How to Hire Maintenance Mechanics in Long Beach

Current Environment

Since the inception of the Industrial Revolution, our world has been one that consistently includes electronics, products, and mechanical devices. With each year that passes, manufacturing becomes more and more complex, as does the machinery required.

No matter the simplicity or intricacy of equipment and machinery though, there must be a competent mechanic to keep it working and production moving.

History

The second industrial revolution started the need for maintenance professionals. Historically, maintenance has been viewed as an expense, necessary but not wanted. Although some organizations may still hold this idea to be true, many companies today regard maintenance as an essential part of business operations and an area where an experienced maintenance professional can find ways to decrease costs and diminish the impact on the bottom line.

How will Recruiting maintenance mechanics Help Your Company?

How will Hiring maintenance mechanics Help Your Company?

While the exact scope of work differs depending on the size of the company, a typical maintenance mechanic is responsible for keeping machinery running and production flowing properly.

Hiring the person for the role, which includes knowledge and experience maintaining the type of mechanical equipment and machinery your company uses will make a significant difference when it comes to ensuring your company’s operations are running and production is flowing properly.

Before we get to exactly how to hire the best maintenance mechanic in [city_name] let’s review some of the details.

maintenace mechanic Details

Responsibilities

Maintenance mechanics may seem similar to the role of maintenance technician, but they are more specialized and focus on one singular area: machines and mechanical equipment.

People in this role also focus on the following tasks and responsibilities:

Performs maintenance, examinations, and tests on all mechanical equipment
Responsible for equipment transport, assembly, and disassembly
Fabricates and adjusts repair parts via machining
Updates maintenance documentation
Trains new maintenance mechanics when necessary

Looking for another position? View other positions we place in Long Beach, California.

Education

Maintenance mechanics typically need a high school diploma; a year or more of training after high school will help them significantly. Some may go through an apprenticeship program that could last several years.

Some maintenance mechanics complete a 2-year associate’s degree program in industrial maintenance. Industrial maintenance programs may include courses such as welding, mathematics, hydraulics, and pneumatics.

Community colleges often offer the types of courses and certifications needed for positions that require it.

Here are resources to help you find community colleges in California, Arizona, and your own state.

Top Schools

Community Colleges in California
Community Colleges in Arizona
Search Community Colleges in Your State

2019 U.S. National Data

Salary Range

maintenance mechanics in the U.S.

$33k

Low

$52k

Average

$74k

High

$59k

Average CA
Salary

$28.47

Average CA
Hourly

521k

Total maintenance mechanics Employed in the U.S.

95.9%

Men

4.1%

Women

maintenace mechanic Salary Comparison

National

The role of a maintenance mechanic is an important one that is integral to a company. It is a great opportunity to break into a rapidly growing field that provides a tremendous opportunity for growth and development and, eventually, well-paying salaries.

California

The average annual salary for maintenance mechanics in California was 59k in 2019. The hourly wage averaged $28.47.

For more detailed compensation information for maintenance mechanics in Long Beach, download our free compensation/salary report below.

Working in Long Beach

Do maintenance mechanics consider Long Beach a good place to work and live? On the whole, yes!

The city, the 7th most populous in California, is known for a couple of distinct landmarks and attractions, namely the historic Queen Mary, once a luxury cruise ship and now a luxury hotel, and Aquarium of the Pacific.

But the metropolis has more to offer than tourism. The Port of Long Beach is the second busiest container port in the United States and is among the world’s largest shipping ports. This influx of trade has made Long Beach a hub for manufacturing and related industries, and all the business associated with importing and exporting goods has created a wide diversity of employment opportunities. The petroleum industry is also prominent in Long Beach, with both onshore and offshore drilling.

In a recent exchange in Quora, residents weighed in with some of their thoughts about living in Long Beach.

Pros

Long Beach is known as a big city with a small city feel. Some compared it to a “patchwork quilt” of adjacent but very distinct neighborhoods.
These neighborhoods are close to shopping, entertainment, and restaurants.
If you are looking for diversity, this city has it and in particular, it’s very LGBTQ friendly.
The town seems to be a hub for creative talent, with local musicians, visual artists, poets, authors, and theater companies.
Amtec’s recruitment agency and staffing company services are available for Long Beach.

On the other hand, there are a few common complaints about living and working in Long Beach.

