Now hiring!....still

[Page]

I’ve been paying for adds for the last couple years now trying to find employees. What a joke. I can’t get guys to show up for an interview. I’ll pay anywhere from $18-$35 depending on experience. I’ve got plenty of equipment to make life easy ( or at least easy as far as tree work goes ) I don’t actually expect to find an employee from this post. I guess I just need to vent a bit. I’ve been hit hard with lyme’s and haven’t been able to work since last November for the most part. ☹️ So which of you highly skilled climbers wants to relocate to eastern PA!😂

 

[vharrison]

I certainly feel your pain. We have a huge problem down here as well. I need lawn maintenance people bad. This morning I took flyers to the laundry mats, the post office, put a craig's list ad for South Florida, and 2 facebook ads.

John and I have been discussing why people do not want to work and besides the money they are getting from the government for sitting home we were dumbfounded. THEN, It dawned on me, they basically don't have to pay rent either (at least in FL) . The landlord can't evict because of Covid. So, the government gives them the money and says eh, you don't have to pay rent.

 

[Page]

I’ve been hiring since long before the pandemic. I’m sure there are people that abuse the unemployment system but I think the bigger problem is that we have drilled it into kids heads not to take these labor jobs. Our parents worked hard to send us to college and to get an education. Now we have a generation of kids who have done exactly that. Can you blame them?
maybe I should start a class at a tech school

 

[SeanKroll]

Historically, tree work has been dangerous, and without a future.

Mechanization has changed things.

I would not do tree work the old way.

 

[Bodean]

Treework is very rare... unicorns need only apply.

It's not easy... and no one sees a future w it.. at least not here. I've never gotten a good employee off an ad... mainly word of mouth. Climbers know climbers.

 

[treetx]

I don't know what the issue is. It seems no one wants to work. Where is the price elasticity? At what point does the hustling begin?

Personally, I'll mow lawns, climb, or manage a crew for any company in my area for $120k a yr/with benefits and health care, and 4 weeks paid vacation. I throw that out there because astonishingly enough, no one has take me up on it. Through that lens, there is a shortage of jobs.

My take is we are on the verge of horrendous inflation. In my area, a new pick up truck is $75-90k, a starter house is $500k. $20/hr doesn't move the needle. The amigos waiting to be picked up in the parking lot of Home Depot are asking $50/hr. Or I could just be old and remember when $10/hr was the day my ship came in, I bought a house sub $200k, and my brand new F350 4x4 was $30k. Back in my day....lol

 

[pigwot]

Mike,
Where in Eastern PA are you located?

 

[Page]

Mike,
Where in Eastern PA are you located?

Telford. Between philly and allentown

 

[BeerGeek]

Mike, I'm having the same problem here ( and getting WuFlu didn't help in March when I actually had people responding to my ads). I had a clown show up last week claiming "tree work experience" (he had basically been a brush dragger/chipper feeder for 2 months for a local company). He started off by saying that I would need to pay him $30/hr, cash only so he could keep collecting UI. As I'm offering $18-$25/hr depending on experience, I wished him good luck in his search for that unicorn job.

 

[Tree09]

Well a bunch of people chose/were forced to retire when this all hit, a bunch still don't have daycare for kids yet and really don't want to get sick from their little walking petri dishes, and many probably decided the field they were working on has no future moving forward so their layoff was the spark they needed to decide to go elsewhere. What companies/ industries are seeing a workers shortage? The ones that don't pay shit, had hiring problems before the pandemic, and are being rapidly replaced by automation and equipment.

Much like the so called "skills gap" bullshit, it's all a lie unless everyone has to raise wages to try to compete, which of course isn't happening. Supply and demand work both ways, and a massive hiring drive by everyone simultaneously should be driving wages thru the roof in the short term and long term, which of course it isn't. Instead Republicans are trying to claim that unemployment is why everyone is staying home, as if 500 a week is a livable wage. The dow Jones has increased by 3.4 TIMES in the past 20 years, but if wages climb at all everyone starts bitching and moaning about hyperinflation like were going to have to burn cash for heat like Weimar Germany. In reality, the pandemic simply extenuated and accelerated trends that have been in place for decades, honestly since the 70s since wealth has grown exponentially while wages have been more or less stagnant.

 

[SeanKroll]

Where have you all found the best workers?

