fresh talent

[chrisberry12]

Ok here is an important interesting topic: Are you guys hiring any young people to take over our trade when we are gone. I think this trade is going to disappear when we all move on to a better world, life, etc.. I have not seen any young people getting into this field in years...

[Mike]

No. And my son didnt want to learn.

[sofadoc]

We live in a world of instant gratification now.

Nobody wants to spend years learning a trade. They want to start out making 50 grand, and go up from there. And they prefer to make that 50 grand while sitting behind a keyboard. They're not too terribly interested in schlepping a couch on their back.

The only ones getting into this biz now, are the "mid-lifers" looking for a career change. And that's probably for the best. They are more mature, and have a better grasp of what they should expect for their effort.

[SteveA]

The truth is most do start off at $ 50,000.00 -  my Children all earn more than I do.  I want to retire and go fishing !

SA

[Mike]

 I want to retire and go fishing !

SA

Im trying :)I havnt even fished off my dock in a couple month let alone my boat

[gene]

Nope. Me neither.

I heard a local investment adviser on the radio last night whilst driving home from work, and he said the good ol' US of A is a service country. We are no longer a manufacturer.

Volkswagen opened a plant in Tennessee because our energy costs are so low compared to the rest of the world. They invited the UAW to represent their workers because they know it won't make a difference. As each year goes by they will be using more robots and less workers.

I'm sure the UAW is looking at ways to get union dues from the robots.

gene

[MinUph]

We have hired a few young men in the past few years. Most of them just didn't make it. We have one kid 20s now that is a Vet. He does good work. Hired as a stripper and delivery helper he is doing well and seems to enjoy the work. He does well with cushions also. Cutting the foam, wrapping, and filling. I've had him do a small brass nail job and he did good. He is a good worker. Time will tell if it ends up a carrier for him.

[Grebo]

Tried hiring a couple of times, haven't found any one with enough common sense to sort out a simple problem or see when something isn't looking right.  Or care's come to that.


Suzi

[sofadoc]

There was a woman in town who opened a Starbucks-type coffee shop. She hired local teenagers, and paid them $15 hr.

She thought that if she paid them well, they would "care" about their job, and give better effort.

It didn't work. The kids goofed off, and generally played "grab-ass" all night long. They wasted product, and gave away drinks to their buddies. She could've paid them $100 hr. and it wouldn't have made any difference.

A year later, a real Starbucks opened down the street, and put her out of business. And they did so while paying older employees about half as much.

Same with upholstery. You can't find young people that care (but I'm sure that OUR parents said the same thing).

[SteveA]

Big franchises don't always have the luxury of hiring who they want.  Sometimes there is a commitment to the neighborhood which the store opens in to hire the local folks.  Not entirely fair but that's the way it is.  I look at retailers like Radio Shack ,Best Buy, and Staples closing stores all over the place they say due to internet sales,  but another unspoken truth is that many consumers refuse to patronize the stores due to poor, and unfriendly help behind the counter. Home Depot is on the list but you can't have 2 x 4's Fed Ex to you but that's another similar example of mostly little or no effort by the staff.
SA

[byhammerandhand]

Interesting.   When I bought a franchise 11 years ago, the typical new franchise owner was early 50s, white male, college  graduate with a bachelor's or master's degree, coming from a technical background like engineering or business.   That fit nearly every one in my training class, at least those that lasted more than a year.

The only ones getting into this biz now, are the "mid-lifers" looking for a career change. And that's probably for the best. They are more mature, and have a better grasp of what they should expect for their effort.

[gene]

Starbucks and Speedway are big enough to offer benefits better than minimum wage.

I am always impressed when I go to Speedway with the level of work that those folks need to do. That is a difficult job.

I read where restaurants are starting to add a surcharge to the bill to pay for the obamacare that they have to provide for their workers.

gene

[kodydog]

At the place where I work we have a young man in his mid 20's who is enthusiastic about learning the trade.

Our sewer turns 60 this year. Our female upholsterer is 62. The other male upholsterer is in his mid 30's but will graduate from collage in 1-1/2 years.

When I suggest now might be a good time to train someone it falls on deaf ears.

Besides striping furniture, the young man I mentioned has worked there 2 years and can already tie springs, repair and finish the frames, expert in cushion stuffing, an has upholstered dinning seats on occasion.

One day about 1/2 year ago the boss was looking for another upholsterer. This young man begged him to let him take the position. The boss said fine, he pointed to a Martha Washington chair with wood arms and said, take that chair home, upholster it and its yours. Then the boss said, when your finished let me see it and we will talk.

When the boss left the room I told the young man to bring the chair to my shop and I would guide him through the process. He agreed. The project was completely hands off for me but I explained what to do and the finished product looked pretty good.

When we all showed up for work Monday everybody admitted it was a fine job but the boss ended up hiring the collage guy instead.

When I asked the boss what gives he explained they once trained a fellow to make slip covers. After two years he was getting good and they were helping him get his citizenship into the USA. One day he just up and leaves, headed back to Mexico. They got burned.

I know what you all are saying about the younger generation not wanting to do laborious type jobs but I think also how many employers want to invest the time to train someone and take the chance of loosing him just when hes getting good.

[sofadoc]

I know what you all are saying about the younger generation not wanting to do laborious type jobs but I think also how many employers want to invest the time to train someone and take the chance of loosing him just when hes getting good.

Great point!! And I must admit, I'm the same way. I don't want to invest any time and money training someone who will just move on.

I've had several people offer to work for free just to learn the trade. But the split-second they "think" they've acquired enough knowledge to strike out on their own, they move down the street, and compete against you.

I can't offer any employees the type of incentives that would keep them loyal and happy, so I just "go it alone".

I'll admit. The outlook for a young man or woman getting into this business is bleak. It isn't surprising that few do.

[MinUph]

Lets look at this in another way Guys and Gals,
1.  So no one wants to train because the trainee may leave and compete against the trainer. Isn't that just competition?
2.  So no one gets trained and all of us oldies get along just fine with little or no competition.
3.  Say another 15-20 years goes by and no one is left to do the training. What then. We are all dead and gone and no one really cares?
4.  Say we bite the bullet and train some of these young people that want to work and learn a trade.
5.  In that same 15-20 years we may now have some experienced young people doing our work and carrying on the trade.

  So we had some competition for awhile that's the American way isn't it? But we also taught a young person the trade and didn't let it die.

  It's not like I don't understand the comments made about all this. After all we have all been there in one way or another. There is this issue in all trades. Carpentry, Plumbing, Roofing, you name it. But we all do need these trades people to know what they are doing and who better to teach them the correct way but an experienced trades person? Training not only teaches the trade but teaches responsibility, honesty, respect, all things that have seemed to go by the wayside of late.

  So please don't be short minded and worry about the competition. It will be there and the customer will make the choice. And who knows 15-20 years from now the person we trained might be better than ourselves and a better person for it.

  Paul gets off the podium.