Foreman do the hiring?

[Toddppm]

Any of you owners ever left the hiring of crewmembers up to your foreman or any of you foreman been asked to do this?

I need a couple guys and was thinking about letting my guy sort of interview and discuss the job with the applicants since he knows what we do and hewould have to work with them? Bad idea?

 

[oldirty]

if you are not on everyjob everyday then yes i think having your go to guy observe who is going to be coming in would be a real good idea.

 

[ASD]

I (the owner) interview all applicants first as their is more to hiring someone then just "can they do the job" like what is their driving record like and so on
but when the person passes that sort of stuff with me then my right and left hand guys put them through the ringer and then we talk it over and will hire them or out the door they go

 

[Wortown Mick]

Yep, id let your crew have some input on hiring and alot of input on firing.

 

[JeffL]

I wish we'd have more input at work on the hiring, seeing as some of the guys we've brought in (and either "released", or they leave on their own accord, or just plain stop showing up) are just not worth the time of day, and how they even managed to start here, I have no idea.

 

[Wortown Mick]

I wish we'd have more input at work on the hiring, seeing as some of the guys we've brought in (and either "released", or they leave on their own accord, or just plain stop showing up) are just not worth the time of day, and how they even managed to start here, I have no idea.

Being out in the western part of the state id have figured youd woul have a surplus of hardworkin outdoorsy types used to tree work .

Certainly a better pool of prospective employees than the burbs & cities.

 

[JeffL]

Being out in the western part of the state id have figured youd woul have a surplus of hardworkin outdoorsy types used to tree work .

Certainly a better pool of prospective employees than the burbs & cities.

You'd be surprised........right in the neighborhood of Umass Amherst/Stockbridge, so over the summer we usually end up with a few guys we pick up from there. Sometimes they work, sometimes.......they dont.

 

[Wortown Mick]

You'd be surprised........right in the neighborhood of Umass Amherst/Stockbridge, so over the summer we usually end up with a few guys we pick up from there. Sometimes they work, sometimes.......they dont.

Yea but those are the fiddle faddle arborist types. People in college dont want to do hard work. Nuff said on that.

Amherst is a party school, I wouldnt look for good help there myself. I know they teach arboriculture in stockbridge, but, as I had said earlier theres alot of arborists who would rather their feet not leave the ground.

Well, best of luck man I hope you find some quality help.

 

[cjnspecial]

If you have a foreman you trust with your business and reputation...sure. I've met with thousands of business owners and heard more stories about partners, foremen and bookkeepers scamming them that if it were me, I would at least be in on the interview and do the paperwork.
Real Example: The foreman has a friend that has been out of work a while and hurt his back pretty good working on a car. The friend does not have insurance and can't pay for the surgery out of pocket. The foreman "hires" the friend and on the first day the friend shows up for a few hours and "get's hurt." The business owner's insurance foots the bill and jacks up business owner's rates because they have to pay out a couple hundred grand for back surgeries/rehab/meds AND they don't like the idea that the business will hire any jack leg. More jacklegs= more claims over time= more money paid out.....you see where this is going.

 

[Groundman One]

Morning, I'm brand new at this site, so good day to all.

Napolean said the surest path to victory is through the proper delegation of authority. If you trust the guy you ask to hire someone, then you trust him, if you don't, you don't. It really comes down to that.

I've ran the ground crews for our small tree company for ten-years. I can hire people at my discretion and fire them as well. But only because I've achieved a high degree of trust between the boss and myself. Also, because if something mucks up, I understand very well that the boss will skin me. There is no buck passing in our company. It helps as well that we know most of the people we hire. Being in Canada, we have no medical insurance hassles, either. That's a big weight off our shoulders.

For the most part, Darwin rules; one day of hard work weeds out the weaklings and the bums.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I need a couple guys and was thinking about letting my guy sort of interview and discuss the job with the applicants since he knows what we do and he would have to work with them?

