I'm usually one of just a small number of "old people" willing to defend the younger ones whether it's for their knowledge, work ethic, manners, etc. (I'm 60 by the way) I base a lot of it on my son's friends, classmates, & roommates since the time he was in high school right up the present day. He's 24 now & graduated college last year. Some of his friends went to college & some didn't, but none of them seem to be stupid, lazy, arrogant or whatever older generations like to label them as. They all work.

One common issue that annoys them to no end is to be exploited & taken advantage of by an employer. Lots of employers want college degrees, certificates, experience & more, yet they are only willing to pay minimum wage or slightly higher. It's understood that there's a probationary period to prove your worth & knowledge, but it's a two way street. College & other training costs aren't cheap My son's monthly payment for his student loan is over $800. A potential employer offering $12 per hour is laughable.

I don't have any advice for "what to do" in finding new employees except to honestly analyze what you're willing to pay.

Small sample size. Your son is a good guy obviously, and smart enough to surround himself with the same.

I definitely don't want to sound like I'm bashing every single under the age of 30 person, or maybe 40? Generally speaking though, it's gotten much worse. As a training officer it's like night and day from what it was like 15-20 years ago! It's scary. So many expect to be pampered, and are clueless about life. The reasons for call out sick or leaving early/being late are ridiculous! "My dog is sick" is a common one.

I didn't take it that way, I was only generalizing. There are many times I see posts whether it's here, other forums or even facebook, where people around my age or older hate anything & everything to do with younger people. I know more people in my generation that are much more useless & ignorant....LoL

I hear ya. To some people change is bad no matter what. There's that feeling of "things should be like when I was a kid". I have to watch myself sometimes because I'll start thinking that way and realize I can't expect everything to remain exactly the same.

when i graduated a hundred years or so ago, [it feels like it anyway. ] the big thing was "go to college".
as i just loved math and cars, that would have been great for me, except for one big stumbling block. i couldn't afford it, my parents couldn't afford it, and college loans were not able to be approved for me because of the income requirements needed for the loan's approval[s].
as i was interested in cars, i got a job at a local body shop and worked there until it closed in 1972.
after that, i dumbed around until i was offered a job at Rockwell, International in 1973. i started there the day after christmas, working on an assembly line. after a few weeks, i got to know a pretty cool engineer for the firm that was also into cars. as our friendship grew, he approached me, asking if i knew anything about machine work, as the machine shop needed help. i had no idea what he was talking about, he asked me if i would be interested in learning, and i said yes.
as it were, this was the beginning of the machine shop's venture into CNC machines. i got in on the ground floor, and the rest is history.
my love of math, and the challenge of learning something entirely new to me, lead me to a 45 career becoming a master machinist and designer/fabricator/shift supervisor, being almost 95% self taught because there were no real "teachers" in the shop then. just : "watch this. now you do it", and they walked away, leaving me to sink or swim on my own. as i didn't want to disappoint, i paid strict attention to the "this is how it's done" aspect, took my time to copiously write down tons of notes in a notebook, and carefully follow any and all instructions.
did i make mistakes ? YOU BETCH'A !!! however, when that happened, i took my licks like a man should, but also wrote my mistakes down in my book. i also quickly learned the "you broke it, you fix it" routine. this lead me to use my thinking cap to come up with new and inventive ways of repairing mistakes, saving the company money, instead of throwing expensive castings and assemblies in the scrap pile.
one of my best investments in my career, was the purchase of a copy of ""Machinery's Hand Book". if there was a math formula i didn't know and needed, it was in there, as well as a ton of other super useful information i needed to know.
as i am now years retired, i still try to keep my skills up, using the equipment my best friend has in his shop.
today, the company i once worked for has had the "help wanted : machinists" add in the local papers, internet, and banners on the buildings, for several years now, and still can't get qualified candidates. they are offering generous [for this area] packages, including health care and vacation days at start, as well as pay packages.
as Rockwell International divested itself from all it's entities with exception of it's areospace interests in the mid 1980's, the company that bought our shop has been bought and sold many times since.
the company that owns it now pays my former position $40.00+ per hour !
i'm not sure how all this is related to the original topic, but i thought some might find it interesting to see how it is in my small part of the world.
just my life experience. your mileage will vary.

I don't know anything about your industry or your labor market but it sounds like you may need to up your starting salaries and then give the keepers a raise before sixty days.

Just my $.02.

Bill

People job hop to get a raise. If you look at their resume and they have a new job every few months and have not been fired safe to say that is what they are doing.

Many shop type businesses here are top heavy with redundant office people and that often means little if any of the profits make it down to the shop people. If the shop people get an annual raise it's like 25-50 cents if your good. These places will hold onto low productivity office people like they are made of gold and chase off manual labor guys who make them money all because they won't pay them properly. They don't care if you leave and pretty much expect you to anyways.