 

[kevin bingham]

host a recreational climb. put the word out via facebook or social media. Michigan has a facebook group dedicated to rec climbing. I hosted one a few weeks a go and if i were hiring atm there were three or four potential young guys that would be great prospects they sounded unhappy at their current companies because they were not learning anything. and their bosses only cared about production. there a ton of young people who dont want to be imprisoned in the white collar world. tree climbing is cool as hell these days. myself would rather do tree work for 14$ than fast food for $25 and i think most people would. those jobs can't find anyone because the work is brutal. Was just at a climbing comp this weekend with all kinds of young kids crazy about tree work. its an increasingly popular profession as far as i can tell. kids are searching hard for options of rewarding work. being a white collar slave isn't that cool anymore either and college is also not as popular an option as before.

 

[Tree09]

Where have you all found the best workers?

Same place as you, lying next to me in bed in the am (the wife not the dog ). My brother does excellent, as do a few buddies, but I'm part time small fish. My buddy just went full time, it's him, his partner, and their wives. If you can't find employees, maybe you need a partner, not necessarily equal, but one that is going to want to work because they are vested in the results.

 

[cory]

KB, how'd it go with your search for a salesman?

 

[SeanKroll]

My stump sub approached me about a partnership.

Dunno.

 

[Tree09]

Why not? If it works you get a very reliable hand, who already has some gear. Maybe a 60/40 split or something like that, if it doesn't work just go back to normal. You can still work without him and vise versa, but then you get a guy who is as hungry as you.

 

[SeanKroll]

He's retired from a state career, and gone into biz. Pushing 65-70.

 

[Tree09]

Ahh i see. Can he run a mini to feed a chipper, run ropes, and run a saw a bit? Does he have younger family members?

 

[Nutball]

host a recreational climb. put the word out via facebook or social media. Michigan has a facebook group dedicated to rec climbing. I hosted one a few weeks a go and if i were hiring atm there were three or four potential young guys that would be great prospects they sounded unhappy at their current companies because they were not learning anything. and their bosses only cared about production. there a ton of young people who dont want to be imprisoned in the white collar world. tree climbing is cool as hell these days. myself would rather do tree work for 14$ than fast food for $25 and i think most people would. those jobs can't find anyone because the work is brutal. Was just at a climbing comp this weekend with all kinds of young kids crazy about tree work. its an increasingly popular profession as far as i can tell. kids are searching hard for options of rewarding work. being a white collar slave isn't that cool anymore either and college is also not as popular an option as before.

I guess it could pay off to remember those giant trees good for rec climbing. Big trees aren't too easy to find around here, but I have 3 6+ft dbh oaks in mind and a group of giant broad cottonwoods.

 

[flushcut]

My stump sub approached me about a partnership.

Dunno.

No,

I don't see much of a partnership if the guys is much older and is only a stump guy.

I have had luck with word of mouth.

 

[SeanKroll]

He wants to let me run the crew, he and his wife could run admin/ HR and take care of equipment and logistics, with some equipment operating.

He comes from a business-type background, not tree industry.

I self-lower almost everything that i rope down. I've had three big tree removals in the last two years where groundworkers lowered big blocks.

I need groundworkers who don't need babysitting, after training... ideally not needing training, but...

 

[lxskllr]

How much weight do you do yourself Sean, and what do you use for friction?

 

[Tree09]

He wants to let me run the crew, he and his wife could run admin/ HR and take care of equipment and logistics, with some equipment operating.

He comes from a business-type background, not tree industry.

Then no. I personally don't need a boss or "logistics" guy lol. Most people who don't have a clue about trees think that all you need to do is buy a chipper, truck, and a lift, then hire some guys from mickey dees and they'll be a millionaire in a month. If he's willing to go bust his ass along side you (let's be honest, running a mini and a rope isn't busting ass) that's one thing, a clown thinking you are his golden ticket is another.

 

[Nutball]

I like climbers who can lower stuff themselves. There's a lot of good in that. I don't think I've worked with such a climber though.

 

[Tree09]

Depends on what you are doing tho, swinging whole leads over houses in one shot isn't going to be a climber only kind of thing. Neither is stuff you have to drift away from structures or speedline stuff, or blocking trunk wood. Another human controlling a rope and/or pulling a line to guide a fall is pretty awesome and can remove a bunch of messing around cutting stuff smaller.