Forestry Mulching Operator Hiring - My Process

First let me say this: I'm outlining what I did. It's worked so far very well for me. You are welcome to take, steal, edit or completely ignore everything here. I'm sharing what I did and if it helps you in any way, excellent.

My story in a nutshell. A couple decades in corporate America, IT manager (I was a nerd, now I manage nerds) plus I've run some side gigs that employed people. IT right now is pretty scary, everything will look different in the next few years and most of the jobs I'm qualified for will be taken by automation and AI so after a few months of research, I selected Forestry Mulching for the 2nd phase of my life.

My plan is to own/manage and to hire out the operator positions. I'll learn how to operate for fun so it makes sense to me and I can 'talk operator talk' but I won't ever be more qualified than who I hired to do the job. Eventually I want to be at scale with several teams but for now I need to hire my first operator, which is the most important hire. They can make or break your start, which could make or break your business.

For me they are going to do everything operational - help me walk jobs while I learn how to quote them, they will mobolize, handle all mulching activies, light maintenance, etc. They'll need a Class A CDL. They'll shoot video at the job site, take before/after photos of every job, read from scrips for ad content (I don't want to be on camera yet as I still have the corporate job). Intially I was requiring skid steer experience and forestry mulching / land management was a bonus. Now that I'm done this process and hired my 1st operator, next time I'm going to require land management and/or foresty mulching experience.

I next had to figure out my requirements.

Who we are looking for:

Self starter, able to work alone

Reliable and high integrity

Complete daily paperwork

Documentation for each job

Willing to be on video - capture before and after photos daily, take video of operations, talk through scripts

Safety minded

Respect the equipment

Clear communication

Coachable attitude

Requirements:

Clean driving record

Class A CDL

Skid Steer Experience

Able to pass background check

Bonus: (going forward these are requirements)

Forestry Mulching experience

Basic mechanical awareness

I hired Jacob with Rise to manage my ad campains, SEO and website. They said they had some good experience running hiring ads. I thought about it...using META ads to HIRE, not SELL? That's crazy, lets do it. I did not have equipment yet (Cat was on 4 months back order...) So about a month before the equipment was to arrive, I had Rise create a video ad with AI help. 34 seconds long, $50 in ad spend daily, in 2 days I got 32 applications for $75 of spend...amazing.

Here is the still ad we ran for a quick win while we worked on the video ad: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02TgwGAJMuPaLVaVMTns3QvS8pRKHHGuGPAZBVy5ZykiC6rVaz6TaAVcxhjHeLDJycl&id=61587785852737

Video Ad: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1344409470784152

Feel free to click on it and fill out the form, but I ask if you do fill out the form to put something in the notes to indicate you are just checking out the ad process and not actually interested in the job!

On the form, be sure to add friction. In the begining we were not requiring Class A CDL or skid steer Experience on the form to be able to submit. I highly recommend you require these fields in order to submit. I got fork lift operators, bus drivers, anyone with a CDL and a few other unqualified apps until we added the requirements. As I said before, next time I hire I'll also require land mgmt experience.

Tested the flow prior to going live to make sure it all worked properly, which took a couple of iterations. Working with Rise, they use GoHighLevel (GHL) as the Customer Relation Management software (CRM) and we pulled these operator leads into the Hiring pipeline.

5 pipelines in GHL Opportunities, with a 6th added later - New applicant, Contacted, Interview Scheduled, Potential, Not a good Fit, Future Pipeline. As I spoke with people, I added notes to their entry in GHL and moved them to the various categories. For anyone not computer savvy it might seem like a lot but if you have a laptop, they can train you. I think it's pretty easy and it's way more organized and handy than using notebooks, altho that would work too.

As new applications come in the contact will be created under New Applicant. Then I started reaching out. I was nervous at first: I didn't know how people would take this, if they'd want to work for a start up with unreliable scheduling and no benefits, how exactly I'd pay them for which services (I had not been in home services before), and 100 other questions. But I took Austin and Jacob's advice and just went for it. ACT. Do something and you'll figure it out.

I called my first applicant. Low energy, no gumption, barely audible, fork lift operator...I told them they were not a good fit and wished them luck. Called the 2nd one and had a similar experience, I think they were the bus driver.

Ok I need to do something different. Also I got some questions on the FB ad post so I started a FAQ (fequently asked questions) in my notes. What's it pay, do you have XYZ, do you have benefits, where are you located and more.

GHL allows text conversations with the leads so I thought I should probably prequalify leads before calling them on the phone. So I wrote up some text and started sending it to people. Very easy in GHL, very organized, I was very impressed.

Here is what I ended up with after a couple of rounds for the initial text:

Hey <name>, Dave here with KC Land Clearing, thanks for filling out the form for the skid steer operator position. We've had a lot of interest in the position but alot of the applicants did not realize skid steer experience was required. Do you have skid experience?

