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Hiring a foreman who talks a big game but can't read a grade stake cost me $2,300 in rework
I run a small landscaping crew in Sacramento and hired a new foreman back in March because he had 12 years of experience on his resume. First big job was a drainage regrade on a 1/4 acre lot and he set the whole thing 8 inches off because he eyeballed the slope instead of checking our laser level. We had to tear out 60 feet of trench and start over, and the client pushed our next two jobs back a week. What I keep seeing people get wrong is hiring for years on a resume instead of watching someone actually do the task for 20 minutes. I should have had him set one small grade during the interview, that would have told me everything. Now I do a paid half day trial with anybody who will be running a crew. Anyone else have a trial task that weeds out the talkers from the doers?
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coleman.jade15d ago
Ran into the same thing with a guy who swore he could run a mini excavator. Put him in the seat for ten minutes and he dug a trench that looked like a snake had a seizure. Twenty minutes on a real task tells you more than any resume or reference call ever will. Years on paper mean nothing if the guy can't read a grade stake when it counts. The paid trial day is the smartest money you'll spend, way cheaper than eating $2,300 in rework. We started doing the same thing with anybody touching equipment, and the talkers wash out fast once they're actually behind the controls.
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