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When Kevin Halliday took stock of his most valuable employees and saw that most were pushing 50, he realized with alarm that the future of his fast-growing company was in jeopardy. The founder of Spindle, Stairs & Railings, a manufacturer and installer of staircases and mouldings, knew that growing his business would require a steady supply of custom-trained workers. What he didn't know was where to find them.
A painstakingly precise and highly remunerative branch of cabinetry, the trade secrets of stair, spindle and railing design, construction and installation were jealously guarded by its aging experts. "They kept their craft to themselves because they were worried new people would steal their work," says Halliday. What's more, he discovered another downside to operating in a niche market: the craft is so specialized that graduates of general cabinetry programs at community colleges receive little to no training in the field.
Though his market is niche, Halliday's quandary isn't unusual. In recent years, the growing challenge of recruiting well-trained, work-ready employees has prompted firms to go to new lengths to fill the skills gap, from creating an employer brand to paying employees for referrals. To find new skilled workers for his company, Halliday opened a free, in-house training program — essentially, a mini-school — housed in his Calgary headquarters. Sound like a resources-draining, administrative nightmare? For Spindle, Stairs & Railings, it has proved the perfect solution to a potentially business-killing problem.
That said, the idea came to Halliday only after some trial and error. He initially pitched the idea of starting a spindles, stairs and railings course to a local community college about five years ago, offering to provide apprenticeships to students and employment to graduates. The idea piqued the college's interest, but after close to a dozen meetings with college staff, Halliday realized this would not be the quick fix he had hoped for. "It was going to take years to implement the program," he says. Meanwhile, the Alberta housing market was heating up, and demand for staircases was outpacing his company's ability to build and install them. "I needed new workers yesterday," he recalls. So, after months of negotiations with the college, he pulled out. The experience wasn't a total waste of time, however. "I realized that this was too important to give anyone else control," he says. In the spring of 2002, he took training into his own hands and launched his own school.
He started by hiring his first instructor, an experienced installer close to retirement. Then he began recruiting students, spreading the word among existing employees, community college grads, friends, customers and suppliers.
Within weeks, he had his first two students. (Halliday warns against overmarketing a free training program such as his — there's no mention of his school, for instance, on his website — as you could end up wasting too much time weeding out ill-fitting recruits.)
The Spindle, Stairs & Railings school fast-tracks learning for tradespeople, which normally involves one or two years at trade school, followed by an apprenticeship of similar length. In contrast, most of the students who complete Halliday's training do so in about three months. While graduates do not receive a trade certification—the prerequisite for employment in most trades — Halliday asserts they get something better: guaranteed employment with Spindles, Stairs & Railings, at which the very best installers can earn as much as $20,000 per month. (Yes, you read that right.)
In order to qualify, students must have basic carpentry experience. Then, they undergo thorough interviews and psychometric assessments. "We want to make sure we're pigeonholing people into the right areas," says Halliday. For example, students who are passionate about woodworking may focus their training on staircase construction, while mechanically oriented students may devote more time to machine operation and factory-floor processes.
In-depth interviews help Halliday pinpoint how honest recruits are being about their skills. "You can't assume that people know how to do something just because they say they do," Halliday says. He started asking potential students specific, technical questions after several incidents in which self-professed "experienced woodworkers" made some dangerous rookie mistakes on the job, including assembling a staircase railing with glue, rather than nails. (Thankfully, it fell apart en route to the job site.)
Once the instructors have a sense of their students' abilities, they head to the classroom for lessons in building codes, safety, design and materials. Students also accompany instructors on service calls, where they repair or make adjustments to projects completed by Halliday's staff, getting some customer service training at the same time. They are also introduced to the manufacturing floor, where, under the watchful eye of their instructors, they begin crafting and assembling mouldings and stairways that ultimately become a part of the company's product line.
Halliday rarely enrolls more than five students per session to maximize one-on-one time with the instructors. While the small student/teacher ratio provides recruits with as much help as possible while they learn the trade, it also gives the instructors a chance to separate the wheat from the chaff. "We know within a couple of weeks whether someone has what it takes or not," Haliday says. Those who don't — roughly 50% — almost always leave of their own accord.
Surprisingly, those who do finish the program are not forced to work for Halliday. "Avoid giving them the feeling that they owe you something," he says. "They'll end up resenting you." Instead, attract them like you would any new employees — with a great work environment and competitive salary. "Our students are free to work for the competition," he says. "Some do. But they usually come back because we pay the highest in the industry."
The costs of running the school include salaries paid to three full-time teachers, plus wages paid to students while they're enrolled. Because students are actually working for the company while they learn, Halliday says, he more than recoups his training costs: "The school doesn't cost me money—it makes me money."
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