If they reply yes, you proceed. If they reply with any form of no (no but I can learn, no but I can drive a fork lift and skid should be easy, etc) you let them off the hook. Sorry, we're requiring skid experience for this position but we wish you the best of luck on your job search!

After a yes, I next sent them these 2 texts:

Text 1 - ok good. Based on the amount of questions I've gotten and follow ups I've done with several interested parties, I put together some information to go through prior to setting up a call. Let me know where your interest is after reading this.

Text 2 - There won't be much chain saw work in the plan, it's all forestry mulching. Pay will be in the range of $30-37/hr based on experience and some other factors. We're a small biz start up, I've got an execution plan, experts managing my advertising campaign but it'll take time to ramp up and get enough business to keep 1 operator going full time, a month or two I'd expect. Work in the wintertime will likely slow down quite a bit. As indicated on the form, there will be required video work, before/after pictures (no training needed, just willingness, any on-camera work will have a script provided). The need for a Class A CDL comes from my operators will have to mobilize the equipment - pick up the truck and trailer w/ skid, do very light maintenance, drive to location, etc. I have plans to grow to multiple crews but that'll take several months of operating correctly and being aggressive. I'm looking for someone able to help grow a business and share in the eventual success. If that's of interest to you, we should talk further. If it's not a fit for you, I completely understand, this position is not your typical operator.

For some of you, this might seem like over sharing. To me it's part of being honest and transparent. Whoever you hire is going to figure all this out eventually, you might as well tell them up front and weed people out. I do not want to waste their time, and I do not want them to waste my time, and especially my money. Add friction, especially if you are in a large market. I'm in Kansas City, we have 2M+ people within an hour of where I live.

Again, if they say yes you proceed and set up a time to talk. If they say any form of no, thank them for their time and move them to Not A Good Fit in GHL. Potential exceptions to this are "maybe not right now but that could work for me in the future". If that's the case put them in the Future Pipeline. Regardless of your plans, if you only ever want 1 'crew' or you want to grow to multiple, it's great to have a pipeline of potential peolpe you can call upon to interview when the need arises.

The Interview. A few things here. I've interviewed hundreds of people so I have my own process. Your level of experience should not stop you but I imagine for those without the experience it might seem difficult. My advice: Be honest, DO NOT LIE OR DECIEVE your potential employee. You want them onboard with your vision, or you do not hire them. You want an operator that is smart, not someone that is gullible. This will not gaurentee you success, but decieving a potential employee / operator in an interview will gaurentee failure of that relationship. My approach is to be open, honest, tell them everything, hide nothing. For me to win, they must be on board, they must win, and eventually when I win, they get to share in the spoils (highly suggest a bonus plan that's fair, but that's outside the scope of this long winded write up!). I treat my employees fairly, I do my best to protect them, tell them when something is brewing, good or bad. I do not share all the financials and details out of scope for them, but what they care about and applicable to them, I do not hide. Anyways, back to the interview.

I highly advise you to really understand what you are looking for and what you'll expect out of your operator. I also recommend you write down the interview process. Word for word so you could read it outloud if necessary. If you are going to interview 10 people, it really helps to have a script you can follow so everyone is judged equally against one another and you don't leave stuff out. I find that it's SUPER easy to start vibing with a potential applicant, and get a good feeling about them, and want to hire them. Then later find out they are completely unreliable and generally, for all intents...full of BS.

My script. I don't go through this entire thing with everyone. Most people will fail out along the way as it's not for them, they don't have the necessary experience or you get a bad feeling. But for someone I get a good vibe about and want to meet in person, I go all the way through and make sure they are clear on the expectations.

======================start script======================

Let me start by saying this interview will probably not feel like any other interview you've ever done. My job is two fold - get enough information about you to see if we want to discuss the opportunity further, and 2nd to give you enough information so you can see if this is the right thing for you. I'm hiring 1 person and that person needs to be a good fit for me, and us for them. So much of this conversation will be me talking about the plan so you can decide if you are really interested or not.

Next let me say this position won't be for everyone and I realize that. I will be as honest and forthcoming with you as possible and I ask you do the same. If at any time during our conversation you are clear this position is not for you, for any reason, it's 100% fine, just let me know and we'll stop wasting your time listening to me drone on. Is that agreeable?

This opening is for a new startup in kansas city that I own called KC Land Clearing. We will specalize in forestry mulching services in the KC Metro area, focusing on the western side of the city in Johnson, Wyandotte, Leavenworth and Platte counties. We could grow eastward but we'll start with these four.

Again this is a start up. I'm looking for someone that is ok with that. It'll take some time to ramp up and have full time work. How long I don't know, I'm going to be agressive about finding customers but it won't happen overnight. I recieve gear in early April so the job won't start until then.