Cons

Like many other Southern California cities, especially coastal cities, it’s expensive.
About 40% of Long Beach residents are renters, and according to the most recent data, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,121.
The median home price is $675,000.
Parking, or more accurately the lack of parking, seems to be an issue, as well as traffic.
Specific to traffic, it’s the 405 freeway, which is notoriously stopped in both directions, and this freeway is the main artery running through the city.
Some see homelessness as a problem the city has not adequately addressed.

Long Beach, California

Current Weather

Not your city? View other cities where we place maintenance mechanics.

Demand for maintenance mechanics in Long Beach

There is a quickly growing need for qualified maintenance mechanics and is projected to be so for the next 10 years. In fact, the BLS projects that this field will grow at a much faster and significant rate than average job growth, 13% versus 4% the national average growth rate for all jobs combined.

Now is a great time to enter into the profession, knowing that there is job growth potential and these positions tend to be well compensated.

The supply of candidates and demand for open positions have a direct correlation to a company’s ability to hire. Download a free Supply and Demand report for maintenance mechanics in [city_state] below.

The supply of candidates and demand for open positions have a direct correlation to a company's ability to hire. Download a free Supply and Demand report for maintenance mechanics in Long Beach, California below.

How to Hire the Best maintenance mechanics

Finding and hiring the best maintenace mechanic candidates can save you money right away and well into the future.

The costs of making a bad hire are well documented. The cost can run as much as 30% of the employee's first-year earnings according to the US Department of Labor. Bad hires can cost a whopping $240,000 in expenses related to hiring, compensation, and retention per The Undercover Recruiter. 74% of companies who admit they've hired the wrong person for a position lost an average of $14,900 for each bad hire according to CareerBuilder. These statistics support our long-held position that behavioral questions are the best way to get to know your candidates and past behavior is the best indicator of future performance.

Recruiting Best Practices

The information below comes from the best practices Amtec uses for finding the highest quality candidates.

Defining the Position

When defining the role you are creating, we recommend a position profile to fully evaluate the position you are hiring for. You must decide if the engineer can work remotely or must work in California. If working in Long Beach is essential, make sure you include that in your job posting so candidates can decide how many miles they can commute.

How to Source the Best Candidates

When you are looking to source the best quality candidates for your open positions, make sure you have done the legwork to hire an "A Player". You can do this by making sure your company's perspective is aligned with the current market, you have taken into account the job responsibilities, as well as what type of characteristics you are looking for to fit your company culture. Then proceed to write a job posting to attract high-quality candidates.

Characteristics of maintenance mechanics

Hiring qualified maintenance mechanics becomes more and more important for companies as equipment and devices become more mechanized and technical. For keeping your equipment and machinery in shape, maintaining business continuity, and meeting your commitments to customers, mechanics will be an integral part of your workforce.

For more detailed compensation information for maintenance mechanics in [city_name], download our free compensation/salary report below.

How to Screen Candidates

You wrote a job posting, posted the position online, and received a lot more resumes than you’d bargained for! Next comes the enormous task of sorting through those resumes to eliminate the ones that are clearly not a good fit. Now, you have a stack of resumes for candidates who have potential. So how do you go about screening the remaining candidates?

It starts on the phone! As a recruiter, the goal of your telephone screening is to learn more about your candidates. You can confirm that they have the educational qualifications and relevant experience, but you also need to determine if they would fit into your company's culture. To make this job easier, use a system to consistently evaluate results. This way you can equally and objectively compare candidates and evaluate their "soft skills", like communication and thinking process. Download Amtec's Professional Assessment Questionnaire below to help with screening candidates.

Free Professional Assessment Questionnaire

An individually customized questionnaire that helps assess a candidate's competence with written communication skills, thinking processes, and other relevant skills.

How to Interview Candidates

At Amtec, we believe in the power of behavoral interview questions to go beyond the experience and skills listed on the candidate's resume. Although you will want to confirm in the interview that the candidate does indeed have the experience listed on their resume, your assessment needs to go much deeper than that. An interview using behavioral questions can help you determine how well the candidate will fit with your company culture.

Download Amtec's best practices on conducting super effective interviews to find the best candidates and fill your open jobs.

Behavioral Interview Guide

Get the info you need to hire the best maintenance mechanics

Free Interview Guide