Adventures with Corndog: Corndog's Fish Store
- Thread starter Corndog
- Start date
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
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For a point of reference, McDonald's is paying $9 here. I actually did get that guy with one year experience as skilled, because he was sick of working places where they didn't have the hours we did. He was getting $15 an hour, but only 10-20 hours a week. We are on unlimited hours from now until December.
opiate82
Bronze Squire
- 3,078
- 5
I've also had a difficult time hiring lately. Usually a problem I always have when sales are good.
One thing that works well for me in recruiting, as someone who needs to rely on mostly high-school and college aged kids, is offering an extremely flexible schedule. My turnover is way below the industry average. I pay decent enough (for my industry) but not top dollar. However, my employees basically write their own schedules and very rarely do they get denied any request for a day off. They love the flexibility and it keeps them around.
Also I've discovered that I get a lot more applications in when I run a "now hiring" promoted post on Facebook versus things like Craigslist or newspaper ads. Last hiring Facebook promoted post I ran cost $100, got me 15,000 views including almost 100 shares, plus another 50 or so comments which were basically people tagging any of their friends who they knew were job hunting. Managed to get 8 new hires out of that versus trying Craigslist just before running that promoted post and getting nothing.
One thing that works well for me in recruiting, as someone who needs to rely on mostly high-school and college aged kids, is offering an extremely flexible schedule. My turnover is way below the industry average. I pay decent enough (for my industry) but not top dollar. However, my employees basically write their own schedules and very rarely do they get denied any request for a day off. They love the flexibility and it keeps them around.
Also I've discovered that I get a lot more applications in when I run a "now hiring" promoted post on Facebook versus things like Craigslist or newspaper ads. Last hiring Facebook promoted post I ran cost $100, got me 15,000 views including almost 100 shares, plus another 50 or so comments which were basically people tagging any of their friends who they knew were job hunting. Managed to get 8 new hires out of that versus trying Craigslist just before running that promoted post and getting nothing.
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
- 5,538
- 790
I have no problem putting out a $1,000 bounty to my employees on certain positions, the caveat being that whoever they recommend has to stay six months. When I didn't say the six month clause, the guys would recommend people they know had issues (i.e., stealing). I now tell them that there's no point in recommending a guy who they know is shit, they won't get paid when the guy doesn't last two weeks.
ToeMissile
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
- 2,694
- 1,640
They do this at my company. $2k for sales, $1k for all others. They money is paid out over a year, one quarter at a time IIRC.
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
- 5,538
- 790
I've had other businesspeople tell me it's too expensive. But each man produces $750 a day in revenue. We had about 45 days where I couldn't find anyone reliable and drug free, so you do the math on how much the company lost. Hell, i had one guy quit because they wouldn't let him go to the bar while he was at work operating heavy equipment.
I like this idea, but what do you do when employees are like, I could take that position... and you're like, no, you can't... because their skill level isn't there.
Borzak
Bronze Baron of the Realm
- 24,542
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I would say word of mouth, but in retail you may attract people who just want to socialize while on the clock. No idea bout retail. My best deal for hiring from the lowest guy on the payroll on up has been word of mouth. You can instantly get a deecent idea about the person from who recommended them as well. Had a few tell me "he's not cut out for work here".
Shonuff
Mr. Poopybutthole
- 5,538
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In my industry, I can tell who is skilled and who isn't in five minutes. Guys lie all the time about skill level, which is why we give a tryout day before hiring.
I'm a bank manager in the Seattle area (I thought you were in Washington?) and hiring at that rate is tough when they can go work in a call center and make $15/hr. It can take months to fill teller positions. I also hired a candidate just to fill and now I'm training her replacement because she was terrible. As for the t-mobile guy, if he's making $12 plus commission and he's good, he can easily be making $20+/hr.
Talked to Tmobile guy today, He worked a 4 hour shift at tmobile and averaged $37.50 an hour. So thats the problem is he knows I can't pay him that.
