Training day

[GeneMiller]

What do you hate most about training someone new. I had to fire my tech. He keeps missing work so I let him go. The new guy cleans so slow that he looks like he's trying to sneak up on the dirt. I'd show him the correct speed and he was back to grandma. Happens with every new guy and it just drives me made. Hold the trigger and clean the whole square. Then go back and dry vac. He started cleaning a small 5 x 7 area and I left to go take a call and when I came back he was still cleaning it. The call was over 7 minutes. His question was how many strokes before its dry ? One dang it just one vacuum stroke and its dry them move on. You mean when we leave the carpet is still wet. I must be horrible at training because they all start out the same. Drives me nuts. We have a 3 story to do with lots of stairs and I train him on the top 4 steps. Watch and repeat. Fine I let him take over and check on him periodically while I get the rooms ready. He's fine. We finish the second floor and hit the second set of stairs. He's already done a set so I figure he's got it. I check on him and he's only cleaning the back half of the stairs but vacuuming it all. Really slow over the dirt like slow will magically remove it. I point out what he's doing and he says he wasn't done yet but the rest are fine. I look up the stairs and they are all that way. The house was large and I was pushing him hard and fast and there were way more steps than normal but don't cut corners. Can't believe I have to go through this again.

Gene

 

[Nate The Great]

I've grown tired of training and they not work out.... It's not fkn rocket science.... Granted that's what I get for trying to help out friends..... I say fk it now, if they can't get with the program NEXT!!!

 

[Mark Saiger]

Give him the Zipper and tell him to walk....LOL

And watch the site tube a bit...

 

[Dolly Llama]

How longs the new guy been at it, Gene?
and how many guys have you been thru in the last 20 years??

some guys pick it up quick, some never do and they have to be taught like a circus monkey.... as in repetitive conditioning

..L.T.A.

 

[Desk Jockey]

trade back and forth more often and see if that helps. make sure he watches you, then you watch and critque his work. don't let get too far without you there, you don't want to redo his work patience and thorough explanation. it takes time, mean while its normal to be frustrated. just don't show it.

 

[GeneMiller]

Larry the new guy is 2 days old. He's very personable and I enjoy working with him. He's already told me he really wants a job with medical. I've only had a helper for the last 7-8 years. One guy 3 years and the last one 2.5 years. 6-7 guys anywhere from 1 hr. to nine months. I'm pretty hard to work with but I'm fair. I pay extremely well. this part of the country the kids are all spoon fed and get bmw's from their parents in high school so those kids don't want to work. The picking are slim. I stopped by a small church down the street and put up an ad. Can't hurt. Im almost through this week and can adjust my schedule allowing time for training next week but this week was jammed and I don't have the time or patience to watch a new guy.

Mark I am using the zipper but I demo and he doesn't repeat.i don't even bother to train anymore on the wand. He was watching the site tube waiting for it to go completely dry. My last guy started the same and turned into a champ. Only one redo in the 2.5 years. Miss him already.

Gene

 

[Dolly Llama]

this part of the country the kids are all spoon fed

those kids don't want to work.

I can assure you, Brother, it's not just your part of the country...i feel your pain.
oh yea, and it's not just "kids" either

..L.T.A.

 

[Able 1]

I have been looking and working with new guys for a while and feel your pain.. I have a pretty good guy now, I pay him $15 an hour holidays, 5 days vacation, and pay $300 towards his rent for the 5 slower months(what's $1500 to me, for him it's great! ).

Pay really doesn't mean you will get someone great, but you can lose great guys by being cheap(not saying you are). If any of you guys have great employees treat them well and make sure they are comfortable, you don't want to try to find someone new..

New guys do drive me crazy also, lazy is what they are taught these days..

 

[PrimaDonna]

Out of curiosity, do you do a working interview before you hire?

We've found it weeds out those that can't hack it or don't do well taking direction/instruction.

I know it's tough if you are having troible hiring as it is, but worth it in the long run if you realize that aren't a good fit....or better yet that they are.

 

[Mikey P]

I don't let a new guy touch a wand for a least a week, if not two.

More pressing things to learn.


Let them watch for a while

 

[Able 1]

I agree, they need to see how things should flow.. actually I like to work with my lead guy and my new guy when training.. More time to explain what is expected.

 

[Mikey P]

forcing them on the wand too soon is a mistake



Let them grasp the pie first.

 

[bob vawter]

i love the ones that talk on the phone doin' the "one arm swing"

 

[Travis Sonderegger]

Dang, I was wondering if it was just my bad teaching skills. Had a girl working for me I was trying to help out because she is trying to help her mom pay the bills. She tries to work hard and does pretty good most of the time, a little rough around the edges, but she's friendly with the customers and that is good.

I would have her putting down prespray and working it in with the procaps and I couldn't figure out why it was taking so long, she was going through like 4 times the prespray she should have been. I finally figured it out after teaching her how to prespray 3 or 4 different times. I kept thinking to myself it cant be that hard to spray this onto carpet.

She kept thinking that the spray tip had to be touching the carpet or really close to it. I would show her how to hold it and spray, and she would do fine until I left the room. I snuck in on her one time and she was holding the tip like 2 inches from the carpet and spraying. That job took 5 hours and should have taken 3 tops. We got things figured out and she is doing a lot better now. I think I will have everyone practice spraying on the concrete or in the street for like 5 minutes until they are good at it and have it down.

 

[Shane Deubell]

Have to be far more patient, more like 2 months.

Those first couple weeks its more about assessing character.
Then you can spend time/money on technical training, dont bother for first couple weeks until you are sure this is a good fit.

 

[Brian H]

We have the luxury of having a lot of long term employees and have not had a lot of turnover the last several years. I get nervous now when we send a guy solo who has only been with us a year or two.

It's usually months for us before a new guy does any of the actual cleaning. Get them doing all the setup and prep work, keep the hose back, move furniture, block and tab, run back and forth to the truck, etc. They need to really learn that part of the job before they get to do any actual cleaning.

After a couple months of watching the crew leader, they can then do some cleaning on easy jobs here and there. They clean a room or two, then watch the leader clean again. Let them work up to speed. It's been a pretty successful approach for us over the years.

Oh and don't let them talk to a customer until they know what they are talking about. Believe me, I have heard lots of stories of things that newbies have said over the years. One of my favorite was a new guy explaining dry cleaning.. "it's called dry cleaner because it cleans as it dries"