Finding Good People: The Technician Edition
In the contracting industry you often hear “I can’t find good people!”
It’s time to change the narrative.
With a projected 21% increase in technician demand this year alone, now is the perfect time to arm yourself with effective recruiting strategies to prepare for busy season.
On this episode, Drew Cameron gives you the tools to build a consistent recruitment process, identify candidates who are eager and can be trained, and create a culture of excellence.
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00:00:00:00 – 00:00:12:07
I can’t find good people. I’m sure you’ve never said that, right? Well, today’s your lucky day as we will finally solve this problem once and for all.
00:00:12:09 – 00:00:30:17
Today we have Mr. Drew Cameron in the studio to teach us about recruiting the top talent for your company. In this segment, drew will talk about having a process to execute consistently, how to get good people that can be trained rather than experienced. People with bad attitude. Right? Why you shouldn’t wait until you desperately need people to hire them and how to keep them once you get them.
00:00:30:19 – 00:00:50:14
Take it away, Mr. Cameron. Today we are going to talk about recruiting for results and specifically the what I call the technician edition. And when we talk about recruiting for results, what we’re talking about is how do you how do you garner enough people coming into the funnel? Where do you find these people, these prospects, these candidates that we’re looking for?
00:00:50:14 – 00:01:14:13
Every tells me they can’t find good people. And I say, really? Because you’re not trying hard enough, because everybody that I work with has no problem finding people for any position. But I understand the technician, the skilled trade position is a little tougher to get. Today more than ever. And so we’re going to talk about where do we find the people that we need for the field, whether this be a maintenance technician, a demand repair service technician.
00:01:14:15 – 00:01:41:07
You could do this for plumbers, electricians as well as installers, to, some of the resources you’ll also be able to apply to other positions that you have. But this is going to be geared very specifically towards technicians because we only got 60 minutes together. And we’re going to move fast and furious through this content. And like David said, you know, we hope you’ll stay to the end so that you can get access to this content along with a whole bunch of other resources, through a very unique and special offer that he’s going to make to you.
00:01:41:10 – 00:02:01:10
Make for you at the end, and I’ll hang around and maybe answer a few questions as well. So let’s go ahead and get started. What we’re talking about, like I said, is recruiting for results. And basically what we’re looking at is recruiting the next generation of people that we want to bring into the trades. Specifically, let’s let’s focus on Hvac, because that’s what the majority of the people are on the call today.
00:02:01:13 – 00:02:23:24
And we’re looking to bring in that next generation, because if you’re just going to try to go after the current generation, odds are a lot of times you’re just stealing somebody else’s headache and heartache. If you’re trying to poach somebody else’s, you know, top people. But what are your true feelings about recruiting? And the reason I asked this question is when I travel around the United States and Canada and also do a lot of remote, coaching and consulting with people.
00:02:23:27 – 00:02:39:29
You know, what I come to find out is the reason that people don’t find the people that they’re looking for is they’re not very good at, recruiting. And it’s just a skill that they haven’t mastered yet. And the reason that they haven’t mastered yet is maybe because they struggle to find good people. Okay. They’re not great at recruiting.
00:02:39:29 – 00:03:04:20
Okay? They don’t love the whole process. It’s kind of a necessary evil. They really hate doing it. They do it and tend to do it in a very haphazard way. They want a contractors feel this way. Okay. And the reason is, is because you don’t have a an effective, efficient, consistent process or a process that you can execute consistently where you maintain control of the process and you do it in a very regimented fashion.
00:03:04:23 – 00:03:21:28
And so, I’m going to share with you some resources that you can, get access to that will hopefully make your life a little bit easier. Let’s but let’s understand the, the width and depth and breadth of this problem here. The demand for technicians is going to grow by 21, 21% this year alone. All right.
00:03:22:00 – 00:03:41:23
Next seven years when one new tech for every five. They’re working now. And obviously it’s been a very hard position for us to fill for the last seven, eight years or so. And it’s only going to get a little bit tougher. I mean, we’re going to you’re to understand what we’re gonna have to do to alleviate that. That stick, that’s getting in the way of what it is we’re trying to do.
