How eoplare you dealing with the labor shortage?

[turboguy]

For the past few years I am finding it nearly impossible to hire workers. We have some ads running with very little response. It used to be we would run an add and get 20-25 applicants but now we are luchy to get one. I have run ads on a few sites with poor results. I gave my existing employees an above average increase in pay this year so I could raise my starting pay rate to attract more applicants. I can't hire new people at a higer rate than L pay my current guys.

I would enjoy hearing how others are dealing with the issue.

[Fulcrum]

Automation.

I do need to hire but haven't taken any steps yet.

[turboguy]

Thanks Brad, I don't think automation is an option right now. If we ever expand, I would be interested in adding a robotic welder, but I have no room for one right now.

Let me add a little rundown. First off I tried running a help wanted ad on Craigslist. I think Craigslist is loosing popularity to Facebook marketplace but I hoped it had enough pull to get us an applicant or two. We had no response whatsoever.

I decided to try everything I could think of. I listed our job on ZipRecruiter. I listed our job on Indeed and I had a big banner printed up that we were hiring and hung that on the fence in front of our building. Here are the results.

1. The banner has had no response.

2. I had tried the free trial on Zip Recruiter a few years ago for a welder and it just seemed to add my welding job to a list of 150 other welding jobs and I pulled it after the trial period even though they offered to extend the free trial. This time for $ 350.00 I did get 4 resumes so far that seem more like they sent me some file resumes and the quality wasn't real great.

3. Indeed worked surprisingly well. I have had around 27 applications. We have interviewed two, hired one, offered the job to the other but I don't think he will accept. I am calling more applicants tomorrow to schedule interviews. I am not sure what the cost is but as near as I can tell it won't be much more than I wasted on ZipRecruiter.

I do think if someone is looking to hire someone for a sales or executive position, Linkedin may be worthwhile but I have never tried it and I don't see it as a good choice for laborers or welders.

We needed to hire two people and it looks like we are going to be able to do that.

[Fulcrum]

I've got an interview set for Saturday morning with someone. I'm still looking at automation, but even with that I'd still need a person or two to keep machines fed, troubleshoot issues, etc. I'll see how it goes.

[turboguy]

I hope the interview went well. We hired one person and have a couple more we are planning to interview today. We did interview 3 others and although we are not overly impressed, they are not bad options. At least we are getting applicants which is a big relief.

I don't think I have many more options to automate. I think a robotic welder could be a good thing in the future. Right now, we can't add anything because we have outgrown our facility. I almost gave a green light to an 8,000 sq. ft. addition last year, but the worker shortage made me hesitate. Right at the moment that is out of the question. I got divorced last year and my building fund went to her settlement. Small gas engines are in such short supply that I don't think I could get enough to justify being able to produce more. I am not even sure we can get enough to keep production going on at the current level.

I was quite impressed with the results we had from the Indeed web site. I don't think I would bother using ZipRecruiter again, but we did get a few applicants from them.