I'm with the you first crowd. Get to a pool of likely candidates then let him choose the ones he wants on his crew.

As said above, so many new hires do not make it, I'm an advocate of "winnowing the chaff". Hire more then you need so that when one quits it does not seriously harm operations. Have more in the pipeline till you have ones on the crew that work together. Make sure that everyone knows that they are on probation and can and will be let go if they do not work out.

 

[Billy_Bob]

At first sit in and let the foreman do the talking. Then maybe give him a few pointers afterwards or jump in to ask a question or two if necessary during the interviews.

Then if it looks like he will be good at this, let him do the interviewing from then on. He will love it (at first) and you will have more free time.

 

[Cbrexdogg]

Yea but those are the fiddle faddle arborist types. People in college dont want to do hard work. Nuff said on that.

That is the stupidest thing I've heard all week. I believe work ethic comes from how you were raised and not by your education level. We are based in a town with a large university and draw most of our work force from the student body. (We do lawn maintenance and landscaping, besides tree care). I have to say the college kids tend to be more reliable than the non college guys, but overall the work ethic is hit or miss with both. I have found that kids raised with an ag background (farming) tend to be the hardest workers, but this too is not always true. Our hardest workers have college degrees. So unless it is completely different on the east coast, your statement is absurd.

 

[JeffL]

Nah, I havent seen much difference. College edjumikation or not, most of them have been pretty lazy.

Mostly the younger guys though, under 21-22. Some have been ok, but most, not.

Not like I can talk from too high a pedestal, being a ripe old 26 here in a few weeks, but regardless, I still know what work looks like, been doing landscape/lawncare/treecare/golf course maintenance since I was 15. :greenchainsaw:

 

[Nailsbeats]

I am a foreman at our fab shop and I do the hiring. It works out well because I work on the floor with the guys all day. The owner weeds through the applications and then sends them to me. I usually try them for a few days (if possible), cash, then decide. This of course is after a visual check, application check, backround check, verbal interview, welding test, and of course a good old fashioned wrestling match, if they put up a good fight I usually keep em'.

My advice for the original poster is if you are tight with your foreman and know for a fact that he is a company man with the company's best interest in mind, then let him hire after you weed through them. I do it and we have a kick @ss crew.

 

[Billy_Bob]

...and of course a good old fashioned wrestling match, if they put up a good fight I usually keep em'...

I don't recall seeing THAT ONE ever mentioned above the usual "EEO employer" and "advancement opportunities" blurbs. Interesting!

 

[Toddppm]

Good thoughts. I wasn't going to give him carte blanche in making a decision, more like a couple here suggested where I take the calls/check paperwork etc. first. Don't trust him enogh to do it all but maybe he would get a different read from the applicants than I would.

I wish I could hire a few and keep the best but that aint happening with the low workload we have right now!

 

[jefflovstrom]

I (the owner) interview all applicants first as their is more to hiring someone then just "can they do the job" like what is their driving record like and so on
but when the person passes that sort of stuff with me then my right and left hand guys put them through the ringer and then we talk it over and will hire them or out the door they go

So the foreman cannot check a driving record or you think you know better than your foreman who works all day with the guy?
Jeff

 

[jefflovstrom]

I hire and fire , but I also rely ao a foreman to get things done and if he says a guy is good or not, I will trust him as long as production is good. Seems like all the slow stuff is back east.
Jeff

 

[rbor1974]

rec. to graduate

Yea but those are the fiddle faddle arborist types. People in college dont want to do hard work. Nuff said on that.

Amherst is a party school, I wouldnt look for good help there myself. I know they teach arboriculture in stockbridge, but, as I had said earlier theres alot of arborists who would rather their feet not leave the ground.

Well, best of luck man I hope you find some quality help.

they teach you both hands on and off in the green industry. when i was enrolled my partime job was working for the town of shutesbury on the tree crew climbing everyday. my classmates did plenty of sidejobs to make ends meet. education and climbing everyday