RED FLAGS IN AN INTERVIEW - Oldie But Goodie

I posted this for all the guys that didn't get to read it before. As always we love your opinions and we'll keep reminding your of them!

TOPIC

PLY GUY- Now hiring... what are some of your "red flags"in applicant interviews?

REPLYS

LEFTY-

We have put together a benefit package that is bringing a better skilled worker. A moment of silence from me. This will usually get them to expose themselves.

SEEN IT ALL- When every second word our of their mouth is the "f bomb", "Sorry I'm late, I didn't know the bus schedule", "I can bang on 20 square a day". Glazed stare or smelling like booze or smelling period. I always conduct the first interview as a coffee shop so if they are a scumbag they aren't scoping out my house, shop, trucks, tools, wife or daughter. I look for subtle things like keeping their focus while talking, not staring at every woman walking by, because they will do it on the job-site too. Look them straight in the eye when you ask them questions, it can tell you a lot.

Mike H- "I'm an experienced roofer" is all I need to hear to know I don't need 'em.

PLYGUY- I don't get it Mike isn't that the first thing you want to hear?

Mike H- Plyguy, Good roofers needing work are a rare breed. Bad roofers needing work are a dime a dozen. When I hear a guy say he's an experienced roofer, that is the top red flag for problems. I'll take food people and make them good roofers. Taking bad roofers and making them good people is really difficult. Very few of my employees had any roofing experience when they came here.

TWILL- Mike H- How would you handles an interview with an experienced roofer? Assuming that he made the first cut, you find him to be "decent" and personable, What next? What questions do you ask, or don't ask? Do you take his responses differently from a non-experienced guy? Obviously you are prejudiced here. And rightly so. How do you overcome that, if you think the guy might be a good prospect?

ALBA- When they complain too much about their former supervisors it's a red flag right there. No matter how mean the supervisor he won't pick on a good roofer that minds his own business and does what he's been asked to do. Well there are some psychopaths that do that but they're very rare.

SWAN MAN- I like your answers Mike - that is my strategy this year - get the right people on my team, not the right - “experienced roofer". I am having good luck finding guys that were teachers wanting a change to give roofing a try. Hope it works out.

Mike H- Twill, outside of asking if they have any roofing experience and letting them tell about it, the actual answer has no bearing. I just honestly do not care AT ALL if they have so-called experience. Unless they worked for a highly respected company and were well versed in warranted systems by respected manufacturers, their experience means nothing to me. Roofing is not rocket science; it is largely common sense. How a man's common sense was obtained is not important, the strikes against him are not important, what matters to me is where he stands TODAY. With an attitude of wanting to work and learn, that's all I need. With the right attitude, a total newbie will be a better roofer in three months than the typical "put-of-work" roofer. There is no second cut. If the guy is decent and personable, he's told to go take his drug test and will be given a start day as soon as we receive a "negative" report. I am not prejudiced, but I cannot remember hiring a "roofer" that was local. Have hired some guys that moved into the area. Some worked out, some didn't. I'm sure we have, but don't remember anyone specific. As I said, it's just not a topic worth bringing up to me. Until last year, there was no local company that did anywhere near the kind of work we did. If a guy came from another local roofing company, the only thing he could have said that would impress me was "I left because they simple were not up to my standards", or something of that effect. If tried to impress me with his knowledge gleaned from the other outfit I'll just be smiling as I said "Don't call us, we'll call you."

TWILL- So if he's decent, personable and drug-free you give him a chance, OK.

MIKE H- Perhaps the best question you can ask in an interview is "why did you leave your last job?"Big egos will tell you all about it. Just smile and nod in agreement as they cinch the rope around their neck.

TWILL- I hate unemployed people asking for work. It's not smart to be without a job if it's not circumstances beyond your control. The only 2 technical questions I'm more interested in their tape measure abilities. I just wonder where you draw the line between the workers and the company ha has kept. I know it's hard, if not impossible to Un-Do bad habits. I'm guilty as charged too. I hired a guy last fall. He is just eating my roofing books up. He can't believe that there is a right way roof. That there are "reasons"for doing it the way it is supposed to be done. The last company he worked for told him to "Just do it, and shut up. Don't think about it." It doesn't mean that he will "make it"- or that I am "great". Just don't throw the baby out with the bath water here. He said he quit because they were screaming production over safety, quality and common sense. Any way Mike, just trying to get a sense of when you might take a chance on a roofer. And the other three guys in my employ never roofed before I fired them either.

PGRIZ- Twill, if we want a good wife/husband, do we ask for "experience" or do we look for good character and willingness to make the relationship work? When someone has "experience", how much bad baggage, comes along with the good stuff? Probably the only reason to hire "experience" is if one is clueless about what to do and needs someone who kinda knows to show what to do. But if we know our trade, then it is our job to be sure the hired help knows how to do it exactly as it has to be done. And that means investing in the person by training them, mentoring them, supervising them, and finally letting them take the lead. Will they appreciate what you have done for them? Only if they have a good character. So in my books, hiring character has to take precedence.

