don't suffer fools well.

Recruiting promises consistently undelivered, moving goal posts, low pay, inept management and personalities clouding the issues.

In 1989 I started my first service business in the printing industry as a pre press field tech. Went from $23,500 pre tax to $95,000 post tax first year. Took their customer base with me as well and worked fewer hours.

Printing died (thanks Apple) and I went to work for a major autoclave company. Dead wood, mismanagement, 100 hour work weeks with a never ending wave of work that could not be completed with the motivation of a firing if not completed, not to mention a pay cut by more than half, I quit as soon as my training contract expired.

Started an appliance repair company, doing quite well now.

So, on the one hand, you have a miserable pool of no talent malcontent millennials and naer-do-wells and on the other hand you have companies that have no concept of how to manage humans that promote middle management by Peter Principle.

This is as old as the human condition and will not be solved any time soon IMO.

Pay people what they are worth, be that high or low and recognize self starters and give them goals / rewards and whatever you do, no micro management, especially if you don't know the function the employee is performing. As an example, a secretary that doesn't know what end of the screwdriver to hold scheduling a serviceman's day.

Places we've worked for try to get rid of the over 40 people and hire youngsters.
Then they complain when the new hires don't do their jobs.
It's been my experience that the most efficient and productive assembly line and warehouse workers are the middle aged women. They just settle in, chatter and do their jobs. No drama, no bull poop. Hour after hour, day after day.
So of course, management replaces them with 20 somethings then complains when production drops.
There are lotsa people in their 40's and 50's that'd love to get a paying job. Problem is that nobody'll hire them. Instead they hire youngsters and complain that good help is hard to find.
Years ago, my wife and I applied to work at the Kohls Warehouse. We had been working there as temps and became known as their "Dream Team." Whenever a lot of work needed to be done in a timely efficient manner, they'd put us on it.
Part of the hiring process was a physical abilities test. Lifting different weights, and stepping up and down on a short box while wearing a heart rate monitor. We both did really well and the person testing us was thrilled.
Then the human resource manager found out that we were over 40 and all of a sudden, they didn't need any new hires anymore.
Same thing at American Woodmark. We tested at the top of the class but we're both over 40.....

__________________
Keep on Chooglin'

I never ran out of folks that wanted to work for me. Sadly many thought that sitting around all day playing an instrument would be the siren's call that would cause unsuspecting passersby to wash up on the cash register.

Hiring teachers was easy. I would call the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and ask if any advanced students wanted to make $20 per half hour. I never lacked for good teachers.

BTW, my kids and all their cousins are millennials and they are doing just fine.

__________________
Music/Sports/Beer fan

Happily at my last job they learned their lesson. I was laid off my job in 2009 and was out of work for 7 months. Then I got a temporary job that got me through the next 6 months. I found out that during that time my last employer had been hiring inexperienced people who just weren't doing the job. A lady who got laid off from my prior employer the week after I did told the boss that I was still looking for work and he called me. I sent in my resume and I got hired. The boss laid it out to me that he was tired of hiring people who didn't know what to do and was glad to get somebody who was experienced.

Now for the ironic part of the story. I figured that the firm would want me to report for work on Monday of the following week. The boss asked me to come in on the upcoming Friday of that week. That just happened to be my birthday. What a wonderful birthday present!

I am GM of a fabricating company. We start welders at $18 per hour and give them the opportunity to increase their pay as quickly as they can pass the tests for the next level. Our guys gey 15 days paid time off the first year in addition to 11 paid holidays. Top guys are making upwards of $85k per year with OT. I would hire a dozen more tomorrow if they could pass a weld test and drug test.

Lots of hard working young folks in our company, but finding new ones is hardrr and harder.

Robert

__________________
Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

The company I work for is in a smallish Ohio town doing primary heavy welding. We will train you to weld and start you out at $18.30 +=/- an hour. Requirements to be hired are: Have a drivers license, pass a drug test and no felony convictions in the past 7 years. And HR can waive the felony part. We cannot keep people due to attendance issues. They will not show up when scheduled and will not show up on time.

Look up the quote from Socrates relating to the youth of his day.

In my previous job, we had several old hands reviewing the work and running the show with a dozen millenials reporting to us, we old guys took it upon ourselves to work overtime in the busy season to keep things organized and the clients happy. regional management decided that that us old guys were no longer needed, they laid us off and announced the new responsibilities to our staff. They all quit, and my former employee remains unable to replace us or them despite large salaries and benefits. Looks like a lot of business will be surrendered to my former employer's competitors. Not my problem.

Loyalty is a 2-way street. I believe I always gave my employers more than a full day's work and worked to the best of my ability. I'll stand by my attendance record. I stayed on one of my jobs for over 17 years. I guess that comes from having parents who grew up during the Great Depression and saw first hand people without jobs.

However, on two jobs, when new hires were given higher compensation than I was after I had been working at a job for a long period of time, I realized that my loyalty was not being reciprocated and I found other employment. On the second job I voluntarily left, I have to give credit to one of the principals who went to bat for me and tried to tell management to treat me better before I up and left. But I think somebody made a political decision that I was not going to get anywhere in the firm. I really hated to leave, because I liked my job and had no commute, but the handwriting was on the wall.

Now things have come full circle. Last January, the fellow who assumed most of my duties at that prior job suddenly died. I got a phone call from the same principal (after 15+ years) asking if I would consider coming back to work for that firm. I declined, saying that one of the reasons I retired was to take better care of myself. I didn't forget.

I would HATE to have to hire people today, with the way the kids are brought up
and the way they shove them through school pass or not......

Lazy, no respect, and think you owe them before they even step inside the door.

I can't get over how many have to do drugs, even at 12 years old or less !!
It is a sorry thing, indeed.

Age 16 and can't pass a drug test before they even get a drivers license. Then they get on the road with a car!!
Great !!

I would say, hire a Vet............... but
hay, most of us need pills just to get by in our daily thing and
we might set off bells, also ? !