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www.BoatingIndustry.com 14 | Boating Industry | May 2015 MONTHLY RESEARCH Only 18 percent said it wasn't diffi cult at all. Manufacturing openings are also proving to be a challenge, with 35 percent saying it is very diffi cult to fi nd and keep those em- ployees and 85 percent saying it is at least somewhat diffi cult. When it comes to sales, customer service, marketing or marina staff, about a quarter of respondents rated those positions as very dif- fi cult (see full chart p. 15). The easiest jobs to keep fi lled are for of- fi ce and support staff, with only 11 percent reporting that it is very diffi cult to fi nd and keep employees in those jobs, and 46 percent saying it is not diffi cult at all. Majority looking to hire More than half of those surveyed – 54 per- cent – have either added staff or are expect- ing to do so sometime this year. Of those that are adding employees, the service department is the top target. Seventy- fi ve percent of companies that have a service department plan to add employees there, nearly three times the level of any other de- partment, except for manufacturing. Of those that do have manufacturing op- erations, 47 percent have added or either plan to add headcount this year. Just over a third of companies plan on adding to their sales team, while 29 percent plan on hiring additional customer service personnel. More than a quarter plan to add offi ce/support staff, and 9 percent are hiring marketing staff. Twenty-eight percent of ma- rinas are hiring for 2015. When they make the decision to hire, com- panies are using a variety of methods to try to fi nd the right people. Employee referrals are the top choice, with 66 percent of companies using those as a hiring tool. That was followed closely by online job sites, with 56 percent of readers advertising job openings there. About a third of companies are using so- cial media and newspaper advertising to look for employees, and 30 percent work with trade schools or other training programs. Once they've started the hiring process, companies are looking at a number of factors, but the most important is personality. More than 70 percent rated that as very important in making a hiring decision and 95 percent said it was at least somewhat important, eas- ily eclipsing other factors. Only 1 percent said it wasn't important at all. Previous boating industry experience and references from current employees were next, with both rated as very important by 27 per- cent of respondents and at least somewhat important by 77 percent. About 20 percent said education or cer- tifi cations were very important in making hiring decisions, with 69 percent saying they More diffi cult to fi nd, keep good employees, survey says BY JONATHAN SWEET The downside of the industry rebound and recovery in the overall economy is making it harder to fi nd qualifi ed employees. And nowhere is that tougher than in the service department, according to the latest Boating Industry survey. The survey was conducted via email in March, with surveys deployed to readers of Boating Industry magazine and enewsletters, including dealers, manufacturers and others working in the industry. While about half of all respondents said the diffi culty of hiring and keeping new em- ployees is about the same as it was a year ago, 45 percent said it is more diffi cult. Nearly one- fi fth of readers said it is much more diffi cult and less than 5 percent said it is easier than it was a year ago. Service jobs toughest That level of diffi culty, though, varies greatly depending on the type of employee compa- nies are looking to hire. The shortage of service technicians has been an industry topic for years, so it's not surprising that service department jobs are the toughest to fi ll. Of those who have a service department, 54 percent said it was very diffi - cult to fi nd and keep employees in those jobs. Hiring climate getting tighter CURRENT CONDITIONS March 47.8 February 36.2 FUTURE EXPECTATIONS March 70.7 February 57.8 We also asked readers about their views on the current health of the market as we do every month. In this regular monthly feature, we track the optimism of Boating Industry readers to help us get a read on the industry. A reading of zero means equal numbers of people are ex- periencing or expect growth as contraction, so any number above zero is a positive. March's results show continued year-over- year growth for Boating Industry readers, with March refl ecting even better results than Febru- ary. Respondents also continue to be optimistic about the future, with a particularly positive outlook for the next three months. BOATING INDUSTRY INDEX » expect to add employees this year 54% 54%