00:03:41:25 – 00:04:01:06
And this is double the growth rate for all other jobs in the United States. There is more of a need for skilled trades than there is in any other, industry across the United States. And am I my mind? I don’t think sometimes we have a technician shortage. I think sometimes we have an overage of poor performing contractors, bad owners, poorly run companies.
00:04:01:08 – 00:04:19:17
These are where we we talk about at MGA acquisition opportunities. Now, if somebody’s going to sell you their business right now when they’re getting into their busy season, probably not. But again, when things get lean and mean and tough in the fall or, you know, over the winter, yeah, that’s a great time to start looking at acquisition candidates.
00:04:19:19 – 00:04:38:05
You know, that you can tuck in and roll in. You don’t need their building. You maybe don’t even need some of their office personnel. And a lot of their other assets. But you can get their people and get their customer base, get their phone number, get their URL, and be back in business and taking better care of your customers as well as a whole new chunk of customers that you gain through acquisition.
00:04:38:07 – 00:04:55:10
As you well know, there’s a lot of private equity out there buying up companies. Why not you? These small tuck ins and you buying over time over a 2 to 3 year time period, with an Earnout, very doable. It’s an acquisition strategy, but it’s also a recruiting strategy. Okay. And texture retiring fast are the new ones are coming into the industry.
00:04:55:13 – 00:05:15:28
We’re doing a better job of making the trades a little bit more appealing, but we haven’t done a great job here. The average plumbers about 56 years old okay. And some of them are retiring early due to obviously the damage to their bodies and just wanting to enjoy their life. And by 2026, 138,000 plumbers will have retired and 75,000 more will be needed.
00:05:16:00 – 00:05:38:23
And those numbers are very similar to the Hvac arena as well. And again, if they’re retiring, we’re losing that knowledge base. And that’s where you want to work with your existing technicians and think about could they be traders, could they be departmental managers? Could they be branch managers within your organization? In addition to that, our industry is horrible at marketing great opportunities.
00:05:38:23 – 00:06:00:14
We’re just horrible marketers right, for our products and services, let alone trying to get people to come into the trades. And we need to get better at our marketing there. Okay. And we have less than 22.5% of the women that are out there and available to join the the workforce in all skilled trades. That includes plumbing, electrical, welders, and so forth.
00:06:00:17 – 00:06:18:27
Carpentry, 60% of small businesses are hiring. Actually, I think that number has ticked up over here over the last couple of months, based on what I’ve heard, and 90% of the people out there in all sectors report a lack of talent. And so we’re building on this concept. There’s a lack of talent out there, and we’re gonna have to find a way to overcome that lack of talent.
00:06:18:29 – 00:06:35:03
And whatever you think the unemployment rate is in your area, there is an unemployment rate. But I also think there’s an unemployable rate. And so there are some people that just aren’t employable or aren’t right for you and your company. And so I wouldn’t worry about when the unemployment rate gets so tight. Low. It is what it is.
00:06:35:03 – 00:06:53:01
I mean, there’s nothing that we can do about that. We have to basically look at how are we going to pull people from other trades, other sectors of the industry, of the of the industries that are out there into our trades. And the harsh reality is, is if you’re struggling to find and get people to join you, it’s because your company is unremarkable.
00:06:53:03 – 00:07:12:23
And I’m sorry, that’s just reality. The best companies out there get the people that they need. They have people knocking at their doors because they are remarkable. You may think that you’re remarkable. Maybe you’re not. Maybe. Or maybe you are in a bad way, but you’ve got to become more remarkable than anybody else in your marketplace. And I’m not just talking about other contractors.
00:07:12:23 – 00:07:37:20
I’m talking about other employers in town. And so where it counts in their heads, hearts and minds and souls of the people that we’re targeting, not not just yours and your people that are on your team, certainly we want to win their heads, hearts and souls and minds of the people that are on our team. But we’ve got to win it out there in the public, in the community, so that everybody else out there thinks very highly of us and will promote people towards us.
