Recruitment

[Agile]

Oddly there is a considerable demand for training courses for combi boilers but this is to fuel the demand for people who are hell bent to be self employed and let themselves loose on the public with little experience.

The trouble is that the public have little ability to discern between the honest experienced people and the new breed of cowboys!

Tony Glazier

 

[JohnD]

I didn't understand why you were looking at the Mirror and the Stun. these are national newspapers, have you got offices all over the UK? If not, why not advertise in your major regional/city based papers? the very probably have one day a week when everyone considering a move will buy a copy and have a browse.

 

[BDL]

The Sun and The Mirror both offer targeted areas.

i.e. the paper may well be national but an ad can placed to cover just the South East publications.

 

[Agile]

Surely the BETTER people will read the Telegraph and the Times or Observer ???

Even the Evening Standard has a section for "plumbers"! But steer clear of anyone who calls themselves a "plumber" if you want a boiler engineer!

I keep on being bombarded by our ISP ( AOL ) saying they have a vibrant job section! There are also other online job vacancies.

Targeting computer literate people should get rid of many of the rif-raf who are focussed on PP boilers!

Someone " auctioned" a traineeship with a heating firm a few months ago on Ebay and got about £5000 payment for 6 months intensive training leading to a £25k job for anyone who was good at the job!

Tony Glazier

 

[BDL]

Hi Tony,

That auction WAS ACTUALLY US!!!

We decided to give it a go, we started the bidding at 5k and got 1 bid from a guy. He actually turned out to be useless, but he was grateful for the training and is now working self employed fixing boilers.

 

[Agile]

Yes, I thought it was! But not being absolutely certain I could hardly say that categorically!

I actually had an exchange of email with him when he won!

I hope that he is not causing too many problems for the public!

Trouble is there are too many people with cash and no ability to learn.

My last trainee has got a ( provisional ) job. He is honest and polite but admits he is not that good at diagnosing boiler faults. I rate his two good qualities as half way there!

Tony

 

[BDL]

Agree totally!!

Our way of thinking was "If someone is willing to pay £5000.00 to get some basic training/experience then he will not be time waster and will get involved to get his moneys worth"


All in all a fair result for both parties, we were not out of pocket and the trainee picked up some valuable skills.

 

[BOB.DOLE]

Moving home? We can give you an impartial report on the condition of the heating system in your new home! Don't buy someone elses troublesome/poorly maintained system. A full test and written report supplied for just £95.00.


Just take a look at this company,s charge for a home owners report

i do these for £35 this is what gives gas engineers a bad name overcharging and paying the guy who does the work £12 hr

 

[BDL]

Blob you do a FULL check of the boiler and system for £35.00. How long does this take you? Do you fully check the boiler? Do you measure temperature differential across the boiler? Do you take a water samples and get it checked by Fernox?

Do you by chance check the WHOLE system for signs og age/leakage?

Do you provide the client with a FULL written report of the system? supply them with a copy of the wtr test results?

Our inspections take approx 2-3 hours to do on average. how long do yours take for £35.00? 30minutes?


You really are quite annoying.

 

[Nige F]

So are the courses c.£5k ?presumably you would need to be CORGI already and how much experience would you need on boiler repairs previously?.......Y`see I went to a BG recruitment once and they didn`t even bother replying As the guys know, I`m an old skool Plumber, who used to install c/h mostly domestic.Until Corgi.So probably on the wrong side of the track.......and too old But interested. Anyways I`ve acquired a small diesel HP jetter so that`s my next project,where there`s muck there`s brass ........Just looked @ your site . Bug`s Hole isn`t a million miles away...bet you`ve got E.Sx. covered with "proper" engineers already

 

[BOB.DOLE]

Blob you do a FULL check of the boiler and system for £35.00. How long does this take you? Do you fully check the boiler? Do you measure temperature differential across the boiler? Do you take a water samples and get it checked by Fernox?

Do you by chance check the WHOLE system for signs og age/leakage?

Do you provide the client with a FULL written report of the system? supply them with a copy of the wtr test results?

Our inspections take approx 2-3 hours to do on average. how long do yours take for £35.00? 30minutes?


You really are quite annoying.

taking the temp measurement across the boiler takes seconds
i do check for leakage and again takes seconds
and no i dont take water samples unless it is on a new boiler with problems and this is only done to cover the manu,s arsres if no inhabitor was put in and makes the warranty void.

the water test is just another way to pump up your prices
and yes i do give a full writen report

 

[Beans-on-Toast]

It always worries me when people that cannot read or write properly conduct tests and produce reports.

No Offence, BOBDOLE

 

[AliW]

I maybe talking completely out of place here so apologies if I am....... I work in Human Resources and when placing adverts for 'qualified staff' (and I'm talking NHS here and not plumbing/Gas) we try to use a relevant journal for the type of staff we wish to attract. We use an advertising agency for the advert presentation and for placing in the recruitment media. The advertising agency you use would be able to tell you what professional journals there are for Gas engineers. None of this comes cheap and £2.5k is about the ball park for this type of advert if not £3k.

 

[BDL]

Ali the point is that although spending this money to advertise there is not a shortage of applicants, but a shortage of decent, qualified engineers that CAN ACTUALLY DO THE JOB.


Nigel, yes we have Sussex pretty well managed, but we are of course open to any offers

 

[AliW]

All I could add is that the person specification and job description supplied as part of the recruitment pack must clearly identify the type of applicant wanted - so to should the advert. If these are stringent enough then it will reduce the number of unsuitable applicants. If your interview procedures/questions are thorough enough it should leave you with suitable applicants only. Nothing is always guaranteed in recruitment but this ensures your company has tried its best to get quality employees.