Ill say this from my experience in manufacturing. Young people are having their needs met by multiple sources. A parent that lets their 28 year old son/daughter live at home rent free along with government provided "assistance." With these types of free resources a young person does not need a career let alone a full time job. Mike Rowe said recently that young guys just need a couch and they're all set. I see guys 25-30-35 years old come in- work a week and their gone. Many have multiple children. Its easy for a 20 something to get all kinds of assistance with EVERYTHING. Its not just for the un abled person. Hasn't been for awhile now. All these young men who 30 years ago would be mechanics, welders, truck drivers and electricians are happy living in moms apartment being an online gamer.

I solved all my problems (HA!) by having 9 kids and teaching them to work hard and learn skills. My oldest (17) has been working construction for 3 summers now and part time during school, he is going to be building my shop very soon. I have a 10 year old rebuilding 904 and 727 transmissions and were gonna step up to the OD versions very soon, my 12 year old puts cams in hemis, helps me rebuild them, fixes lawn mowers, log splitters, bicycles and is building a huge herd of egg laying chickens... my second son (14) helps mom around the house a ton, the 8 year old does all the mowing, weeding the garden... all the older ones can change oil and tires and detail cars for me (except the 10 year old who builds transmissions, somehow cars look worse after he "details" them, think PigPen).


The 5 oldest can all run the barbeque, as I type this the 10 year old is barbequing a deer that got hit in front of my shop last night.


I have tried training other people and usually they just go start their own shops, they all think they can do what I do but only one has been successful so far. Any more I would just age discriminate if I hired someone, they must be old, I would rather them be slow and steady than anything I have seen from gen Z yet.

This is what I see too. I'll tell you where there's a HUGE void - heavy diesel mechanics. Truck dealers (Freightliner, Kenworth, Volvo, etc.) ALL OVER USA & Canada are looking for young diesel techs. There are basically none. Mike Rowe is spot-on. If you are good, you can make huge money. It's a lifelong commitment. What do you want to be when you grow-up? You can be almost anything if you really want it.

Auto Techs are the same......last I heard we would be 700k techs short in the coming years. Who's going to fix these rolling computers we all have? I teach Auto at a Tech College...I have past students in their 20's out in the field making 100k+. I have a 23 yr old nephew doing HVAC making well north of 100k...all without a penny of student loans. It all starts with Mom and Dad. If you're losing people to ther shops you NEED to find out why and put together a package everyone can live with

I have a friend running an auto shop(4 actually) Hugely successful. He buys lunch once a week, has team outings doing fun activities like axe throwing, a huge social media presence celebrating birthdays and work anniversaries etc. The younger workers LOVE that stuff! He pays well with good bennies....has no issue attracting and keeping help....many are my past students. Grow your own!

I find kids that have hot rods
Not ones that parents pay to mod
Its tough
Hvac has been great to me

My sister works in the MI State Police Recruiting Division. She told me that candidates Mothers are showing up and present during their son/daughters interview. The MSP allows it. This was unheard of 15 years ago- at least in this field.

That's too funny!!! What is gonna happen when there is a big ole shootout? Are they gonna call their mommies for backup? Kinda reminds me of on "step brothers" when they went interviewing for jobs.

It is sad and tragic because with the MSP acceptance used to be very very hard. You had to have it all- academics, physically fit and quick /well spoken. On the other hand, the 21 week Academy which is 100% military style right down to buzzed/bald heads and living on site remains very tough. They have a much higher rate of quitting/drop now than 20 years ago. No phone BS- up at 5am- 2 minute showers and TONS or running. Mommy cant help with that although she probably will Litigate when Johnny washes out.

I see this kind of crap all the time now. It's very sad! It's not just MSP I promise you. The bar has been lowered across the country. Agencies had to in order to have any candidates.

People like to [censored] on the younger generations, but often neglect to realize their generation raised them. Kids didn't go soft in a vacuum. It's always been about parenting. You sir, are a dying breed. It takes people with your mindset to keep this country moving forward. God speed.

Bingo!

Funny, years ago I was at my aunts place and was talking about the boys. We basically pointed to the woods and said, go play, see you for supper and oh yeah, carry a stick because your going to find a snake. My aunt told me how "old school" we were raising the boys and nobody did that anymore. Me, I was like, well what the heck do people do now days????? Raised them the same way I was raised. Okay, my mom used to say to stay clear of the woods but all us kids would go right off into for hours. Now, they call that "Free Ranging". Wierd huh? When he was 11 he would go do odd jobs for the neighbors and make money. All the neighbors would talk about how no kids can around looking for a job anymore. Society has gone so wrong.