I’ve been interviewing people recently for an open position at HindSite. I’ve received more than 100 applications, and talked to at least 30 people. Everyone wants to be a marketer, it seems.
But not everyone has the traits necessary to do the job, and do it well. One of the first things I did before even placing the job ad was write down the five key traits I’m looking for in the position, and then wrote a series of questions to see which of the people I interviewed exhibited these traits. It worked well - by defining what I wanted in the position, I was able to find multiple candidates who fit the bill.
That got me thinking of our customers. Many of them have expressed frustration because they are having a difficult time hiring in their green industry businesses. What should they look for when they hire?
To help, below are five traits I think are essential to a great irrigation technician.
Loves to Solve Problems
In my marketing position, I was primarily searching for someone to create content like blog posts, eBooks, reports, presentations, social media, video. To me, the majority of the position involves telling a story in some capacity. So one of the core traits I was looking for was someone who loved to write.
For an irrigation service technician, the core of their job is solving problems. They need to be able to diagnose issues in irrigation systems, and then fix them. If they don’t enjoy problem solving it’s likely they won’t enjoy the job. And even more likely that they won’t succeed.
So be sure to find someone that enjoys solving problems. How can you find that person? Ask them to solve a problem. For example, one of the questions Google asks in an interview is “If I asked you to wash all of the windows in Seattle, how much would you bill me?” That takes some analytical skills to determine how many windows, roughly how long each window would take, the prevailing window washing wage, and other inputs
Craft a couple questions that are going to force your candidates to think on their feet to solve a problem. If it seems like they relish the opportunity, then they likely love solving problems.
Self Starter
When I think of car assembly lines, I think of employees that are given a task to perform and perform it repeatedly without thinking. That’s the exact opposite of the type of person you want as an irrigation service technician.
Instead, you want someone who is a self-starter. You want someone who can get their work done without any supervision. You want someone who doesn’t need to be told what to do and when to do it.
How do you find those people in an interview? Ask about their previous work experience. Ask what kind of work environment they prefer. Ask what kind of management style they prefer. If they say they like to work with minimal oversight, they’re likely a good fit.
Customer Service Focused
Most people drawn to be irrigation service technicians also tend to be introverts. The position appeals to them because, typically, they don’t have to interact much with people on a daily basis. So you may assume that they aren’t interested in taking care of customers.
Don’t make that assumption. It’s vitally important that you hire irrigation service technicians that love your customers. They need to genuinely care about helping your customers improve their irrigation systems. If they don’t, you’ll run into trouble.
How do you determine if an applicant is focused on customer service? Ask them questions about previous issues they’ve had with customers, and what they did to solve those issues. You’ll likely be able to tell from their answers just how focused on the customer they are.
Organized
If you want to do more service jobs in a day, you need your irrigation service technicians to be productive. One of the best ways to ensure productivity is to be organized. I’ve seen many of our customers go to great lengths to ensure that their trucks are organized in such a way that it’s easy for their technicians to access the most frequently used parts.
You want your irrigation service technician to be organized as well. You want him to keep his truck in order. You want him to keep his paperwork tidy - or, better yet, diligently use his mobile field service software. You want him to keep himself organized. Nothing turns off a customer more than a disheveled field technician.
You can usually get an idea for how organized someone is by asking them what they do to organize their day. Or what they would do if they were planning a long vacation. Those that are most organized will talk about making lists and creating plans.
Action Oriented
Imagine that you’re on the street of a busy city like New York. Suddenly, someone screams. You see a thief running away with a purse, followed closely by a bystander chasing after the would-be thief.
That bystander is someone you want to hire. Someone who isn’t going to sit passively by and wait for someone else to take action. If you can find that person, you’ll have someone who will make your business better.
Finding that person isn’t easy, but asking questions about how they’d react in specific situations might help you uncover people that are action oriented.
Now that you’ve got the right irrigation technicians in place, it’s time to to give them software that makes it easy for them to track their work. Download our Irrigation Software Buyer’s Guide to learn how to shop for the best irrigation business software.
