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Need to hire a mechanic for performance shop in Orlando

Discussion in 'General' started by Gumby647, Aug 19, 2021.

  1. Gumby647

    Gumby647 Señor Member

    But I don't know where to find someone good. I work on all sorts of weird stuff and worry about having someone fuck up an irreplaceable part. I don't do much normal service work so it's kinda hard to start an inexperienced guy and let him work his way up. Add in the fact that I travel to all the MotoAmerica races so I'm nervous to leave someone here by themselves.

    Everyone always says to get a guy out of MMI or whatever its called now but the thought of that causes me to lose sleep at night.

    I'm not sure what to do. I'm at the limit of what I can do myself and have pretty much stopped answering the phone. I'm constantly turning work away so I know the business is there if I could find someone.
    I do a lot of engine work and dyno tuning which is not something that most dealership mechanics do.

    I'd like to be able to get someone in here to work with me over the off season so they would be comfortable working while I'm gone.

    If anyone has any suggestions I'm open to hear them
     
  2. ChemGuy

    ChemGuy Harden The F%@# Up!

    Good luck. Sounds like finding someone like that will be a bit of a problem.

    If you need a carb wizard to fill the occasional airbox up with fuel, the beeb knows a guy.
     
    Stumpy and pickled egg like this.
  3. Venom51

    Venom51 John Deere Equipment Expert - Not really

    You'd probably have a better chance at getting someone competent by looking into cloning first.. There appears to be no one left that fits the bill.
     
    Newyork and pickled egg like this.
  4. Gumby647

    Gumby647 Señor Member

    I've thought about cloning but it takes so long to grow a human
     
    KneeDragger_c69, Newyork and joec like this.
  5. Robby-Bobby

    Robby-Bobby Steeltoe’s Daddy

    lol good luck! I need 3 of those!
     
  6. Rdrace42

    Rdrace42 Almost Cheddar

    You guys may be joking about cloning, but the truth isn't far from that. Nobody is getting into the industry that I"m in, so finding an actual technician is becoming nearly impossible. The ones that do apply for the position, want more money than I make running the company, and they don't know a quarter of what I know. It's a lot of effort spent for an unlikely result. We focused on finding people with really good attitudes and work ethics (that's really hard to find as well), and then have invested the time to train them to be what we needed. It's certainly a longer road, but it's starting to bear great fruit. I've got a guy who I only have about 14 months into, and he's close to being my top performer in terms of productivity. He's got such a great attitude, that it's lifted the mood of all the people that work with him, which has lent an added boost to productivity as well. I told myself 2 years ago that we didn't have time to create new Techs, but now I'm kicking myself for not having started this process sooner. Create what you need. The available labor pool is shrinking, and people in the future don't want to do jobs that require 'labor'.
     
  7. Venom51

    Venom51 John Deere Equipment Expert - Not really

    No..I get it. I've seen it. It's shocking what MMI turns out as a graduate. Everyone that came through Charlie's shop was worse at being a mechanic than I was with zero training other than a father and grandfather that would fix just about anything.
     
  8. mattys281

    mattys281 Banned

    Go to your local community college, talk to whoever is in charge of their engineering program and put an ad on their bulletin board that you want a STEM student. The kid I got for my little machine shop a couple years ago was the best hire I ever made. Sadly I only had him for about 18 months before he transferred up to flagstaff, but he was productive almost immediately. Apprenticing is a long and sometimes rough road, but the best hires I’ve ever made were kids that didn’t know shit and we trained them up.
     
    Newyork likes this.
  9. GNC

    GNC Jim Rashid

    What’s the pay?
     
  10. CLM81

    CLM81 Well-Known Member

    I went the clone route. It just took me 20 years to get the results and he up and leaves me to go to another shop. Damn kids. The shop I work in used to get 20 apps a year and we could get 2-4 good guys out of them. Now its 2-3 apps a year and...well honestly no good bike mechanics. It really hurt when my son left and now I am 3-4 months backed up. Stopped taking in anything but inspections since we have to by PA law
     
  11. Gumby647

    Gumby647 Señor Member

    I'm willing to go up to 50% of labor rate for the right candidate.
     
  12. PMooney Jr.

    PMooney Jr. Chasing the Old Man

    This is a great opportunity for the right person, I spent a couple years helping Dave out and mapped countless motorcycles there on the Dyno. I'm not strong enough mechanically to knock out work at the pace it needs to be there. Last year I bought a bicycle shop locally and that exploded so I can't even help a little anymore. Very few people with his depth of knowledge. I've always wished I would have started with Dave when I was much younger. Too busy out racing and making bad decisions :crackup:
     
  13. Rebel635

    Rebel635 Well-Known Member

    Can you have a sit down with my company’s hiring people?

    The pay is mediocre but they want the hiring guys to know everything and have experience. You should have seen the test they were giving the guys. I’d have failed it and I’m one of their top techs. Dumbasses.

    We’ve been telling them we need to hire guys 3 years ago to fulfil the roles for today as that’s how long it takes a new guy to be up to speed. Chronic shortage....

     
  14. Turbotech

    Turbotech Well-Known Member

    Find a older dealer guy and pay him a set salery that his experience and knowledge is worth.

    There are tons of guys like you want, but they are buried in the back of dealers and haven't poked their heads out in years looking for work.
    I'm one of those guys and we are a dying breed for sure.

    Older is key in this. Find a guy that still needs to work some but doesn't need to hustle the flat rate game to pay his mortgage and kids car payments.
     
    SBKBee and Blue Junk like this.
  15. Gumby647

    Gumby647 Señor Member

    I've never worked somewhere that didn't pay on commission. What do you think would be a reasonable salary?
     
  16. CLM81

    CLM81 Well-Known Member

    Well said. I have been at where i work for 15+ years and really have no interest in leaving as the shop owners treat me very well, as friends and employers. It will take a major reason(moving, owners selling) for me to leave any time soon. But since I retire in 11 years and cutting back hours in 5 years they better get someone now to replace me then.
     
  17. Turbotech

    Turbotech Well-Known Member

    Guess it depends on the market your in.

    In the Atlanta area a 20+ year experience well versed guy is making 90-130k a year plus benefits. But that's hauling ass and working the flat rate game hard.

    Salary is kinda hard to guess at, you have to offer a good all around package to pull guys that are worth it away. I would think at least 75k to start. Think more of finding a long term partner then a employee.

    My current employer got me with out of flat rate with a good per hour set pay, plus free great health insurance.
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2021
  18. notbostrom

    notbostrom DaveK broke the interwebs

    Dave

    Have you talked to Robert Fisher?
    He might be able to give you some leads
     
  19. TurboBlew

    TurboBlew Registers Abusers

    from a small business standpoint... its hard to be competitive with benefits. I'm in agreement with you on the bare minimum with some milestone bonuses say at 90 days or 6 months.

    Tulsa has the stranglehold on trade schools around here... I might look around there for younger candidates that havent quite cemented their futures.
     
  20. pro69ss

    pro69ss Well-Known Member

    I’m older , always open to opportunity but must have good benefits.
     

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