Lack of candour.....

[alex@wocltd.com]

Why aren't there are suitable candidates?

Broad question I grant you but based near London (Heathrow) regardless of how we throw our net for recruitment (adverts,job centres,job fairs,word of mouth,web site,pressgang) - the general lack of a) candidates b) and what candidates do appear seem purely to apply to get job seekers allowance

Using agencies is short term and short lived as they charged you 2/3k for recruitment and then approach the candidate 18 months later........

Any suggestions? and why are no engineers approaching companies independently? back in the day at all of the previous outfits we always received random c.v's

[fixthecopier]

Re: Lack of candour.....

Old saying...


Some people won't answer the door when opportunity knocks, because he's dressed in work clothes.

[Elmo]

Re: Lack of candour.....

quite a few of the techs i know have been so fed up with the industry that they have left
working and living in the London area is another possible reason the cost of living and salaries
i have seen a few techs move up north from the south for a better life
from what i have seen other companies offering it is not enough to tempt me out of the north

[theengel]

Re: Lack of candour.....

If you want a good tech instead of a trained monkey, you gotta have something to offer. I think some techs are tired of the factory atmosphere in the office machine repair industry. I know I was. The last big dealer I worked for started publishing weekly statistics for all the techs... along with goals and how we compared to the goals. I left. A lot of good techs have either gone indy or got into an obscure industry that pays more.

[Iowatech]

Re: Lack of candour.....

I don't know how much this will help, but for what it is worth you might try giving the "sink or swim" evaluation to the people that are only there to re-up for their dole. Have them actually work on equipment before you sign off on their forms.
There's a tiny chance you might find a hidden gem then, and it could also make it less likely that the slackers will come back to bother you again.
Sorry if that was a waste of time.

[fixthecopier]

Re: Lack of candour.....

If you want a good tech instead of a trained monkey, you gotta have something to offer. I think some techs are tired of the factory atmosphere in the office machine repair industry. I know I was. The last big dealer I worked for started publishing weekly statistics for all the techs... along with goals and how we compared to the goals. I left. A lot of good techs have either gone indy or got into an obscure industry that pays more.

When you turn it into a numbers game, people assume their job is to make their numbers look good.

[Lagonda]

Re: Lack of candour.....

Not been terribly impressed with the quality of the applicants the last time we advertised for a tech, the pickings were very slim. It seems that the youngsters don't want to get toner under their nails these days, they just want to play with keyboards.

[allan]

Re: Lack of candour.....

I think its the money. I thought about working in the UK until i saw the salaries offered. I would be getting the same with the exchange rates but the cost of living is more than double.

The good techs in SA is getting more valuable day by day thanks to the new generation!

[Lagonda]

Re: Lack of candour.....

The good techs in SA is getting more valuable day by day thanks to the new generation!

Will you explain that theory to my boss? With 30 years experience in the trade I barely got a cost of living increase in my salary last year.

[igi]

Re: Lack of candour.....

Will you explain that theory to my boss? With 30 years experience in the trade I barely got a cost of living increase in my salary last year.

+1000000000

[fixthecopier]

Re: Lack of candour.....

If any of your bosses are like mine, they think you can get anybody who can walk upright and make them a tech, no matter how many times they fail at it.

Speaking for myself, haven't had a raise in more than 5 years. I have considered looking eleswhere but these things keep popping up.

Security... I have 16 years where I am at, I am over 50 and do not want to be the last one hired at a big company, then they lose a contract.

Bosses...Right now I have 2 and only one is a pain in my ass. Pretty good odds. I have had worse.

Pay...right now it sucks. but it could be worse. I know people in town doing this job are making more money than I working for other companies. I have to remind myself that the worst job I ever had, paid the most money. I am sure I could get hired elsewhere, but then I am last guy hired in a company I may not like. Would probably lose a lot of freedom.

