How to Hire Maintenance Mechanics in Tacoma

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 Tacoma, Washington.

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

$60k

Average WA
Salary

$28.73

Average WA
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.

Washington

The average annual salary for maintenance mechanics in Washington was 60k in 2019. The hourly wage averaged $28.73.

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

Working in Tacoma

Tacoma is a picturesque city in Washington on the banks of Puget Sound, located just north of its neighbor and “big sister” Seattle. But Tacoma is definitely a city with its own identity. Due to its thriving job market and progressive culture, Tacoma is also known as the City of Destiny.

Its natural beauty, ocean-front location, focus on arts and culture, and its proximity to the impressive Mount Ranier give Tacoma a ton of character.

Here are a few additional “pros” for living and working in Tacoma.

Pros

The crown jewel of Tacoma is Point Defiance Park, which some compare to NYC’s Central Park as far as size and stuff to do. The park has 760 acres of trails, gardens, forests, playgrounds, and waterfront activities like boating and swimming.
It’s also home to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.
Museums: The city boasts several world-renowned museums: the Museum of Glass, the Tacoma Art Museum, and the Washington State History Museum.
Tacoma Arts Live features three theaters, the Tacoma City Ballet, Tacoma Philharmonic, Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, and Puget Sound Revels.
Tacoma gets good reviews on its food scene, and most locals would point to Ruston Way for the best seafood restaurants, or cross the Tacoma Narrow’s Bridge to the charming city of Gig Harbor for more waterfront dining options.
The cost of living is lower than in neighboring Seattle. This calculator estimates that Tacoma is 34% cheaper overall than Seattle, and the median home cost is 56% less.

While there are many good things people report about living and working in Tacoma, there are a few complaints.

Cons

When comparing Tacoma to Seattle schools, the school data shows that Seattle has better statistics for Pre-K-12 schools. Tacoma has more students per teacher and a lower high school graduation rate, and while 28% of students go on to get a 4-year degree, 62% achieve the same in Seattle.
The Tacoma Aroma. What?? It’s a rancid, unpleasant odor that occurs occasionally in the tidal flats. Describe it as that kind of sulfuric, rotten egg smell. It’s a byproduct of industrialization in the area.

Tacoma, Washington

Current Weather

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

Demand for maintenance mechanics in Tacoma

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 Tacoma, Washington 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 Washington. If working in Tacoma 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