Marshall Atkinson’s blog has some good tips on hiring for screenprinting. I particularly like his idea of hiring for the right attitude and then training for the skills.

I have a couple simple additions.

– Don’t hire people to unload or catch only, if they can’t load don’t permanently hire them. An eye for quality control isn’t that hard to find, so don’t waste those positions on people that can’t help with loading sometimes.

– In an hour but certainly after a couple days you can usually tell if someone will be able to load. Don’t be hopeful after that, it rarely gets better.

– If you give a tour of your plant and walk fast and the person can’t keep up, they are too slow, don’t hire them.

– Permanently hiring temps is a good way to find employees. You may have to pay the agency but it is worth it for you being able to try people out. You also don’t have to feel bad about firing them, the agency just moves them somewhere else.