What would we expect?

Tom Dunlap

Tom Dunlap

Here from the beginning
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Retired in Minneapolis
this pic came up as a Facebook meme. The message is clear and clever.

To put it in arborist terms would we expect, and get, the $15/hr work to be rips, stubs, flush cuts, overpruning, spikes, etc?

Would we expect, and get, the $30/hr work to be collar cuts, reduction cuts, false crotches?

Does anyone have a simple climbing/pruning test that goes along with a pre-hire interview?

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That is so true. We have a climbing test to go with any hire, not a pruning test but we do test that after hire for sure!
 
If an applicant qualified for an interview I had a knot and pruning test.

4-5 different knots or configurations of rigging.

A branch would be strapped to a log or work bench and pruning list was given. The person was provided helmet, glasses, gloves, hand pruner and handsaw. The instructions were to just make a set number of cuts, usually 8-10 that simulated pruning.

It was interesting having to stop some to put on PPE even though they were sitting right next to the tools.

The test showed creative thinking. Were they able to 'play along' and understand what was expected. rips and stubs weren't a garranty fail either. Proper pruning can be taught. Seeing how a person thinks and reacts were more important.

Same for the knot test. It was amazing how many '5 year experience' climbers couldn't TDS a choked, running bowline on a log for anchoring a rope. Have them coil or bag a 30' rope too. Very telling.
 
Tom Dunlap said:
If an applicant qualified for an interview I had a knot and pruning test.

4-5 different knots or configurations of rigging.

A branch would be strapped to a log or work bench and pruning list was given. The person was provided helmet, glasses, gloves, hand pruner and handsaw. The instructions were to just make a set number of cuts, usually 8-10 that simulated pruning.

It was interesting having to stop some to put on PPE even though they were sitting right next to the tools.

The test showed creative thinking. Were they able to 'play along' and understand what was expected. rips and stubs weren't a garranty fail either. Proper pruning can be taught. Seeing how a person thinks and reacts were more important.

Same for the knot test. It was amazing how many '5 year experience' climbers couldn't TDS a choked, running bowline on a log for anchoring a rope. Have them coil or bag a 30' rope too. Very telling.
Click to expand...
Well, that's damned disapointing.
 
We have a week of introduction basically. Day one is keep yourself out of harms way and step in to grab brush or work around the chipper with another crew member to start while we discuss what you know or don't know. After day 1 and what we learn, the pace of learning or working the new guy into the system is established. That said every day is similar to the first. We decide you can cut? Then someone is with you that first day we let you cut, every time you cut, to see your work practices and make sure they're strong. Same with everything after that, chipper use, felling skills, etc. When we get to climbing, it's a reset. Put you on a system and let one bounce around on the ground and see one's familiarity with systems. Goes up and shags deadwood against the trunk stem next, and so on.
I have seen enough new guys on a crew, experienced or not, to know that without a sort of skills assessment and week of learning how to work one into the system, the new guy is a danger to himself and everyone else because no one know what anyone else is capable of or how they normally work and move about a job site.
 
I'm in this boat now thinking about hiring my first climber, more of a part-time / as needed kind of thing.

Initially I was thinking of having them come work with us on a pruning project, there's a nice big oak that needs some trimming that I could use to guage their ability. When I initially spoke with them they said that they've climbed for other companies in the area (reputable companies).

Reading some of your comments wondering if I should do a test climb outside of a work environment....

Before I was working for myself full time I tried out at some other companies and briefly worked for one company for a period of time. One company was very cautious, just had me helping out on the ground with brush dragging etc. which also happens to be the same company the person I'm considering say they climb for. Two of the other companies I tried out with (one I ended up working for briefly) they put me right up in the tree off the bat to see what I could do. One of them had me ride the crane on the second day.
 
My concern was to have an applicant's over-confidence in them selves set them up for getting hurt or in over their head.

A lot can be learned by watching how someone works as part of a ground crew. Methodically handling brush, limbing up procedures, awareness of the job flow.

I got burned too many times by applicants who over-stated their skills. If I found someone to hire I told them about my ten working day apprenticeship. I'd never pay top-dollar for wages during that time. Since I was gambling on their production they had to put something on the line too. A lower wage for the ten days and renegotiate at ten days. Some employees didn't get the raise and others would pass and I'd pay them more right from the first day. They never new this until they got a paycheck.
 
Aerial Traveler said:
I make $15 per hour and have worked for the same company for 15 years. What a fool am I.
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Well, not a fool, but maybe overly polite. Capitalism favors those who ask for more.

Even going at the rate of inflation, $15 in 2007 now equals $19. https://smartasset.com/investing/inflation-calculator

That doesn’t take into account the skills you’ve accrued, relationships, and stability you bring to the company.

Around here if you throw a rake into an 18yr olds hands he is expecting $18-$20. 5 years ago in the same market with ISA certification, my own harness and saw, and of course risking my neck on the daily, that’s what I could make. My bitterness is tempered with the hope that we might be seeing a shift towards ‘income equality’, but I also have my doubts about that.
 
The labor pool where I live is colossally fucked….. Ski areas struggle to staff the mountains, Target starts at $20/hour with tuition reimbursement, the local grocery store starts at $18-22/hour, and the grocery store in a neighboring town closes at 8, they used to close at 11 7/days a week. Lucky I stayed employed through this all.
 
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