00:07:37:20 – 00:07:54:07
It can’t just be us going after people. We’ve got to find people who become our ambassadors and say, hey, listen, I’ve heard this is a great place to work over here. And so you’ve got to become remarkable. Our core mission for long term sustainability. And Simon Sinek, I’m a huge fan of him, and I think he’s one of the thought leaders of our time.
00:07:54:07 – 00:08:15:09
Nowadays, you don’t hire for skills, you hire for attitude. You can always teach the skills, and that holds true in the Hvac arena. If you’re trying to poach somebody who’s got the talent that you need, odds are, like I said earlier on, it’s just somebody else’s headache and heartache, you know? So stop fishing and start hunting for the attitudes that you want on your team and the potential performance.
00:08:15:11 – 00:08:32:16
And then we can teach the skills. We can give them the knowledge, grow those skills, and develop the people into what it is that we need to be. You have to realize that recruiting is a full time job. This is not just something that you do when you need someone badly, okay? If you wait till you have to recruit, when you need someone badly, you’ll recruit badly.
00:08:32:19 – 00:08:50:25
So recruiting is a full time job. You may think about having a dedicated person on your team or even a dedicated department. We’re working with somebody where you can outsource this and that. You’re constantly finding new people and you’re kind of creating this, this contact database, if you will, of people that you can reach out to if and when you have a need.
00:08:50:28 – 00:09:08:23
I get it, you know, as long as you’re making, you know, the contacts, you may not always have the need. That’s okay. But if you never make the contact, you never have the contact. You know, for that future follow up phone call. Again, I can’t promise them anything. If, you know, if I don’t have an opportunity and they certainly can’t promise me anything for the future.
00:09:08:25 – 00:09:26:29
But what we can agree to is, would you be open to having a conversation at some point? If we happen to have an opportunity, I think most people would say yes. It’s no different than free agency in sports, right? They all want to test the waters. They want to test, you know, check their value and they want to see what else is out there.
00:09:27:01 – 00:09:43:27
And now more than ever, the this newer generation of millennials and then Gen Z, you know, they want to test their value. Right. Work is a concept. It’s not necessarily place anymore. It’s something that I do when I do it, not necessarily where I do it and who I do it for. And I could be anywhere in the United States.
00:09:43:27 – 00:10:04:25
People are more than ever more now, more than ever are open and willing to relocate for the right company, the right opportunity where they can take care better care of themselves, their family, and have a, you know, have the life that they desire. And make this a planned, proactive approach. Okay. Yes. In some cases you might need a short term, execution.
00:10:04:27 – 00:10:26:03
But what I really want to invite you to consider is have a planned approach. It’s no different than marketing. You need to be, you know, planning things 90 days out and it. Yeah, we really actually want to work with you planning six months to a year out when we do budgeting and we do our budgeting class at the end of the year with Gary, Alex and we do a three day bootcamp on how to budget your financials.
00:10:26:05 – 00:10:41:18
We can tell you what your manpower needs are going to be, and now you can project them into the following year and say, okay, if I need these people come May, June and July, when should I start the recruiting process? You don’t wait till the year right before the season. You better start that probably 3 or 4 months before.
00:10:41:21 – 00:10:54:20
Maybe it’s not six months before so you can get them up to speed, get the people on your team and up to speed. Number one, take a leadership position on this. It requires you to step up and be a leader. That’s not meaning you’re a boss or you’re the owner of the company that you’re in charge. You have the title of manager.
00:10:54:27 – 00:11:09:26
No leader is a position that you take on. It’s a it’s the helm. You decide to say, I’m going to be the leader of this, I’m going to be the champion of this, and I’m going to make sure that we have what it is that we need. And so what do I mean by that? You shift from business operator to business owner, right?
00:11:10:02 – 00:11:25:05
A business operator, you’re in the business doing the things. It’s that e-myth right. You’re too busy working in the business, then working on the business. You need to basically pull yourself out of that and say, okay, what is it that we need? Where do I need to deploy these assets within my organization, and when do I need to deploy these assets?
00:11:25:07 – 00:11:44:13
You need a while from basically being a contractor into the business of contracting. I don’t want you to be a contractor in business. I want you to be a business person in contracting. All right? Business people have planned approaches to things. They don’t wing things. They have processes and procedures. You have to realize this is your most important function.
