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MARINE TECHNICIANTODAY | SPRING 2015
I
just looked over Joe’s monthly message and management
article. How fitting that he brought up the topic of work ethics,
as it made me think of two activities I just participated in that
I think are relevant and worth sharing with all.
The first one is about interviewing potential employees. Every spring
my school holds an event for students to help them hone their job
seeking skills. The event includes resume reviewing, employer forums,
and mock interviews. This year we asked a local owner of a marine
dealership to come conduct mock interviews for my marine students.
Each student was scheduled an interview. The day progressed
and students who had completed the mock interviews started to
trickle back into the marine lab. I could tell something was up; they
seemed confused and somewhat taken off guard at the interviewer’s
methods. I overheard some comments such as “He never looked at
my resume” and “He didn’t ask me what I have learned.” Next was
a debriefing between the marine business owner and the students.
As the debriefing began, one student quickly commented, “You didn’t
ask me anything about what I know,” others chimed in with similar
comments. His response was this: I know that you have the basic
skills to begin your career repairing marine engines and systems.
I can teach to you skills that you don’t have yet or send you for
additional training at factory schools. I know what is on your resume
already and can read it later. What I don’t know is if you will be a good
fit with my team. I don’t know if you are personable. I don’t know if
you can carry your end of a conversation. I don’t know if you can have
a respectful conversation with a customer. I don’t know if you are
trustworthy. These are the most important questions I need answers
to before hiring someone. We just need to have a quality conversation.
I need to get to know each applicant on a more personal level to make
an informed decision before hiring a person.
This was a bit of an eye opener for me. The training I was providing
my students was very important to him, but that only was part of the
picture. He needed to see what else that applicant has to offer to his
business, and how that person will fit with his team. He hired one of
my students a few days later for a summer position.
Second, I just spent 12 hours with a friend of mine on a drive down
to Oshkosh, WI to pick up a used Boston Whaler boat, a 700 mile
round trip in one day. With all that time on our hands just driving, we
spent a lot of time chatting about stuff. My friend is part owner of a
mechanical engineering firm. He is in charge of hiring and filling all
the positions. Just like in the marine industry, he is having a difficult
time hiring people to fill his openings. Likely he will have to hire
someone from another business, and has even hired a head hunter
to seek out and find qualified candidates. I have already heard of
this happening in the marine industry, so don’t pass on this option
if you really need to fill a position. Since my friend’s business is in
a midsize town, he often can’t offer the top wages, or compete with
those in large urban areas. He has found that he doesn’t really need
to; don’t get me wrong, it’s not that people aren’t looking for good
wages but they want much more. He has found that he needs to be
located in an area that is desirable for young professionals. There
needs to be abundant outdoor activities in the area (we’re in boating
so that’s one!). He needs to offer a comfortable, clean, supportive
work environment. People don’t just want a job, they want to be
part of a team, they want support from the team, and they want to
collaborate with each other. They need the social aspect of work,
they want to go home at the end of the day knowing they did a good
and efficient job, not totally exhausted trying to meet unrealistic
expectations and demands.
Achieving something similar to this in the marine industry will be
quite a challenge. During the summer we are all under a lot of
stress as we all have way too much work to complete in a very
short period of time. Pushing a technician to finish the ten boats
scheduled for the day, when he knows realistically that only five
can be completed is probably counterproductive in their eyes.
Ten years ago a technician could have taken that as a challenge,
not today.
Todd Larson is an Instructor for the Marine Repair Technician Program at
Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College (WITC) in Ashland, WI 715.682.4591
ByTodd Larson, Instructor WITC
Quick Note from the AMTECH VP
NOTE FROM THE VP
