GAME 2: Is Your Tech Repair Business Major League Or Stuck In The Minors? Make sure you have the right person for your repair team - Find a Rookie

TOP HIRING PRACTICES TO HELP BUILD YOUR BEST TEAM - GAME 2

Game two is tough in any best of seven series. If you've won game one then you can build on that lead but if you lost game one you'll really need this one. The same is true for hiring, if you have found some good technicians you're off to a good start but your next move can either make it easier to become major league or you'll end up spending more time in the minors. How do you pick a winner? 

One time while I was visiting my Arlington shop I sat down with a tech who was struggling. He was a nice kid who got along great with everyone in the shop. Super friendly and easy to talk to. So when I sat down in front of him I had no intention on firing him. It was a simple coaching session on how to check-in repairs to the shop. You see I had been going over the numbers and this friendly young man had, by far, the fewest successful check-ins out of any of the technicians working for me - we tracked hourly walk-ins and transactions.

As we talked I started to realize there was a problem. You see he wasn't just doing a poor job of checking in customers he was actually telling people that repair was a bad idea and that they should just get a new phone. In some cases, when they said they couldn't afford a new phone, he recommended other shops because they were "a lot cheaper" than our shop. Strangely enough he was also in the process of opening his own repair shop near his house. He told me that he, "just liked helping people".

I asked him if he would like to help me, since I was a person after-all. But by the time we had finished I not only fired him but I wanted to call the police and have him arrested for stealing!

Here was a guy who not only didn't believe in the mission of the company but he was actively subverting it. Turns out he wasn't alone. As I visited with my other shops I found more techs who, to some degree, where not 100% into the mission of device repair over device replacement. We had a cancer that was hurting our business!

“Baseball is like church. Many attend, few understand.”

Leo Durocher

In the repair industry we too many times miss certain aspects of our hires that can make or break our business. Someone who doesn't believe in the mission of repair is going to kill your shop. While a tech who is passionate about repair is going to help you thrive. The same is true of YOU. If you don't believe that repair is the BEST option and that everything CAN be repaired then you should do something else! Seriously, stop reading this now and go work in another industry. Seriously! Go!

Okay your still reading which means you LOVE repairing technology for people, maybe started a repair shop, built a clientele and established a good reputation. Now it's time to add some new technicians to help your business grow. Where do you start?

As I said in GAME 1: Is Your Tech Repair Business Major League Or Stuck In The Minors? HIRING PRACTICES for Cell Phone Repair DON'T look for an experienced technician! Rookies have the most upside and the highest potential to become an all-star. Find a rookie!

Hire ENTRY LEVEL to grow your business.

I know this seems counter intuitive but here's the skinny on people who claim to have experience.

1. There are NOT a lot of people with experience in this type of tech repair (Smartphones, tablets, drones, etc.). I found that people with A+, AMCT certifications or who worked with computers were HORRIBLE at working with small electronics. They are used to working at a very slow pace and worst of all they always wanted more money for poor skills.
2. They are often waiting for a bigger job and will leave you in a heart-beat.
3. If they do have experience working on small electronics they generally aspire to have their own shop or do things their way, not yours.
4. Many will lie about there qualifications and/or abilities to get the higher pay you would offer a more experienced tech. Then they blow-up your shop with bad repairs, other staff are upset they aren't making more and sometimes end up stealing from you too (Liars lie and often steal). 

The only exception for me was hiring recent immigrants (with a valid work permit). Phone repair is common outside of the US and many recent immigrants who have experience in phone repair are often looking for an opportunity to get work experience. Three of the best technicians I ever hired were recent immigrants who could do amazing things when repairing a phone.


But where can you find the best people to work in your shop?

HIRING - Where to look
Put up a sign in your shop, but don't just put up a 'Help Wanted' sign. Tell potential applicants what your looking for (What are you looking for btw?) in a new employee. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) with a few key words on what you want (Tech-savvy, team player, friendly, curious, etc.). Your customers and the people they know will be your best resource. So...

Ask you customers if they know anyone who might work well in your shop or if they know anyone who might be connected to a place and/or organization where you might find good technicians. Maybe it's a local church? Perhaps the local high school? Community college? Robotics clubs? 

Add a 'Careers' page to your website to list job openings and talk about the kind of people you want to work at your shop. This is also a great page to talk about what it's like to work at your shop. BE HONEST and BE FUN! No one wants to work at a boring place of business. Talk about having meals together or about your favorite things to do (movie, game, device, etc.). Having people with similar interests is a fun & productive shop! If you have any perks mention those too - you should have some perks even if it's just taco Tuesday. 

Craigslist Ad is a cheap way to find new people. You will get a few flakes here but you can weed them out without too much pain.

Promote Job Openings on Social Media a lot! Use links to your website and post, post, post. You should already be promoting your business on social media EVERY DAY. If your not start right now! Your feelings about Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. don't apply here. People use them. You need people!

Ask them to send an email to you with a resume or job history attached and ask them to say why they are interested in repair.  I would recommend setting up a separate email address for those seeking jobs at your shop. You really don't want your personal email address going out to anyone on the interwebs. Do you?!

YOUR GETTING APPLICANTS, NOW WHAT?
You should be getting emails now with applicants that may or may not really want to work for you. How do you sort them to decide who to interview or which ones to take a hard pass on?

Setup an interview immediately when you get an applicant that checks all of your boxes. Someone who says they LOVE to take things apart and they disassembled their first phone when they were seven is going to be a star.

You will know YOUR applicant when you see them, but here are some applicants you should take a HARD PASS on:

Just a resume no email text and/or cover letter is a sign that this persons Mom or girlfriend are sending out their resume to anything that looks like a possibility. True story; had a dude show-up to the interview for entry level, minimum wage job in a suit & tie and wrote $100K+ in the desired salary spot on our questionnaire (more on that later). When I told him it was a minimum wage job to start he laughed and then cursed his wife for "setting-up" this interview. Good luck my dude!

They don't mention 'repair' in their email tells you they didn't read the ad and/or they are just shooting out a standard job response to as many places as they can. These can be second tier applicants if everything else is strong, but ONLY if everything else is strong. Use a three strike system when evaluating applicants.

Spelling counts when looking for a job, at least it should. HARD PASS on anyone who can't spell check the email they send to you for a a job - remember, 'Attention to Detail' is an important trait for repair techs. Grammar mistakes ain't gonna kill ya. Neither are non-professional text type emails that say they 💓 to 🧰 on 📱's. Okay, that might be a little too much. You make the call.

AFTER REVIEWING EMAILS
You should start setting up interviews, but again be honest and straight forward by reminding them that this is an entry level job. Email them back and give them a day with a couple of time slots for an interview. Ask them to confirm the interview by telling you which time slot is best. Give them the exact location address for the interview then see if they need directions - someone who asks for directions might not be that tech savvy.

The response from them is another good way to test there abilities, see if it is really them applying or someone applying for them. You would be amazed by how many people have someone else helping/enabling them by apply for jobs for them.

Now you're ready to start interviewing, but there are a few things you still need to do before you sit down with your first interview.

We'll discuss that in GAME 3 - Stay Tuned!