I feel like a big meaneee when a job seeker comes in the door. I don't even have an application for them to fill out.
I often wanted to hand them a test, with questions like: What is the difference between raster and vector? When color filled grouped objects are not combined what effect will produced in the print? If you were to place two objects on screen, list the step by step of how you would proceed to weld them into one object. Which is faster, digitizing by mouse or stylus? Explain your answer.
What do you do? Even if you are not going to hire them, do you let them fill out an application?
With the test idea, they would know in moment they are not qualified for the job. Especially if you give them a test on OMEGA...which is difficult for professionals to understand....hahahaahaha!
[ September 01, 2003, 10:32 PM: Message edited by: Dave Draper ]
Posted by Bob Stephens (Member # 858) on :
I always ask to see their portfolio. The ones that dont have one arent qualified and the ones that do arent qualified either in most cases.
Posted by Monte Jumper (Member # 1106) on :
If they don't know what lard oil is ...I'm suspect!
HA HA ...not really...When someone calls I always tell them we're not hiring but if they want to stop by we'll talk to them...generally if they show up, I know they really are interested in doing something...I'll listen to them and ask a few questions but mostly just have a nice visit...if they seem worthy I'll make some suggestions or call a friend but the truth is we just don't hire anyone...we like the size we are and want to remain there...I have however used one or two of these people along the way as a sub that works out best for us.
Most importantly tho we don't string anyone along...they know before they leave where we stand.
We just try to be honest with them and help any way we can.
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
If I were you Dave, I'd ask them what the specks were on the SignGold Posted by Bob Burns (Member # 268) on :
I tell m all to take a hike (nicely, of course), cause I'm a 1-man shop!
Posted by Chuck Peterson (Member # 70) on :
I have devised a few simple tests that have saved me a lot of time in determining if someone has the ability to learn basic signshop tasks. After determining if they have an agreeable personality and an interest in this type of work I hand them a ruler and paper and ask them to draw a line 4 5/8" long. If they do it without hesitating, I ask them to draw a rectangle that is 8 square inches in area. If they draw one correctly, not 8" square, I ask them to find the center of it. If they pass that, I show them some words typeset in a thick & thin typeface and flip an upper case A so the thick & thin are wrong and maybe a letter in there of a different font, maybe fill the center of a letter that should be open and see if they can spot what's wrong. Then the coordination test. I ask them to carry an 8' 2x4 in the front door and out the back. If they do that without knocking anything over, I put them to work for a few hours on a trial basis. At the end of the day I ask them how long they worked. If they do not add on a half hour or more they have passed the honesty test and if they are still interested at this point I give them a job. I'm working alone right now.
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
All calls for employment are treated like any other spam call. I hang up on them.... If they come in dressed like they really want a job, and talk really nice, i try my hardest to get them something with some one i know.... If i cannot use them..
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
when i had the storefront, they would walk in the door..so i had to deal with them...most came in looking for job as a GRAPHIC ARTIST. when they said that i handed them a legal pad and a pencil...and said "draw something." next would come..."i draw on the computer" or iam good in photoshop..... and then i would ask if they can paint?.....noooo never painted....then i would say your not a GRAPHIC ARTIST your a computer geek....and iam the best one i know at that..... and i need my job....
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
I simply ask them to send a resume my way. I keep them on file in case someone else I'm connected with is looking for help.
Posted by Pam Eddy (Member # 1858) on :
When people call, I tell them I'm not hiring. Only a few have walked into the shop and asked, but mostly their parents have come in and asked if I have a job for their kid.
One warm summer day I had the service door open and a man in his 50s pulled up in an old car and yelled out the window "Are ya hirin'?" I didn't even move from the drawing table, I just yelled back "Nope". He is freelancing around town now. I have had people call me to fix his work that they are unhappy with. Glad I didn't bother walking to the door to talk to him (in his car, too lazy to get out).
Pam
Posted by Jeremy Vecoli (Member # 2278) on :
When I quit working at one place, I was responsible for hiring my replacement. 95% of the applicants I would disqualify over the phone. Only one person had a portfolio that was all professional commissions, most people's portfolios were all "art" school assignments. Some quotes I remember from applicants: "I painted my kid's bedroom and my friends say I should do this for a living" "I had an airbrush, but I broke it and my mom won't buy me a new one" "Why should I have to buy my own brushes?"
I ended up going back to work there.
Posted by Steve Nuttle (Member # 2645) on :
I really like Chucks approach!! Posted by Mark Smith (Member # 298) on :
Chuck,
Too cool. That's the best I've ever heard!