I put an ad up on my facebook page, 1 app so far, we'll see what I can drum up.
I put an ad up on my facebook page, 1 app so far, we'll see what I can drum up.
- 5,425
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He probably gets some kind of relief on his phone too. In this day and age, that kind of thing is huge.
I think BrutulTM's advice about college kids and soccer moms might be helpful for your purposes. I used to work in retail years ago and 4-hour shifts were super common. My supervisors were typically more happy with the part-timers because they filled in the blanks, while the full-timers were prima donnas. Mornings for soccer moms, nights for dads with daytime jobs, and college kids sprinkled in between.
I think BrutulTM's advice about college kids and soccer moms might be helpful for your purposes. I used to work in retail years ago and 4-hour shifts were super common. My supervisors were typically more happy with the part-timers because they filled in the blanks, while the full-timers were prima donnas. Mornings for soccer moms, nights for dads with daytime jobs, and college kids sprinkled in between.
Hired a full time guy, will start in 2 weeks roughly. Will take time to train but will be nice to have a full timer back in the mix of things when I'm more and more out of the store. With me being out of the store 3 days a week I've grown online sales to 25% of overall sales. Some days I make more money online than I do in the retail store at this point. Go go gadget youtube.
Kiroy
Marine Biologist
- 34,598
- 99,819
Corn, exodus to
ReReRolled.org - A Gaming Community
We'll see what happens but just so you know if it completely dies around here.
Kiroy
Marine Biologist
- 34,598
- 99,819
We save a lot by filing as an S-corp. You'll end up putting yourself on the payroll and then those checks you cut yourself to make up the difference are taxed as dividends, saving you a good bit on self employment tax.
https://ct.wolterskluwer.com/resour...rporations-offer-advantages-and-disadvantages
Just get your accountant to send a letter to the IRS (he should know what form I forget now) and you could probably backdate this year as being an s-corp for next years filing. You'll only get 5 months worth of saving on that self employment tax but next year you'll be all set up. The accountant can also help you out picking a 'fair' salary ect. I think my wife and I each pay ourselves like 30k a year on the payroll or something like that. We probably are going to need to look into upping it because it's a gray area with the IRS, your salary needs to be 'reasonable'.
Pretty sure if you go C-Corp there is a ton of paperwork / legal burden that you have to keep up with, and you might end up pumping your savings into accountants and lawyers.
https://ct.wolterskluwer.com/resour...rporations-offer-advantages-and-disadvantages
Just get your accountant to send a letter to the IRS (he should know what form I forget now) and you could probably backdate this year as being an s-corp for next years filing. You'll only get 5 months worth of saving on that self employment tax but next year you'll be all set up. The accountant can also help you out picking a 'fair' salary ect. I think my wife and I each pay ourselves like 30k a year on the payroll or something like that. We probably are going to need to look into upping it because it's a gray area with the IRS, your salary needs to be 'reasonable'.
Pretty sure if you go C-Corp there is a ton of paperwork / legal burden that you have to keep up with, and you might end up pumping your savings into accountants and lawyers.
Kiroy
Marine Biologist
- 34,598
- 99,819
Ah then ya, it's saved us a ton and is pretty dang easy considering you already have payroll setup for your employees.
Jalynfane
Phank 2002
- 719
- 563
Watching my 8 year old Fancy Goldfish act like it will not make it through the night. Pretty sad about it actually. Lost one of the three two months ago and the smaller one that is healthy looking still, Finnegan (lost his front fins five years ago) is very anxious right now.
TrollfaceDeux
Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
- 19,577
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A++
Corndog, what would you recommend for a noob business guy like me who is competing with same dudes with same ambition x 100 in a small town like this? How do I stand out and what sort of things do I need to do drum up business?
Corndog, what would you recommend for a noob business guy like me who is competing with same dudes with same ambition x 100 in a small town like this? How do I stand out and what sort of things do I need to do drum up business?