Hiring Computer Technicians

Nothing complicates a business like employees, but if you're going to go beyond a one person business or a partnership, you don't have much choice. Hiring a PC technician should be taken very seriously, not the least because firing a technician can turn into a legal hassle. People lie on resumes and ex-employers may be afraid to tell you the truth about a bad employee because they're afraid of getting sued themselves. So for most small businesses, the main filter for hiring a new employee is the interview process and simply checking credentials (high school graduation, etc) where possible.

As mentioned earlier, the main things I was looking for when hiring computer technicians were maturity, responsibility and problem solving skills. I'm not talking about problem solving as in computer troubleshooting, that can always be learned. I mean problem solving like what will the technician do if he drives a half hour to the customer's site and the door is locked. Will he turn around and drive home, will he call in on his cellphone? What if his cellphone is dead or forgotten, will he find a pay phone or will he go to lunch at a bar?

The first thing I wanted in a new hire was a tech who wouldn't cost us business. Some computer technicians are so badly trained, in the business sense, that they think their job is to make the customer go away. Somehow, they believe that actually providing service is expensive for the business, so they're going to save you money by making excuses and blaming the customer for the problems. You can get a feeling for that by taking your time in the interview, asking the technician for examples of how he handled warranty issues and service calls, and particularly, how had handled "bad customers."

There are actually such things as bad customers who you who you will have to fire, but some techs think that all customers with a problem are bad customers, and you should be able to figure that out by asking for enough examples that the tech has dealt with in the past. And these days, there's a weird cult of cool where some young people think that acting detached and smirking makes them grown-up. You don't want to hire computer technicians who can't even get through an interview without letting their attitude problems show through.

Another thing I looked for in when interviewing techs was a pulse. I mean, I've interviewed PC technicians who sat there like lumps of coal offering the shortest answers they could come up with to the questions I asked. I wonder if they even wanted the job. What impressed me in an interview was a candidate who had plenty to say, who wanted to tell his computer service war stories and wanted to ask me questions about our business. It's also important to ask new hires what they want from the job. You may be surprised by the answer. I'd rather hire a technician who has a multi-year plan to go to night school for engineering than a guy who wants to work 40 hours a week as a tech for the rest of his life.

The final question you want to ask yourself before you hire anybody is whether or not you'll be able to fire the person if things don't work out. It won't do you or your family any good if you run through all of your cash and credit paying a wonderful employee who isn't making you money because your business stopped growing or didn't accelerate as you expected. It also helps to prepare an employee handbook with all the critical points that would make you fire somebody, lay it out in black and white. If you care about employees being on time every day, let them know that three late days in a month is cause for dismissal. If you are going to have a policy of oral or written warnings about behavior that can lead to dismissal, put it in writing. It's worth spending a few hundred dollars talking about these issues with a lawyer (your local BAR association can give you a referral that may include some free time) so it doesn't end up costing you thousands or tens of thousands of dollars to get rid of a bad apple. These days, anybody you fire might run to the state with a sexual harassment claim, even gender doesn't matter.

If you're running a small computer business and you already have a few employees, get everybody who will be working with the new technician involved in the interview process. Your employees might spot something that you missed, and the fact that you will have to wait to get their input can help you from making a hurried decision on the spot. I cover the basics of dealing with personnel in my book, but I don't give any details about employment laws and liabilities, which would fill several books. The downloadable eBook is available for $11.95.

If It Jams Home | Starting a Computer Business | Contact