00:11:44:15 – 00:12:02:05
Great companies come from being having great people on their team and you develop great people. But the only way you can develop great people is to have them on your team. And so as you can see, this is 33% of your job okay. All management’s job, all leaders, all managers within the company. It’s 33% of their job to always be recruiting.
00:12:02:05 – 00:12:25:03
You’re always recruiting out there. But you’re also always re recruiting your own people, making sure that they’re happy that they’re in a good place. So recruiting people, recruiting people, and building the business provides a service that you, you know, need management becomes ineffective. Okay. It gets laborious and time consuming and, and really starts wasting a lot of time because you have poor people that you’re, you’re spending so much time with.
00:12:25:06 – 00:12:48:10
When you have good people, the company grows and flourishes and you can go ahead and and dedicate time towards, you know, building and new tools and new resources, new processes, new procedures, and, yes, recruiting the next, you know, generation of people to your team. Right. And you’re relentlessly doing this ongoing. Like I said, you may not always have an opportunity, but you’re always putting the feelers out there, always put in the contacts out there.
00:12:48:12 – 00:13:08:05
And when someone comes in and ask you if you have a job, you may not have one at the time, okay. But I’ll tell you what. If if a superstar star came knocking at my door, I’d find a way to make that opportunity work. You know, when I had salespeople that I was recruiting at my my, my company years ago, even when I wasn’t recruiting, I was always recruiting me.
00:13:08:05 – 00:13:24:06
And if I didn’t have an opportunity, I didn’t have a need. I was always looking for that next person, putting the feelers out there. And if I came across somebody that was just too good to just let sit on the sidelines or, you know, you know, maybe possibly continue to wane at where, at where they were located, not necessarily another Hvac contract.
00:13:24:06 – 00:13:39:24
Maybe they’re selling cars or, you know, boats or houses or something like that. But I thought they were so good I’d bring them on to my team, even if I didn’t have enough leads to feed them, and I’d make everybody else a little bit more hungry and a little bit more lean. And we start talking about referrals and self-generated leads.
00:13:39:27 – 00:14:03:14
Right. Because necessity is the mother of invention and innovation. And so when I have the feed somebody, I will feed somebody. If I wait till, you know, the planets align and I have enough leads or enough service calls or enough installs to feed another crew or another technician or another salesperson, okay, that time never comes. Okay, break the machine, force feed the machine, make yourself your step up and find ways.
00:14:03:19 – 00:14:20:03
Because I can create leads. That’s easy. It’s a lot easier to create leads than it is to go ahead and find a superstar to add to your team, so enlisted everyone in their network on your team. This is not just about you. As the owner of this company. To do this, you got to work your network, right? You have a significant other, right?
00:14:20:08 – 00:14:39:17
Your employees probably have some significant others. And again, you just doubled your recruiting force. You can also access your customer base. But we all have networks that we can work. We all know people and your technicians know people. They run into them probably at places where they eat, get coffee or even the supply house is there and talk to, you know, everybody.
00:14:39:17 – 00:15:08:23
Let everybody know that you’re always looking for the best in class people. And I’m going to give you a challenge today. And so within one year of today, I want you to have a goal that you’ll be happy with everybody on your team and realize that if you’re not happy with everybody on your team and you feel good and proud of everybody on your team and the work that they do, and in interacting with them, so much so that you’d feel comfortable obviously taking your significant other and your kids, you know, around these people, and that you’d be proud to promote any single one of them, you know, to, you know, on your
00:15:08:23 – 00:15:24:17
team, make that a goal within one year. And if you’re not happy within one year, you got no further look in the mirror. Now, that’s a sobering thought for many of you. Okay, how many people yet how many of you have people on your team today that you know are holding you down? They’re dead wood, okay. They’re negative.
00:15:24:17 – 00:15:51:20
They’re curmudgeons. They’ve got a crotchety attitude and they’re just they’re miserable. Maybe they can fix anything, but they get bad reviews. They irritate people on your team and they’re just a headache and a heartache. Right? And you keep telling yourself a story that you can’t do without these people. Well, sometimes part of recruiting is sometimes cutting down the tree, the tall trees in the forest, so that the smaller trees and shrubs and the grass and the flowers underneath on the forest floor can grow and flourish.
