Need hair pats/ vent

[waverly]

I never had such a hard time hiring someone before this year.  My boss early retired 3 people and destabilized my department.  In this job there are not a lot of hours and the pay is low because it isn't in the business field.  There is little room for the salary to go up because there is a fixed budget.  I get that, and tried to hire people who were just looking to get out of the house or supplement their income, but the problem is that those people don't actually want to work when they could just stay home.  So I am running into that a lot. Or they have a second job which is a little difficult to work around unless they have been at the other job long enough to adjust their schedules to make it work. It is a good job however, and most people have been here a long time and really like it.  There is room for growth.  ETA- and I did actually get them a raise as well as much as I could anyway. 

So far I have hired one person who was so hot and cold that she wouldn't even say hi to people.  She had some personal issues. She quit due to her personal issues/ self exploration. 
One person who had trouble learning the job still after 3 months.  There are a lot of details, but it is not a hard job.  She got more hours at her other job and quit.
One person who said the commute was OK and quit right away saying it was too much.  
One person who deliberately misconstrued what I said, and wrote me an email blaming for it.  Even though I told her everything twice and followed up a third time in writing.

It's just a really hard economy so all of the good people and even OK people either already have jobs or don't need to work.  I've learned a lot about what I can do to change my processes and be more successful on my end, but if I can't find good people it doesn't matter what my processes are.  I can't even get people to follow directions to get back to me with 3 references.  3/4 of them don't even write a thank you note.   I have been doing this job for 9 years, and have never had these problems before this year and the early retirements.  

[2chatter]

I’m sorry! I am having the opposite experience - people hear good economy so are starting to look for the next best opportunity. So finally, I have interviewed some solid candidates.

The PT thing would be really challenging. IDK what field it is, but have you considered looking for someone where moms of school age kids are? Or advertising on social media - I know our local moms group connects people who are looking and people who are hiring and they all end up happy.

Hang in there. It’s not you - it’s them - for real!

[waverly]

I hired my second choice and I have a third choice. But in the future I'm thinking of advertising like you say in a moms group or local paper.

SAHMs are a bit hard because the pay is about what they would have to pay a babysitter and if their husband or a family member doesn't want to help out they won't do it.

I do like to hire them generally speaking. But some of them like the idea of them working (hence why they apply) more than the reality of it once they realize that their super flexible schedule is gone. We try to work with people a lot on the schedule but they do have to work certain hours. And I think a lot of people think they can just work during school hours which isn't teally true in a lot of jobs unless they work at a school.

I get a lot of people that think they know what the job is and have preconceived notions and then once they get into the job realize it's harder than they thought because there is this bias of how hard can it be? Or it's something they are familiar with but don't really understand.

[186momx]

Have you thought about looking a the younger/new retire group. I've been talking with lots of new retires so far this week and they are having a hard time adjusting and are now looking to work PT to just keep busy as they are going stir crazy. I have a few teacher/city employees who got their 30 years in and are now retired in their early 50s and still want to work but not with a high stress job. This group also tends to not need a big salary.

[waverly]

Mar 20, 2018 18:43:56 GMT -5 186momx said:

Have you thought about looking a the younger/new retire group. I've been talking with lots of new retires so far this week and they are having a hard time adjusting and are now looking to work PT to just keep busy as they are going stir crazy. I have a few teacher/city employees who got their 30 years in and are now retired in their early 50s and still want to work but not with a high stress job. This group also tends to not need a big salary.

Yes! That was the second choice I just hired. It's just been so hard since my boss decimated my department. I just had to vent. These were people l had worked with for 8 years that could calm
everyone's nerves. And he immediately filled those positions with full and part timers so he didn't save any money with the early retirement and now he owes our portion of their retirement which is a big liability.

[186momx]

My payroll clients are having the same problems getting good help that actually want to work. Then when they do find a good employee they seem to come with multiple garnishments and child support and then don't stick long as they don't want to pay. It is a real struggle.

[rere]

I've had the same problems. Government position, so we don't have a lot of control over starting pay, which is lower than standard right now. It was comparable when I started, but hasn't went up since. Last position I had open, I didn't hire any of the candidates, it just wouldn't have worked. The position needed up being shifted to someone in house.