CNC operator / setup person / general shop person needed

We are just getting back in to town, surveying damage and making a plan to start the business back up after our big fire. Because of the fire, my main guy is not coming back, so I need someone to take his place.

Setup skills would be appreciated but not needed. And by setup, I'm really talking about having an eye for details and the ability to see when something isn't quite right. 99% of what we do is small vise work, so really, setup is switching jaws, loading tools and verifying the program. And of course adjusting tool / work offsets.

Whatever your skills, you will be running production. Lot sizes are small at between 100 and 500 typically, but some part numbers will really keep you hopping with short cycle times. Other parts have 30 minute cycle times. Youtube is on the touchscreen at each work station for those times.

This is a tiny shop with me and two guys in the shop. I am extremely flexible on hours, using cell phones, etc. As long as the work gets done (and I know exactly how long it should take). If any flexible shop policies are abused, however, you'll be fired so fast it'll make your head spin.

I'll train a trainable person from scratch, but would prefer somebody with at least enough experience to recognize a form tap from a cut tap from a thread mill. Also, leave your tools at home, I provide everything we need to use.

Not that I am looking or live close enough to send a resume
$ range ? for the trainable or a more seasoned person

vonleyser said:

Not that I am looking or live close enough to send a resume
$ range ? for the trainable or a more seasoned person

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It's just too broad a range to put a number on. I start the untrained at $13 and see if they'll stick around for more than a couple days. An operator that can make offset adjustments reliably and recognize issues when they crop up will be in the $15 to $18 range, and if I can hand you a job and don't hear anything back until the job is on its way out the door? $22 to $28 or so.

If it means anything, I only pay myself $21/hr and do just fine on that. And I have some interesting mortgages to pay.

Matt@RFR said:

It's just too broad a range to put a number on. I start the untrained at $13 and see if they'll stick around for more than a couple days. An operator that can make offset adjustments reliably and recognize issues when they crop up will be in the $15 to $18 range, and if I can hand you a job and don't hear anything back until the job is on its way out the door? $22 to $28 or so.

If it means anything, I only pay myself $21/hr and do just fine on that. And I have some interesting mortgages to pay.

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I took my first "official" (as in on the books) paycheck this past Monday (switched to S-corp). You got me beat @ $21/hr.

wheelieking71 said:

I took my first "official" (as in on the books) paycheck this past Monday (switched to S-corp). You got me beat @ $21/hr.

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Just remember that you are required to make a "reasonable wage" for the position you hold within the company. My $21/hr is as low as I was comfortable going. If "they" figure your wage is not "reasonable" (which is entirely up to "them"), they'll be after you for back taxes. My business attorney and CPA both say not to fuck with this rule.

Matt@RFR said:

Just remember that you are required to make a "reasonable wage" for the position you hold within the company. My $21/hr is as low as I was comfortable going. If "they" figure your wage is not "reasonable" (which is entirely up to "them"), they'll be after you for back taxes. My business attorney and CPA both say not to fuck with this rule.

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Yep, same. My CPA set my wage after I filled out my reasonable compensation paperwork. I'm on salary @ $40k/yr
And, my boss is an A-hole, and abuses me for way more than 40hrs/wk.

Good luck finding a good guy to fill your position though. Its tough to find dedicated, enthusiastic, people.
I find most of the guys that already know what they are doing, are primadonna's who don't want to share in any of the mundane shop responsibilities such as maintenance and cleaning.
In a small shop, everybody needs to wear all hats. I seem to get the best results from guys looking for a new career.

wheelieking71 said:

Good luck finding a good guy to fill your position though. Its tough to find dedicated, enthusiastic, people.
I find most of the guys that already know what they are doing, are primadonna's who don't want to share in any of the mundane shop responsibilities such as maintenance and cleaning. In a small shop, everybody needs to wear all hats. I seem to get the best results from guys looking for a new career.

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Thanks Bill. What kills me is that the guy I'm losing wasn't the greatest, and probably would never be called a machinist, but his attitude was fantastic. He would do absolutely anything, and do it to the best of his ability. Cleaning sumps, fixing stuff around the shop, all the way to setting up jobs from scratch and doing a slow but good job. Not real sure I can find that again, but with the amount of work we push through that little shop, I need help like that. Not just operators. So we'll see who turns up. I'm hoping for someone who will work with me for the next 20 years and be happy they did. I look forward to work most days, and hopefully they will too. Probably too much to ask though.

Matt@RFR said:

Thanks Bill. What kills me is that the guy I'm losing wasn't the greatest, and probably would never be called a machinist, but his attitude was fantastic. He would do absolutely anything, and do it to the best of his ability. Cleaning sumps, fixing stuff around the shop, all the way to setting up jobs from scratch and doing a slow but good job. Not real sure I can find that again, but with the amount of work we push through that little shop, I need help like that. Not just operators. So we'll see who turns up. I'm hoping for someone who will work with me for the next 20 years and be happy they did. I look forward to work most days, and hopefully they will too. Probably too much to ask though.

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They are out there. Not rubbing it in. But, I have that guy right now. He is awesome. Exactly as you describe.
Fantastic attitude. He came to me in the weirdest way. He was my fedex delivery guy!
One day out of the blue, he says: "hey, I got a strange question for you". I said: "shoot".
He says: "do you need any help? I cant stand driving any more. I'm 53, and have time for one more career change. I have always been interested in this stuff, just can never get my foot in the door any where."

That was probably the luckiest thing that has happened to me since starting this gig!

I hope you find that guy!

Next time I see our UPS guy, I'm going to tell him this story and then ask him why the hell he hasn't done the same for me! Damn poor service, if you ask me...