I want to check in with you. I have a lot more to say but a lot of people want to work for an established outfit with larger crews, benefits, full time work right off the bat and so on.

Tell me a bit about yourself.

Are you working a job right now?

About me: I'm born and raised in KC. I've been in corp america for many years and am going to replace my full time job with this business. I've run small businesses before but always as side gigs, never full time. I've done subdivisioon development, I've owned brick and mortor stores and other things.

Before we continue, requirements are a class A CDL and some towing experience, a clean driving record, able to pass a basic background check and some skid steer experience. Checking to make sure that's all good.

Tell me about your skid steer experience.

We're starting with 1 machine and I expect to grow that to several machines over the next few years. I'm looking for a skid steer operator with some level of excperience, land clearing would be a bonus. This will not look like a typical skid steer job and won't be for everyone. The operator will be required to do several things in addition to running the skid steer: loading and unloading, light maintenance like cleaning and greasing, mobilization like picking up the truck every day and driving it to the job site, gassing the truck and steer, fill out daily documentation about the job, communicate back to the office, take photos and videos of job site, perhaps take promotional video material where you read a script, and talk to customers if they come to you onsite. What you will NOT be asked to do, unless listed prior, is administrative work like bookkeepings, payroll, website management, writing scripts, editing videos or pictures, or managing personnel.

All equipment will be provided. Truck, steer with full land management kit, credit card for gas and might maintenance materials should they be needed, a phone if you do not have one to take good quality pictures and videos, all tools and nexessary job supplies.

So again there are things I'm going to require from my operator that are not standard skid operator duties and it will not be for everyone. Before we dig any deeper, do you have any concerns about performing those job responsibilities? It's fine if you do like I said, it's not going to be for everyone.

Skidsteer is currently scheduled to arrive in April and i'd like to get working in it right away. I have a team managing the website and advertising, they are specalized in land clearing companies. I expect it will take awhile to ramp up but my goal is to work agressively to get my first operator working 4-5 days a week. I expect a full day to be ~9 hours including lunch break and mobolization, a half day would be 4-5 hours. Pay would be $30-37 an hour based on experience and quality of work, growing higher with more experience on all fronts (mulching, video ability, clear documentation, etc)

the online hiring video you clicked on went over what we are looking for: (I go through each one and get an audible agreement for each line item)

Self starter = able to work alone, staying productive, manage your time

Reliable with high integrity - shows up, follows through, honest

Completes daily paperwork - accuratley and on time. These will mostly be forms about what you worked on. What the terrain was like, how many acres got done, project scope, any problems, things like that.

Documents jobs - before and after photo + basic videos, training provided. We will require daily activity on this front. You will not have to edit anything, but be open to feedback on the process to improve your photo taking skills if needed.

Willing to be on video - for job documentation and marketing - script provided, we're not expecting a professional actor

Safety mmided - aware of terrain, obstacles like rocks, fences and posts, structures, people and utilities

Respects the equipment - operate carefully, report issues immediatley, clean daily, general light maintenance

Clear communicastor - updates progress and flags problems early. I can coach on this no problems

Coachable attitude - open to feedback and learning

=======================end script===========================

If I made it to the end of that whole interview it's time to meet in person.

First person I met was 60 minutes north of me and told me later he did not expect me to show up (even though we talked 90 min prior right before I drove up). On the phone he was the perfect fit other than his location. He was experienced, knowledgable with land management, loves deisel engines and can work on them, good repair skills, has a shed where he can store the truck and trailer, knew of a truck nearby for sale that would work for our needs. In person, his property was not well taken care of, his shop was a total mess, he was wearing pajamas and slippers when I arrived. He still talked a good game, so we went to look at the truck. He called the owner, and again talked a good game on the phone with the seller. Then he was supposed to come bid a job in my neighborhood that afternoon. Long story short, he then ghosted me for 5 hours, then he was 'on his way' and no showed w/ no call. His wife texted me 24 hours later that he'd been in a car accident. I passed on this person (I bought the truck tho)

I went to my second person that I liked. Ex army officer, 20 years land mgmt experience, lives 20 min away and is in the area, 100 acre farm, barn space for the gear, already has his own skid and attachments. This person I hired. It's working out fantastic. He's punctual, he talks to customers with ease, is up for about everything and I have no trust issues.

I was going to require a skid steer driving test at my dealer to ensure they had skid experience. When I met my first hire at his farm, he drove his own skid w/o attachments and that was good enough for me. In the future, any hires will have to run our skid and prove they can mulch now that we have our equipment.

I have 3 other people of the 32 applicants that I got a good vibe from and have the necessary experience. I told all of them when I was ready to expand or needed some part time help I'd reach out to them. I have a pipeline for the future.

All from $75 in ad spend.

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