In the professional building industry, there are a few key things you should look for when hiring employees, that go beyond their trade skills.
Dallas Werner, the owner of First American Roofing, lists a few things that he absolutely looks for when he’s hiring a new employee. Some traits are very important to have in an employee, especially since they represent your company to your clients, and you want to trust that they can proudly carry the name First American Roofing. It doesn’t matter if they are on the siding crew or the sales team, they should possess these traits.
Character and Integrity
The first thing Dallas looks for in a potential First American employee is character and integrity. Some facets of integrity include being honest, trustworthy, accountable, and owning responsibility. If you find someone who holds their head high, speaks of past roles with honesty, and owns both their failures and successes in a humble way, they’re showing integrity. A potential employee needs to be personable, respectful, and easy-going. We are a small business and love to have fun, but we also take it seriously. So, being able to find someone that can carry themselves well, while upholding the company’s integrity, as well as their own, is a great asset.
Makes Good Eye-Contact in a Conversation
Simple and effective — being able to sit down with someone who looks you in the eyes and can hold a good conversation can carry them far. In an industry like this that can be very client-facing, and you are always working in a team, you must be able to communicate well. Good eye contact shows confidence, engagement, and leadership. It’s an incredibly important skill to have in general, but especially in a career sense. Maintaining eye contact shows you’re listening, and when orders are being given on a job site, it is crucial that orders are heard so everyone can be safe and do the job right.
Reliability
We really look for reliability in an employee. With tight timelines and the need for efficiency, being reliable and on time is very important to our business. Dallas’s military background taught him if you aren’t 10 minutes early, you’re late. At First American Roofing, we show up early because it not only shows you we care about your job, but it helps to get mentally prepared before the work begins. It makes a difference when you can take a few moments before a job to center yourself and focus, rather than rushing right in.
Caring & Driven
We look for people who are caring and driven. To be driven, you need to not only care about yourself and your career path but for the customers and clients you serve. Someone who is driven in life and their career is someone who will want to continue to learn and grow, which in turn helps the business. By seeking knowledge and having the drive to build upon a career, rather than stick to one role, is an incredible skill that we embrace in our business and our employees.
Employee Mindset vs. Ownership Mindset
There are two different mindsets employees can have, and that’s an employee mindset and an ownership mindset. An employee mindset is where they focus on themselves and how they can get to that next role, and a higher salary, and don’t look at the rest of the company as a whole. An ownership mindset is something we encourage our employees to have because it’s more big picture. Having an ownership mindset means asking yourself how your actions affect the company as a whole. For example, a teacher at a school needs to focus on how they affect the entirety of the child’s education, not just that one class, for that one year. Dallas encourages his team to get into the mentality that they can make a big difference in the business, and in their own career paths by looking at it as a whole system, and what their part means to the business. We’ve found it boosts morale and employee satisfaction.
These are just a few of things that we look for when hiring at First American Roofing, and it’s what we inspire our employees to be in their lives in and outside of work. If you feel like you have these skills and aspirations that we look for, give us a call, we’d love to meet you!