work , so I put in my notice and started in maintenance .
AAMD : Is that still a practice that is in place today ? Are you still looking at residents when they move in ? Is it still a practice to ask them if they are interested in a job ?
Chris : We actually have flyers for resident referrals both for leasing as well as maintenance associates and office associates so yes we definitely reach out to our residents for those positions .
Troy : We do the same thing . We have letters but we get a lot of our people from on site . Guys who know people and we get groundskeepers and then sometimes we get some beginner techs and stuff like that , that we hire from that are residents already .
Jeff : We have cards that we all keep in our wallets or purses just when we are out at a restaurant or wherever . If we see somebody who we think has the personality or might be a good fit , we hand them a card . It says “ You impressed me ” and it has our information on it and they can call us .
Lannon : I look everywhere , I don ’ t care what kind of work they are doing , I feel if someone has a will to work I ’ ll take a chance . No one is going to be good on their first day and as long as they are not afraid to fail , I ’ ll give just about anyone a chance . One of my better hires was a bartender at Chili ’ s with no maintenance experience . He told me he had a baby on the way and wanted more for his family and four years later he has a great career !
Darrin : I am shameless . If I have a business card on me and I smell a lead , I give them my card . I do a lot of the hiring and use ourselves and we look for attitude and likeminded cultures as much as hands on skills , if that makes sense . So we are recruiting everywhere and anywhere .
Chris : Anybody who isn ’ t crazy . It ’ s a very tough labor market out there right now .
AAMD : When was the first time that you were into your career that you thought , “ this is my career now , this is it . I love to do this and I am going to pursue this .” At first , you probably thought “ this is just a job and we will see .” Was there a certain experience or time or something that happened that you kind of had an aha moment where a light bulb went off and said this is my career and this is what I am going to do for a much longer time ?
Chris : Mine was early on . I realized in this situation and the ebb and flow of the construction industry with the economy and all that doesn ’ t apply to maintenance due to the fact that people are always breaking stuff . Apartments are always in the works so there is no time when there is not a need for somebody who is going to continue to work hard .
Troy : I felt like early on with me as well , I have been doing this for almost the last 30 years and I remember feeling as such , satisfaction and being an integral part of the community . I loved a lot of the aspects of being part of a team . I loved working with my hands . I loved knowing my neighbors and knowing that we have a common goal that we are shooting for as a team . So all those aspects really appealed to me and I was really comfortable settling into the maintenance career pretty early as well .
Darrin : That is kind of how I started , early on too . I liked the diversity of maintenance . It was always something different everyday . It kind of changed when you got into the leadership role because then you are kind of doing the same things everyday but being a maintenance guy on site was a lot of fun . You were never doing the same things and I came from construction before that as well . When you are framing the house you are doing the same thing every single day . Putting up walls , veneer , you have to use your mind a lot more in maintenance to try and figure things out .
Jeff : For me , I don ’ t know if it was as early on as you guys . When I was on site , I did the team building part . I was on a 500-unit property so I had a fairly large , 10 person staff and I enjoyed that part of it . Building the team and running the day to day stuff and getting to know the residents and all that but I think I was fortunate enough to work for a company that was growing at the time and the need for a director of maintenance came about and I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time . When that happened is when I realized this is probably my career path and this is probably where I will stick . That was probably five years into my career when that happened .
AAMD : You guys were alluding to how the diverse your day in the life is . Think back to your first day on the job when you started . What was that day like ?
Chris : First day on the job I fixed my own heat because I had been waiting 6 months .
AAMD : Were you on the clock ?
Chris : Yes , I was on the clock it was a zone valve motor , it was in a stairwell . Funny enough , the zone valve motor was actually sitting right there in the box in the stairwell and all I had to do was take off the old one and put on the new one !
20 | TRENDS • MARCH FEBRUARY 2018 2018 www . aamdhq . org