Freedom...Company recently tried to move to a new office management system. had us logging in and out of calls , keeping up with us at all times. That lasted about a month. I am back to filling out my tickets at the end of the day or the next day. Makes work a lot less stressful. No GPS trackers. They give me tickets in the morning and turn me loose. I will leave with more open calls than I can do, they will call and add more. Goal is to juggle everybody so that they are not calling the shop looking for me. I seem to thrive when I am really busy. i have copies of old schedules when we had 2 major contracts on base, where I had as many as 25 to 35 open calls in a day. Now I may have slow days where I complete 2 calls and a few others need parts, nothing is said. my competitors have to clock out to go through the bank drive through.

Working for a small company, my boss seems to be the kind of person that will hold on to his employees a lot longer than most when business is down. I would be willing to leave for more money, but it would have to be a lot more, and no one is paying techs that kind of money in my area.

I also enjoy being able to work on anything. I have know people who worked for a brand, like Xerox, for 25 to 30 years, who only worked on what they had been trained on. How boring. They were totally lost looking at another band of copier worked, and didn't care. I am currently training on Lexmark. I am not going to school or taking online courses, I lost my last contract when they bought these cheap ass machines, and now I am training on them one problem at a time as my old customers call in.

Not sure what to say about filling your positions. As for myself, there is nothing you could offer me to live and work in a city that big. Last Friday i had to do a call at end of day. On my way there was an accident that slowed traffic to a crawl. I was stuck in it for about 20 minutes. How annoying! I hope traffic problems don't last longer than that in your city. Having to sit through something like that once every 3 or 4 weeks would get really annoying really fast.

[mbcruzin]

Re: Lack of candour.....

I've been noticing the same thing. Applicants are few and far between. Those that do apply can not seam to pass our logic test. those that do wash out after a year or so. 14 years I have put into this industry, and already I feel like a dying breed.

Just in case anyone is interested.

14 years Field/shop Service Technician.
capable of working on anything from small desktop machines to large wide format. Plus color trained.
Trained Sharp
Training on Ricoh, and Konica Minolta
Familiar with Canon, Samsung, Mita, and others
I can even steal... I mean bring my own tools
Willing to travel and see the world on a copier companies dime.

[blackcat4866]

Re: Lack of candour.....

... Not sure what to say about filling your positions. As for myself, there is nothing you could offer me to live and work in a city that big. Last Friday i had to do a call at end of day. On my way there was an accident that slowed traffic to a crawl. I was stuck in it for about 20 minutes. How annoying! I hope traffic problems don't last longer than that in your city. Having to sit through something like that once every 3 or 4 weeks would get really annoying really fast.

You wouldn't much like it here in Detroit. A normal day for me is 2 hours/49 miles in to work, and 2 1/2 hours/49 miles to home. On two occasions when the weather has turned bad, it has taken 3 1/2 hours and 4 hours respectively to drive that same 49 miles. 20 minutes? I waited 30 minutes for a train before leaving town this morning. I don't exactly know when it happened, but I must have acquired patience somewhere along the way. Who would have thought? =^..^=

[fixthecopier]

Re: Lack of candour.....

You wouldn't much like it here in Detroit. A normal day for me is 2 hours/49 miles in to work, and 2 1/2 hours/49 miles to home. On two occasions when the weather has turned bad, it has taken 3 1/2 hours and 4 hours respectively to drive that same 49 miles. 20 minutes? I waited 30 minutes for a train before leaving town this morning. I don't exactly know when it happened, but I must have acquired patience somewhere along the way. Who would have thought? =^..^=

You are correct, I couldn't live there. I am pretty lucky when it comes to traffic. There are plenty of wide highways in my small city, and they are building more every day. i seem to be able to get to almost every call in town in about 15 or 20 minutes. I-95 is half a mile away from my house and I can get to the Virginia state line in one direction or Myrtle Beach in the other in 2 hours. I don't mind long drives, if traffic is flowing, it's the sitting or creeping along at 5 mile an hour that I can't stand.

Just think about it, when the self driving cars come out, you can rebuild a fuser while you wait in traffic.

[Iowatech]

Re: Lack of candour.....

Huh, a lot of traffic complaints here. Still, if you haven't had to merge from Jimmy Carter Boulevard to the Atlanta loop during rush hour, you loose. Just the way it went for Lanier training back in the day.
I guess that's a little bit why I prefer to be out here on the perimeter.