Like any other industry, plumbing business is associated with its fair share of challenges and rewards. Plumbing technicians need to be abreast of proper technicalities along with kits and stocks to meet the needs of various households or B2B clients. Plumbing companies, on the other hand, have to keep enough manpower, materials, and merchandise so that they can handle any emergency calls that come up right away.

If you own a plumbing business, you might as well be aware of its various facets of growth prospects. You need to create a pool of skilled technicians (read plumbers) in order to maximize your bottom line. However, it is easier said than done as recruiting and retaining technical roles are two of the biggest pain-points in successfully managing a plumbing business. Therefore, you need to have a powerful strategy in place for recruiting and training your plumbing staff.

In general, the plumbing sector covers key areas such as sanitation, water, gas, heating & cooling, metal roofing, industrial waste, drainage, building services, air-conditioning, etc. Since these essential services are required for both commercially and residentially, the demand for plumbers is never going to slow down. But at the same time, they have to be trained enough to efficiently carry out all the technical stuff. Thus, all you need to do is hire right, talented people who can represent your business in the most prominent way.

Here are some recruiting and training tips for your plumbing business:

1. Develop a comprehensive recruitment procedure

The recruitment procedure that you need to develop should set a certain amount of time to invite applicants. You can employ a first and second job interview process along with a process to review applicants. A comprehensive selection procedure includes work samples, technical tests, presentation, and personality or aptitude tests. Engaging other professionals in the selection process can be very helpful. For example, senior staff members, a board member, and a potential co-worker. You need to develop key questions to explore past job performance, covering all essential functions. The other kind of approach might include tailoring questions to open up a relevant topic for conversation to confirm information. Another important step you can take is to use plumbing software to update real-time jobs for plumbing technicians. Finally, all selection or screening methods must be based on the essential tasks and skills for the position.

2. Use social media channels to filter the best talent

Today, there is a profound reverberation of the rise of social media. It can be used as a powerful tool for recruitment as well. Social media is a place where people and professionals hangout to interact with each other. Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and a handful of others offer recruiters a tremendous opportunity to connect with candidates. The following channels can serve a crucial purpose for recruiting:

• LinkedIn: LinkedIn is primarily designed for niche recruiting because it broadcasts your job posting as a recommendation for people who perfectly fit for that niche. Since you are looking for plumbers, you will easily attract a chunk of skilled plumbers who fit into the role.
• Craigslist: This channel could prove to be a secret weapon in the recruitment process as it can bring you a flood of technicians. You can easily attract people who are looking for plumbing, HVAC, or electrical service. You can hire through cold-calling efforts as well.
• Facebook: Arguably the most popular social media platform, Facebook can serve a great recruitment tool because you can hit a lot of pf people quickly. Facebook ads are very effective in attracting technicians. More importantly, it is cost-effective and people can share your post if it’s compelling enough.

3. Develop relationships with training institutions

Training institutions are an excellent source of skilled and professional plumbers. You can get hold of a significant number of plumbers from these training centers because they have either freshly qualified or are about to qualify. These institutions also know when plumbers or other technicians are looking for work. Well, this is often new plumbers are recruited. You can put recruitment rewards in order to make sure only reliable candidates are recruited. You can offer staff and acquaintances a small fee for referring plumbers. Thus maintaining a relationship with your local training institution can help you to spot the best workers from the pool about to complete their apprenticeship.

4. Never stop training

Today’s plumbers have a tough job as they have to keep up with the latest technology. To deliver the required experience and to perform more than the service requested, there’s a palpable pressure on new plumbers to get the job done accurately. For that, you have to provide them training intermittently. When a continuous product education, peer membership, and customer service techniques are provided in between, your team of plumbers will gain the skills they need to perform their job well. In view of this, the industry best practices are critical to building a strong workforce. Therefore this constant education breeds confidence in associates, especially your newest plumbers. 

5. Incorporate a strong retention strategy

Recruiting and creating a skilled team of plumbing workers is not sufficient enough. Rather than being complacent about it, you have to devise ways to retain them for a long time. The fact is it’s no less a nightmare when one of your best employees resigns out of the blue. Not only then you have to find a proper replacement, but you have to offset the impact of this departure as well. That’s why employee retention and job satisfaction should also be high on your list of priorities. So how should you employ effective retention strategies? You have to understand all employees are different, and each one has their unique goals and desires. Based on these data, competitive salaries and good benefit schemes. Give them the appreciation they need by recognizing their efforts. Other methods of retention may include mentorship programs where they can learn from a wealth of experienced resources; employee compensation could include health benefits and retirement plans; finally, allow them to keep a healthy work-life balance.