Interview questions

[GreenI.A.]

Originally Posted by lazor-cut

.....
Is he a Family Man? (Gotta pickup his kids at 3:30 everyday, or Babysit on a Regular basis,etc)

I would warn against asking this. This is a question you can not legally ask in this manor. You can instead advise that the job requires him/her to work certain hours and that missing work/leaving early would result in discipline action up to and including termination.

Originally Posted by DavidsonLandscaping

i would also ask about any phyiscal issuses that might be a problem. i.e. back, shoulder, knee problems that might restrict them from preforming daily tasks.

You cant ask this one and by doing so you are opening yourself up to law suit as well as fines from the state. You can can list the job duties and requirements such as standing all day, constantly lifting /carrying 75lbs, etc.. But you can not ask about specific injuries


You also can not ask specifically "do you use drugs?", what you can do is ask on the application "can you pass a routine drug test?", and state that you test all applicants for illegal drug use. Even if you don't plan to test them, putting this on the application will weed out potential problems.

[GreenI.A.]

Originally Posted by matt25738

Does anyone here check criminal record and references?? I know in our industry your going to find a lot of people with priors, so how do you go about doing background checks?? I have too many high end properties that I can't risk something happening.

We do a criminal background, driving record, credit, and drug screen. We also do routine drug screening per our insurance policy. Insurance also requires I drug screen anyone involved in any insurance claim that results in damage to vehicles, property, or injury to employee.

[McFarland_Lawn_Care]

Have them just talk about themselves. Let THEM do the talking and you just listen and take notes. They should do 3/4 of the talking....you can learn SOOO much more this way. Make them sell themselves to you.

[ed2hess]

Originally Posted by lazor-cut

Have it in person...Make them come to you! (First Test!)
-If they dot show up or they're not on time...Maybe they're not the right candidate.
...

Almost 9 out of 10 don't show up even after you talk to them on the phone and they indicate they are interested. We ask them to show us how to operate a weed eater. That eliminates the rest.

[jrs.landscaping]

Originally Posted by ed2hess

Almost 9 out of 10 don't show up even after you talk to them on the phone and they indicate they are interested. We ask them to show us how to operate a weed eater. That eliminates the rest.

I like this idea, make sure they know the equipment they will be operating, if we're hiring a guy to run a mower we make him drive it around to show he can do it. Like McFarland said, let them sell themselves to you, what they know, equipment they can run etc...

[Gilmore.Landscaping]

My boss a few years back was always looking for something with little to no experience in the lawn care industry.

His theory was that if they are willing to learns its a lot easier to teach them to operate equipment properly then trying to correct issues they have.

[matt25738]

Originally Posted by ed2hess

Almost 9 out of 10 don't show up even after you talk to them on the phone and they indicate they are interested. We ask them to show us how to operate a weed eater. That eliminates the rest.

I really appreciate everyones advice. This is a huge help. I definitely like this idea. Couldn't tell you how many part timers we've hired over the years that would've failed this and potentially saved us a lot of time and headache.

[TinMan1]

Originally Posted by ed2hess

Almost 9 out of 10 don't show up even after you talk to them on the phone and they indicate they are interested. We ask them to show us how to operate a weed eater. That eliminates the rest.

I did this yesterday and always do, watch them scalp the ground around the tree

[alldayrj]

Shot out of a cannon, Oprah winfrey, barbara walters, your wife. F one, marry one, kill one GO!
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[McFarland_Lawn_Care]

hahahahhaaha....