In an industry filled with varying age groups and skill sets, recruiting the right talent for your HVAC or plumbing business is a key contributor to long-term success. Unfortunately, finding reliable and capable technicians isn't always as simple as posting a "Help Wanted" ad on an online job board. To find premier technicians, you'll need to put in the work to establish you're the right fit for a job seeker as well.
Here are the five best practices for beating out your competition and recruiting top talent in the plumbing and HVAC space.
Potential talent will also review your company's website and social media to better understand the strength of your business. A website that shows a distinct focus on your company's mission, values, and roles within the community can give talent a good understanding of your business and how well you take care of your employees. Maintaining social media is an additional way of connecting with fresh, younger talent, helping to drive potential long-term employees to your team.
Introduce yourself as a company and provide a basic impression of your company's values. Stay brief and to the point, as long and overly-wordy advertisements can easily lose a job seeker's attention. Present only crucial points when listing requirements for the position and get rid of the small details—all technicians can be trained, so it's better not to limit those with expertise in alternate subject areas. Finish off your job posting with a brief introduction to employee benefits, as this can entice talent to apply.
When considering where to post your job listing, bear in mind that big search hubs like Indeed or Monster Jobs may not be the best option for smaller businesses. Instead, incorporating social media resources like Facebook Jobs is an easy way to find top local talent while limiting the number of under-qualified applicants.
Keep it simple and offer both in-person applications and online options such as JazzHR and Google Forms to collect information. Be sure to request only key details such as job history and required qualifications. Asking for too much information upfront, such as inputting a social security number or reference list, can easily deter a job seeker and cause you to lose potentially perfect talent.
Don't just listen during an interview but practice active listening. This approach means you use eye contact and body language while speaking, as well as rephrasing what the interviewee has said to establish trust and understanding.
In 2020, thanks to the coronavirus, you may be conducting your interviews via video using Skype or Zoom. Active listening gets a little trickier when you aren’t face-to-face “in real life,” but you can replicate active listening during remote interviews by looking into the camera, using facial expressions, and ensuring any gesturing with your arms and hands gets captured in the webcam shot.
Whether your interviews are online, on the phone, or face-to-face, you should have a handful of questions and scenarios ready before the interviewee arrives to establish a strong sense of what your company is looking for.
Questions to consider include:
Bear in mind, offering a potential salary upfront may deter the right talent if the amount is too low, or worse: you may lose out on an opportunity to pay a lower salary than expected. Always aim to ask the technician's desired rate first.
As with all aspects of the plumbing and HVAC industry, training is essential for creating an expert. By offering training and education hours in your job interview, you not only spark interest in the candidate but also offer an opportunity to mold new employees into the ultimate member of your team. Along with paid incentives, training allows new employees to develop a strong drive to complete their best work while representing your company out in the field.
HVAC and plumbing industries are loaded with countless talented individuals. Without the right approach to recruiting talent for your company, you may find yourself overwhelmed by the talent search and underwhelmed by applicants. By utilizing these five best practices for recruiting the top industry talent, you'll be staffing your team with the best in the business.