What sets a St Paul Pipeworks employee apart?
When St Paul Pipeworks approaches the process of hiring a new person to join their team, they look for someone with certain qualities that are important to all of the other members of the team. When they begin interviewing candidates, they are looking for certain specific qualities. As they narrow down the search, they ultimately end up interviewing a small number of candidates and then ultimately settle on a final candidate to join the team.
The first quality that they look for that is very important to them is honesty. They are not looking to cheat their customers, their trade partner wholesalers, or their other employees. They try to do everything upfront so that people understand what the expectations are, whether they are employees, customers, or trade partners of another kind. Another important quality that they look for is integrity. Part of that has to do with making the best judgments of what parts and products they are installing and how they are installing it. Sometimes, a plumber can do a quick easy fix on a job to “get by” for the time being. Often, later on, it winds up costing the customer much more down the line than if the job would have been fixed properly in the beginning. They are also looking for team members that are not looking for short-term results. They are looking for an employee that is looking in terms of the long view and that’s both for the sake of the team member and for the sake of the customer and the company.
St Paul Pipeworks also looks for team members who is smart and think ahead about the work that they are doing. They do expect employees to work hard, but they have learned that it is also very important to do the work efficiently. Efficiency translates into more positive outcomes for their customers, the company, and also their other employees as well so we ask them to work hard but we also ask them to work smart as well. They want their plumbers to think about each job they are doing and plan ahead. Instead of just diving into projects, they want the plumber to assess the project and analyze the certain tools, equipment, and materials that will be needed. Also, to think about if they need another person with more knowledge of the specific job to be involved. So both the quantity of people or someone who has more special expertise is needed. There might be a kind of job that the company has done in the past and there is a certain plumber that has more knowledge about the project and if that particular type of job comes up again, we may want to call that same plumber in again so they can help the new plumber learn they and don’t have to relearn all of the processes all over again.
St Paul Pipeworks plumbers try to be positive about all things. There one time was a candidate applying for one of our positions and we asked what he was looking for in a company and he replied, “Well the place where I’m working now, everything is so negative. Everybody is mad at each other all the time. Everybody is accusing people of having bad motives”, and that can be part of a culture where every part in a company is negative. Everything can be perceived as a punishment or people are people are assuming that other employees are doing things for the wrong reasons.
Our culture is a positive one and we want to continue that positive culture. We assume that the people that become part of our team are trying to do every job the right way for the right reasons. We also want our workplace to have some enjoyment too. Part of what our plumbers do, especially the people in the field, is physically taxing but if it can be rewarding it can also feel good. People are not always feeling that it is a drudgery to come to work. We know that we have a pretty strong company culture and we know that we try to use our hiring and interviewing process to figure out if people will fit that culture or not. Once in a while, someone ends up on our team that doesn’t fit our culture and it becomes apparent pretty quickly. On occasion, it occurs and that’s happened a time over the past dozen years and we let that person know that we didn’t think they were a good fit for our company culture.
If you’re looking for a quality plumber in the St. Paul and Minneapolis metro area, give St Paul Pipeworks a call today.
To learn more about the St Paul Pipeworks work culture, Click Here: Company Culture | Plumbers Should Do It Right The First Time – Plumbing Service Company | St Paul Pipeworks
Yours Truly,
Matthew Dettwiler
Social Media Manager