A business is only as good as its employees, but when you’re having trouble finding experienced talent, it might be time to get creative and hire less-experienced help. As it becomes more and more difficult to find seasoned workers, many home improvement businesses are hiring talented employees from other industries.

With the right training and guidance, those inexperienced hires can turn into the most valuable members of your team!

Looking to grow your business with great talent? Read our hiring guide to the right, which outlines the most important 5 roles in your organization – and how to staff for each!

Hire for Attitude

Some skills are important no matter the job, so here are some tips for hiring across all departments.

Know What Can’t Be Taught

You can teach someone to swing a hammer, install cabinets, and discuss home remodeling options with potential customers on the phone. What you cannot teach is a good attitude and a drive to succeed. Talented craftsmen are great, but it’s easier to teach those skills than it is to try and transform someone's personality.

If you’re lucky enough to find someone with a great attitude and a passion to succeed, hire them on the spot and then train them for their particular role.

Hiring Installers & Technicians

In addition to the typical ways of finding craftsmen, like classified ads and posting on digital platforms such as Indeed, you should get creative in your search.

  • Visit your local high school’s shop classes and your community college’s vocational programs and look for seniors who show promise and have the good attitude discussed above.

  • Post on the bulletin boards or in the Career Office for best coverage.

Hiring Customer Service Employees

  • Patience.
  • Charm.
  • Persuasion.
  • The ability to think on your feet.

Those are a few of the traits that are valuable for a customer service/inside sales employee. 

You can't train someone to roll with the punches, but with clever hiring, you can have customer service reps who are always adaptable on the phone!

While it would be great to find someone who has spent the last 10 years in a similar position at a competitor’s business, you should be willing to extend your search to find the best people—whether they have directly relevant experience or not.

Look for employees from other inbound or outbound call centers—especially those with incentivized roles. Your current employees are also a great source of referrals!

Be Visible to Potential Employees

In today's tough labor market, you can't be too visible to potential employees. Think of how you are currently highlighting your openings. If you aren't getting many applications, or the applications you are getting are not qualified, your jobs probably aren't visible enough.

At Spectrum, we understand the home improvement industry. We build tools that make it easier to run your business, rather than spend every moment of the day worrying about your business.

For instance, each website we build has a fully customizable careers page! So, when the perfect new hire Google's your company, they are taken directly to your application page where they can submit a resume.

Pretty neat, right? This helps our customers solve one of the most pressing problems in the industry. If you would like that level of support for your business, just click below to request a free website review. We can show you the opportunity in your market, as well as easy wins to grow your business!

Wondering which positions will drive the most revenue for your business, and how to hire for those positions? Download our hiring guide below for tips on how to hire for predictable growth!