Matt@RFR said:

Thanks Bill. What kills me is that the guy I'm losing wasn't the greatest, and probably would never be called a machinist, but his attitude was fantastic. He would do absolutely anything, and do it to the best of his ability. Cleaning sumps, fixing stuff around the shop, all the way to setting up jobs from scratch and doing a slow but good job. Not real sure I can find that again, but with the amount of work we push through that little shop, I need help like that. Not just operators. So we'll see who turns up. I'm hoping for someone who will work with me for the next 20 years and be happy they did. I look forward to work most days, and hopefully they will too. Probably too much to ask though.

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I deferred posting right after your initial opening post, but with this latest one will now kill two birds.

First, I congratulate you on your forthright, plainly written description. Too oft these days we see less of this, and more ambiguity. It will no doubt help you find that right person.

Second, I want to wish you luck in your search. We got INSANELY lucky last year, thanks to this very forum and member AARONT. Here's hoping you get even half as lucky. I know that we certainly appreciate the employee we have. ( and we try to make sure that he knows it, without gushing or going overboard ) Attitude is HUGE.

It does certainly put things in perspective when one gets either ends of the field's spectrum.

Best of luck.

Zahnrad Kopf said:

I deferred posting right after your initial opening post, but with this latest one will now kill two birds.

First, I congratulate you on your forthright, plainly written description. Too oft these days we see less of this, and more ambiguity. It will no doubt help you find that right person.

Second, I want to wish you luck in your search. We got INSANELY lucky last year, thanks to this very forum and member AARONT. Here's hoping you get even half as lucky. I know that we certainly appreciate the employee we have. ( and we try to make sure that he knows it, without gushing or going overboard ) Attitude is HUGE.

It does certainly put things in perspective when one gets either ends of the field's spectrum.

Best of luck.

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Thanks very much. I have been hiring untrained people in the hopes of training them the way I want, but it turns out that, at least so far, that has been a bad tactic for me. I'm not a great teacher, and so far I've yet to find anybody that would take initiative and learn stuff on their own time, via pm.com, youtube, tooling catalogs, etc... That's how I learned the trade, and I was just a dumb welder! And although it comes pretty easily for me, I'm learning that machining is not something just everybody can learn. Some of my past employees simply didn't get it at all, and my main guy (the one I'm losing) would still get Y+ and Y- mixed up sometimes.

So after much internal debate, I'm still willing to take on an untrained person, but would rather somebody that has started in the trade and gets it, or somebody who is already established but wants to learn new things. My shop and our work is very specific, but I'm always trying new things, new tools, etc.

Just bringing this back up. It looks like we'll be ready to get back to work next week sometime, depending on the results of some water testing. So far, it looks like most of the eligible employees have moved out of the area due to complications created by the fire.

I've been thinking a lot about the person I'd like to hire, and the more I ponder, the more I'm hoping for a career type that can run the entire shop. I'm even cool with helping the right person relocate, but it's an awkward situation at best for someone not already in the area. There are essentially no homes in town until they get rebuilt, and housing in surrounding towns is at capacity with all the displaced people from Paradise. We will be living in a 5th wheel on the shop parking lot until our house gets rebuilt, but I'm willing to bet someone from out of the area wouldn't think living in a trailer for a couple years just to get a new job is a great idea.

Dear Universe: Please don't make me write a craigslist ad for this!

Matt@RFR said:

Just bringing this back up. It looks like we'll be ready to get back to work next week sometime, depending on the results of some water testing. So far, it looks like most of the eligible employees have moved out of the area due to complications created by the fire.

I've been thinking a lot about the person I'd like to hire, and the more I ponder, the more I'm hoping for a career type that can run the entire shop. I'm even cool with helping the right person relocate, but it's an awkward situation at best for someone not already in the area. There are essentially no homes in town until they get rebuilt, and housing in surrounding towns is at capacity with all the displaced people from Paradise. We will be living in a 5th wheel on the shop parking lot until our house gets rebuilt, but I'm willing to bet someone from out of the area wouldn't think living in a trailer for a couple years just to get a new job is a great idea.

Dear Universe: Please don't make me write a craigslist ad for this!

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For the record, My wife and I are living in a 5th wheel right now. Escaping the cold in Michigan and now in New Mexico with a final destination of our property in Arizona. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it.

Big B said:

For the record, My wife and I are living in a 5th wheel right now. Escaping the cold in Michigan and now in New Mexico with a final destination of our property in Arizona. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it.

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If you actually enjoy living in a trailer full time, you have to know you are in the minority, right? Most people like RV's for a week at a time. Then it's time to go home. In our situation, there is no home.

Matt@RFR said:

Just bringing this back up. It looks like we'll be ready to get back to work next week sometime, depending on the results of some water testing. So far, it looks like most of the eligible employees have moved out of the area due to complications created by the fire.

I've been thinking a lot about the person I'd like to hire, and the more I ponder, the more I'm hoping for a career type that can run the entire shop. I'm even cool with helping the right person relocate, but it's an awkward situation at best for someone not already in the area. There are essentially no homes in town until they get rebuilt, and housing in surrounding towns is at capacity with all the displaced people from Paradise. We will be living in a 5th wheel on the shop parking lot until our house gets rebuilt, but I'm willing to bet someone from out of the area wouldn't think living in a trailer for a couple years just to get a new job is a great idea.

Dear Universe: Please don't make me write a craigslist ad for this!

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I did a very short stint at a shop in Clarkdale, AZ called Bent-River machine. It was very remote. The people that worked there all drove a long ways to get to work.
Except two dudes who lived in 5th-wheels out behind the shop.

Big B said:

For the record, My wife and I are living in a 5th wheel right now. Escaping the cold in Michigan and now in New Mexico with a final destination of our property in Arizona. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it.

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Where in Az, B?
W