Mike H- I think your guy gave you the right answers when he said they put production over safety and quality. That's the kind of stuff I want to hear in a roofer looking for another company but you know, with all the crap I'm throwing around here, don't think for a minute that there are not guys we've hired just because they were a warm body that passed the drug test. We won't hang on to 'em long if they are no good, but there have been times when the application file was really thin.

THE ROOFING GOD- I do find trouble w/guys not listening to instruction when they are experienced and it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. As a business owner I feel it's easy to be humble when the bills don't come in my name. If a guy says he has a better technique for something I will always listen. 1st, he may have something, if it's bad I'll tell him what's wrong with it and why we do it the way we do. If I have to tell him twice that's wasting too much of my time. I agree with most of what you say mike but there are exceptions to every rule.

OTTAWA ROOFER - I think Mike nailed this one, good roofers aren't looking for work, people are going to them.

MK- Too much talking - we require humility listening skills, Late - not - May have many bad habits. Asks for a high wage - Thinks he's ENTITLED and that doesn't fly here. We make people prove it first. Fails physical and/or drug test - no brainer. Doesn't speak English. CRAZED ROOFER - Wow, many interesting and informative ideas. In Wisconsin, as least in my area, I think I'm the only roofing contractor who actually pre-screens potential employees criminal background. I have passed up on a lot of experience in the last 4 years I'm sure but I also passed on all the baggage that goes with them as well. I am with Mike H, you can train people to roof but your can't un-spoil a rotten apple!

When we were hiring so called roofers we gave them a simple test, if they were shingle type we would take them on a job for a try out, if they were hot roofers, we did the same from Kettle to paper setting to mopping and handling all of the hot and on deck equipment, If they had a drivers licence or chauffeur's permit they would pass the 1st test lol

This is a very interesting topic for me since I have been interviewing with companies, not very happy with the company I am currently at. Having been an employer for 10 years and paying attention to topics like this, I think is a bonus for me, but I will be honest I have a hard time not complaining about my current management since they are the reason I want to leave.

How do you say, politely, "The company is disorganized, successful on accident, has zero quality control, and the production manager is not qualified to do his job."?

In one of the threads MikeH stated, "They aren't up to my standards." and that's the damned honest truth. When asked for examples, it's easy to come up with a few. "When a customer calls because their roof is leaking, the owner will insist that what they are describing has nothing to do with the roof, even without inspecting it, and often these conversations can turn into shouting matches. How can I sell to customers with confidence knowing if they have a legitimate complaint, they will be yelled at without cause?"

When I am interviewing, I am as much interviewing the employer as much as they are interviewing me. I failed big time on my last round of interviews when accepting the offer from this place.

Here is a question related to the original, how long is your average interview? I always thought, and continue to do so, that 1 hour just isn't enough to ask and answer all the questions needed to be discussed.

Fun reading this thread. Not sure why I don't remember it from the old days.

I can't really contribute much to the discussion because of the nature and size of my business. In the first ten years, I hired relatives, friends, and friends of friends. Then there were occasional subs whom I screened or partnership arrangements. The second ten years there were union guys whom I borrowed. I never got any really good ones who were versatile enough to do the wide range of work I do so I couldn't maintain a consistent and competent team. The union could never or would never provide me with guys out of the hall either. Had to escape being signatory to their master agreement to survive.

Years twenty to thirty it was just me and one right hand man augmented by one to five guys on a short-term basis when particular projects or runs of projects required more manpower. The "friend" pool, all those swaggering young men of my day, is overweight, weak, half-blind, half-senile, sunburn in a half hour, especially on the top of the head, have no sense of balance anymore, or are now too wily to get caught doing what we do for a living. Too hard; way too hard.

Most people my children's age are now showing incipient signs of all the same problems themselves and I don't speak Spanish. There are some wonderful hispanic workers out there I don't reach for because I have always had my "one guy" that shares at least three quarters of my own personality and background traits.

Years thirty to forty have been a slow process of handing things over to a young man about my own children's age.

But when we hire, I look for general comportment as was mentioned by others, tool sense because when we need someone we need him to work right now, not go through a long training period starting from scratch, general health and strength, and lastly he has to hold out his hands, palms up so I can see if he has been using them for more than keypads, paper-pushing, or brushing his teeth. That's probably one of the most important. Guys who love making things use tools, even when they are between jobs.

Also, since we're such a small unit and we're thrown so tightly together, I have to know if I can stand riding in the truck with him for more than one day. I want to know what his intellect is like; what he thinks is funny, what he thinks is serious, and what he values. I want him to hold his own as a person, not be too aggressive, and not be too needy. My favorite is the young anglo just getting used to having muscle power and pocket money who wants to do well and isn't afraid to say, "Man, how do you old guys make it look so easy?" If you know the magic words, even after all this time, you can still sucker me.

Haha nice one!

In high school my Dad would say he wouldn't hire anybody that claimed to have experience. I didn't understand.

Now I do. He would occasionally break the rules, and we still do. We hired a guy from Florida recently who had worked w/ Fibertite and some other stuff I'm interested in. He is seriously the first guy I've prospected that talked about doing things according to codes. He is pretty good, but I've had to put my spin on some things.