Hiring part time help?

[un2xs]

What do you look for/at when hiring a (student) part time employee? Availability is a key for us during the training phase. But, what else do you check?

Thanks for any serious input.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Ability to listen. Give them a task where they need to listen and follow steps.

[Siress]

Initiative, and able to accept constructive criticism.

Initiative is most of it though. I don't care if the new hire follows my guidance on non-major tasks or not as long as measurable improvements are being made. I let them work on school projects when they don't feel like they're making progress on a back-burner task at work. At least that way they're getting more experience rather than banging their head against the wall with a task that's too challenging for their skill level.

[maggot]

Full transparency, I've never hired part-timers. That said, I think #1 is someone that doesn't annoy the piss out of me and the full-timers. Fitting the culture is a big one.

[Shaftski]

Being on time. if they show up before shift officially starts and don't watch the clock to wait and punch out they are a keeper. reliability and a desire to work more important than skill.

[Tarsun2]

when i was a new employee at one point in time, my boss told me something that really stuck with me.
he say "do what you're supposed to do before i have to tell you to do it."

also the full transparency is probably a good thing. mistakes are made by all but the worst thing you can do is try and hide it.

[XEMON]

Make sure they were asking when they get stuck or didn't understand something instead of going off book ...
That was a huge thing for me when i was training production people.

[punkncat]

Do you live in some magical place where people actually WANT to work?

We have been trying since ~Oct to find an alarm tech. Been through loads of interviews of people who were 'suggested' within hiring app(s) or that contacted us outright. To come around to the point of this in respect to the topic....

Hope you can find someone who isn't full of shit about what they need to know for your type of work experience and knowledge. A lot of people can talk a good game, and in particular if they were cognizant enough to do a bit of searching on the job requirements.

I have yet to have an interview last over ~3 minutes. I do a quick intro, tell them a small bit about who we are, and then I ask a question that IF they had any experience in the field would be easy. NOT ONE person has been able to answer that in a satisfactory way.

[jokers]

In my opinion having never hired someone part time or full time a silly test is best. Get a bucket of A1R, sweep the dirt road, change the blinker fluid, follow a SOP to nowhere, or even a task that seems pointless but is actually required print and fold flyers for your business, organize the chemical cabinet, label all of their tools. The fun one figure out how well they follow directions, critically think and take a joke. The seemingly pointless ones give you a sense of their ability to stay on task, to follow directions and accomplish something. Either are good.
Now if you are trying to hire someone and you have a group of people you work with make sure you have at least one of them in the interview, and all that want to participate provide an interview question. (Proof read and discard some of the questions, you do not want to get in the interview and read a joke as an interview question.)
If you are alone, and hiring part time help for long or short term I would suggest going with a temp agency, the reason being, it will cost you more then paying them but the temp agency covers the hiring firing, insurances, taxes and i think workman's comp. The only thing you have to do is give the temp agency a list of what you want and how long you will need them for even if it is permanent part time position a temp agency will allow you to get the feel of a person before you bring them on.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Best bet is find someone hungry to work, learn, and ask questions to problems they don’t know the answers to. You want someone who will take constructive criticism and not go cry in the corner about it. That my friend is hard to find especially in the current state of labor shortage. The largest boom in population is due to retire / were forced to retire (Covid). It’s a mass exodus of skilled laborers out of the work force. Not only were the future working class not prepared to pick up the slack they generally don’t work as hard and are tethered to their phones. We raised an entitled self centered work force with no real job skills and the attention span of a gnat. What could possibly go wrong.

Good luck finding the diamond in the ruff, find someone trainable. You will need to pay them more to keep said person when you find them. Because every other competitor will be looking to poach good labor because it’s in very short supply. Especially after you have gave them the skills they need to look elsewhere.

[un2xs]

Our candidate pool is university students. And some students have left us to work for more money where they basically get paid to study. Think lab monitor or phone jockey.

[Levi]

With that demographic, you might see if you can get them talking about their upbringing. See if you can find the "country kid" who grew up doing chores around the farm/home. Played outside, built tree forts, split & stacked firewood, etc.

It's slim pickings across all age brackets, but especially so in the younger end. The youngest guy working for me is 35. I've been unsuccessful so far with everyone younger than that. The young adults I know who are actually impressive all grew up with responsibilities and were taught work ethic by their parents.

If they mention being homeschooled I would also consider that another indicator that they may be a cut above the rest. I've met some homeschooled teens that have been really impressive individuals.

[flyweightnate]

Remember that a key issue continuing to the generation gap is the need to know "why". Millennial and Gen Z have been screwed by the system... I was talking to a 26 year old who was in pre school on 9/11, was just 11 when the economic collapse probably took his parents' house, and was getting into college right as it all turned to Cambridge Analytica and Black Lives Matter. Graduation was Covid. He literally has never experienced normal. He's just done IT work from his apartment between semesters.

Because of that, lots of younger workers are short on trust, and simply want to know "why".

If, during the interview, you can explain your constraints and how they need to communicate their schedule to let you plan ahead, it might go a long way to sounding "reasonable". Add that you'll write a letter of recommendation at the end of the semester, and the smart ones know that might be worth more than the pay.

It's a weird market, but it's not completely "their" fault they don't want to work in it. You're probably going to be the first normal job some of them will be applying for.