00:15:51:22 – 00:16:07:00
Some of the people on your team won’t grow and flourish. Some of them will leave because of some of these tall trees that you may have on your team. So sometimes you got to call the herd. And many of you may have read the book called Good to Great by Jim Collins and Jim Collins talks about several principles in their book.
00:16:07:00 – 00:16:25:05
One of them is the Bus Principle. You need to get the right people on the bus, sitting in the right seats, doing the right things the right way at the right time, and the wrong people off the bus. Some people might be on the bus and might be very, and it might need to be reallocated or retest on that bus and understand that that’s okay.
00:16:25:09 – 00:16:51:16
So find out who’s on your bus now. Are they properly allocated, properly tasked. We have all kinds of, training and tools and resources on the edge site that will help you understand what it is that you need to do to to get your people, allocated with an organizational structure as well as role descriptions. But that’s a tough question for a lot of people to look, look at, because most companies that I talked to, they don’t have organizational charts, by position.
00:16:51:16 – 00:17:07:13
They have them by job or by name. And position is really what we want by role, not by name. Okay. So you’ve got to get the right people on the bus, sit in the right seats doing the right thing. Sometimes you got to change people and sometimes you got to change people. So sometimes some of those people have to get off the bus.
00:17:07:15 – 00:17:26:09
All right. So action item number two, you want to become the most sought after place of employment in town, not just the best contractor in town. That’s easy quite frankly. Right. I mean, there’s a lot of, you know, underperforming contractors probably in your marketplace. And I see it all over the United States and Canada everywhere I go, we’ve got underperforming contractors, right.
00:17:26:09 – 00:17:45:28
So it’s easy to be the best in class in town, in my opinion. Right. Because most contractors are lazy. Right. And so just work a little bit harder than they do. But I want you to be the best employer in town, right? 76% of Hvac applicants believe that culture is a high priority. And here’s what I can tell you about culture.
00:17:46:00 – 00:18:09:10
Culture beats talent and scheme. Every day of the week. Okay, it’s why sports franchises are dominant, like Alabama football or, you know, used to be the Patriots football. You know, or Tom Brady football, if you will. Right. I mean, he’s a he has his own culture of excellence and success. Kansas, who won the national championship last night after being down you know 15 points.
00:18:09:10 – 00:18:30:07
You know came back and stormed back. That’s a, you know, the most winningest program in college basketball history. And so again culture is what’s driving success and culture. Yes, in college sports it’s interesting. Right? They can get the best players coming to them. It’s an unfair advantage unlike professional sports where you have to balance it with a salary cap.
00:18:30:14 – 00:18:50:11
Right. But why does Alabama get the best football players? What? Why does Kansas get the best of best, best basketball players? So forth and so on, right. It’s because they’ve got a culture of excellence and people are magnetically attracted to that. That’s what I want you to be magnet attracted to the people that are looking for jobs. You know, not necessarily just contracting jobs are just looking for jobs.
00:18:50:13 – 00:19:13:22
And culture beats everything. But what you have to realize is that culture is determined by you and your team, your leadership, your organizational structure. Right. And so I always ask the question, you know, if you can’t find and retain good people, are the people on your team a bunch of jerks? Okay. People quit people. They don’t quit companies, and they’re not quitting you for $0.50 a, an hour raise.
00:19:13:22 – 00:19:39:07
That might be what they tell you. Okay, but if your place was so compelling and the culture so compelling, it appealing and leadership’s so compelling, an appealing and benefits and, yes, compensation so compelling, nobody would ever leave you. But they’ll quit you for $0.50 an hour if all that other stuff is lacking in your organization. Awesome content right there from you, as always.
00:19:39:07 – 00:20:24:05
Now, if you like this episode, go ahead and share it on your Facebook. If you want to unlock more premium training content to take your company, the next level, click the link in the Facebook post for a free 30 day trial. That’s it for now, folks. We’ll see you next week here on Cracking the Code. And till then, bye bye for now.