Posted by jimmy chatham (Member # 525) on :
if they come by the shop and will work for what i pay i hire them. Posted by Peter Manzolillo (Member # 1062) on :
great stuff, Chuck
In the old days...sigh.... pre-computer.... we had many art student types come in looking to become signpainters. We would hand them a roll of paper, a brush, and a cup of poster paint and direct them to the end of a workbench.
Within a half-hour (usually less) they realized they weren't gonna become a signpainter in a week. Out the door they went, never to return. Never saw one who said, "Im gonna practice until I learn how to do what you guys do." Instant gratification....
Posted by Patrick Whatley (Member # 2008) on :
Because of our downtown location we are located between a lot of housing projects. We get two or three phone calls a day from people who just ask "Is you hiring?" We tell them no and they hang up. At least once a day the unemployment office calls us to verify that someone called about a job. They have to make three calls a day to get an unemployment check.
The best ones are the ones when we actually are hiring. They ask, I say yes, then the always ask, "Oh, what do y'all do?"
Posted by Cam Bortz (Member # 55) on :
The only people even worth talking to are those that will show up and be willing to do something... anything... to display any sort of qualifications. When I worked in Phoenix we got a lot of jobhunters; the "application" was to hand-letter "Welcome to the Party" on paper, on the spot. It didn't always work - we hired Foolish Frank that way, he lettered beautifully - but he could f*ck up a two-car funeral given half a chance.
My current employee - four years now - got his job for his brush skills. Not for lettering, but for coating out. He was trained by his father (a sixth-generation German painter and decorator), and puts a coat of paint down so you'd think it was sprayed. We joke that when other infants had rattles, Scott had a three-inch Purdy china-bristle. The funny thing is, he's dyslexic - spelling and numbers are a real chore - but he has incredible spatial perception and problem-solving skills. Just different "brain wiring".
Posted by Glenn S. Harris (Member # 2190) on :
Back when I was framing houses, I'd just head out to a fresh neighborhood with my tool pouch about 6am & walk on a jobsite with my tools strapped on & ask if they were hiring. They would either say no, ask how much I was looking to get or hire me on the spot, no questions asked. If they asked how much, I'd just say "Top pay, but I'll work today & you can see if I'm worth it." I was always given the shaft by these guys. They never wanted to pay what I was worth. The only ones that worked out were when I was hired on the spot. Later in the day the guy would ask: "So, how much you lookin to get?" I'd tell 'em, & they'd say: "OK".
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
All you have to do is say "No."
This way you aren't stringing them along and you aren't wasting any of your time dealing with them.
Posted by Laura Butler (Member # 1830) on :
I know this sign shop that the owner kept having this older woman keep coming back asking for a job. The owner of the sign shop was ready to retire and convinced the older woman to buy her shop. I have now owned this shop for 3 years.
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
When someone comes here looking to show me how my company would benefit from their addition, I listen. When I sell a sign, I want to convince the potential customer that I would be adding to what they have...not just depleting their funds.
We usually hire someone old and someone young, and pair them up. The old guy has spent forty years learning to really work, and the young guy has the moxie to put out. They balance well.
We live in a small community and don't like to train our competition. Therefore, we only train each person in a portion of the skills and intentionally prevent them from learning some element....like design.....or sales.
For those just looking for day labor, there is usually some yard work that needs doing. Sometimes a few hours work can feed someone and restore their feelings of value. I wouldn't want to deprive one from such.
Posted by just plane bill (Member # 531) on :
When I had my shop in the Bay Area of CA and someone came around I always had something someone else could do and put them to work. You can tell in a few hours. Crikey, this is how I met Crazy Jack, that in itself made it all worth while.
Posted by Mike Languein (Member # 319) on :
We used to hand them an 18x24 blank and the standard Parking Lot copy and say "Do this one, it's a live job. We're getting $(X amount) for it. Make us some money". That's how I got all my sign jobs. Most would walk away but I was always amazed at how many would stand and stare at the metal blank for 45 minutes before they walked out. Some would even say they had their sign kit with them and when I gave them the blank they would hesitate and then say "Uhh, wut's a sign kit?"
When I worked at Lenny's it was just down the street from Chino Prison. The new releasees (and escapees) would come in all tatted and scarred up with a portfolio of drawings of crying Mexican girls, low rider '64 Chevys, skulls with daggers stuck through them - and none of it well done. Kinda tough to send these guys away.
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