Pointers on a new chapter

Howdy all.
I'm looking for some guidance on possibly changing careers.
back story.
I didn't notice how long of a post this was until I proof read it so I do apologize for that, I'm just trying to explain where I am at and looking for some guidance from you guys. 
I'm 25 and I am a Power sports tech (BRP certified). I love working on anything in general, growing up on a farm we worked on anything and everything. I got the nack for working on the smaller stuff and vehicles along with some construction equipment. In high school I started working for the local BRP/Kubota dealer. I started out in parts for a few months and was asked by then service manager if I would be interested in doing set ups and moving to the shop. I didn't pass the chance up and started out setting up lawnmowers, ATV', SSV's, Small tractors and attachments, as I progressed the company started giving me customer repair jobs and oil changes. After about 2 years of this our lead tech put his two weeks in and I was the only one back there. Thankfully with my back ground and applying into OEM training courses and of course finding Paul Danner and being opened up to this great website I grew into the lead tech that takes on every job that comes in. Engine and power train R&R, electrical, basic service jobs, you name it I do it and if the Kubota side of the shop is backed up I even find myself doing services and light repairs on those pieces of equipment as well. I really do enjoy this line of work but over the years this flame has been burnt out to a smolder...
I could write a small novel of all the issues and such that over the years have just put me down. It's hard for me to wrap all of this up into a couple key points but I'll cover a couple that have just put me over.
Management- Too nice of bosses, yes you read that right. Having a D bag of a boss isn't good either however these guys roll over to anyone and everyone and it makes the job stressful at times. Wrapped up I'd say poor leadership on so many levels.
On top of the poor management we have experienced a rapid growth of the company. Since I've been here the company size and work force has easily doubled actually probably tripled and we've even opened up another store. With this some "procedure" have been put into place (actually a ton).... This is a small town family dealership and now it feels as though we're micro managed to the point that we need to start tying our boots a certain way. Not only that but they recently took away our profit sharing an in return replaced it with a efficiency bonus program....The kicker... ever since I've been here I've seen nothing but poor billing of work orders. It got to the point where the company simply just raises shop rate expecting this to solve what I'm guessing to be low income. We have no diag fee, supposedly we bill in half out increments but out of the couple work order receipts I've seen this is not the case, add in a couple "we'll cover labor you cover parts" jobs, even our flat rate LOF jobs the bill time is all over the place. This new bonus program just started at the first of the year. So far the way the system works has been changing like every week. From what I understand is in order to receive the bonus you need to average 86% efficient or better. Once you hit this average you have the potential to receive a percentage off of the extra amount that you made the shop. ex. at 86% efficient you made the shop a extra $2000 and you can earn 20% of the extra profit... Sounds simple and like a good idea to me..... well we already covered the shop cannot bill properly, this conversation has been brought up for several years in all of my yearly reviews. I've even talked to the service writers about this and from what I've been told is they're even quoting a extra half hour onto our quotes that we make.... When I finish a Work order I'm almost a hour ahead of schedule but yet I'm struggling to get above 80%... Now looking at our score cards none of the techs came close as well. Our one tech actually billed 30 hours more then what he worked and they claimed he had a 84%....... These numbers don't add up. Not only do the numbers not add up but now they're on the "comeback kool-aid". Turns out if there's a comeback this effects your efficiency.... makes sense.... how though? Are they subtracting the the total bill from our gross bill? Are they subtracting the total labor hrs from our worked hours? or Billed hours?? No one knows... There's only one guy that knows this info (service manager) and the amount of smoke I've had blown in my face over the years I'd rather not even go there. A little bird told me that it sounds like the second dealership is one foot in the grave.... Hmmm. I really hate to see management like this but a couple of us are concerned that the extra revenue that is being with-held (that's not there allegedly) is making it's way to this dealer to keep it afloat. It's a huge allegation but none of us can understand why else this is happening.

Workers- With having too nice of bosses as you can imagine we have no order in the work place, certain individuals take advantage of this and receive no kick back for being out of line. Only thing we get told is to "watch your own bober". There's a huge amount of favoritism within the shop as well. One that still erkks me to this day is couple years ago we hired a high schooler to come sweep floors, take out garbage and what not from the shop... This kid did have a nack for working on equipment as well and I seen that he wanted to do my line of work for a career as well. Well that's fine an dandy but this shop manager had the gull to pull me aside one day and in the mist of asking how the kid was working out and what not made the comment that he was gonna try getting the bosses to sign off on full ride scholarship for this kid when he graduated to any tech school he wanted........ I started at this dealership in high school, I believe i was on my 5th or 6th year as a employee to this place. Not once was I asked for this. Even today with 8 years under my belt have I not been offered anything like that. For graduating they gave me a 50 dollar gift card which I was very grateful for and don't read this as me being jealous in any way shape or form but it struck me odd that they were willing to send a possible worker to school rather than sending someone who's gone through great lengths to work here and to do the best job possible. I've invested so heavily into the shop, everything from buying my own specialty equipment, diagnostic equipment (when asked during meetings if there's any tooling the shop should invest in I bring up tools that I see would be helpful, they state they'll look into it and that's all the farther that goes so I just buy my own) being the first to show up and last to leave. I guess at the end of the day it's not a big deal because the kid ending up quitting anyways a few weeks later but this whole situation still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. 

Shop drama- Yes I'm sure every shop has this issue but let's put it this way.... I'm the oldest tech in the shop with just 8 years in. 2nd oldest guy just turned 5 years... everyone else is under 3 years out of a 10 or so guy crew. Granted some people left due to pay and hours and this and that but I've seen a lot of toolboxes come and go out of this place because of all of these issues I'm laying out.
I tried to keep this list short but trust me I can go on and on about this place. In short I think it's my time to move onto something else. Gramps always said "it's best to retire one year too early then one year too late", at the moment I feel that I'm one or more years too late lol.

Now for the guidance
I'm stuck on where to go and try for. There's a couple shops within the area that are hiring or will be hiring shortly. One shop is extremely small and I'm a bit hesitant but I will be talking to the owner maybe this week or going to go check it out for myself. This shop owner started this company with his buddy from high school, one of my old coworkers is good friends with one of the owners. Sounds like due to family issues one of the owners is moving out of state leaving his friend behind to not only manage their repair business but also the excavating/dirt hauling side. Shop I believe is a 60x100, they have tire machine and balancer, new AC machine, from what I've heard they are getting a lift in soon. Pay is based off experience and I guess what I'm capable of. This is your "this thing is broke, please fix it" type shop, from what I've heard and seen on social media they work on anything to make a buck. Sounds to me like it'll mostly just be me in the shop and I'm guessing the owner will be in and out of the shop as well (sounds like he'd like to spend most of the summer driving one of the dump trucks). From what I've heard they have a excavator and a skiddy along with 6 to 8 dump trucks running their dirt company. Sounds like a good place but he's only offering health care and no other bonus's or benefits that I know of. 

Next place is another shop very close to me that's thinking about moving into another shop in town since they're only a two bay shop. My roommate knows the owner pretty well and mentioned he'd be looking for a guy soon once he buys the building. This will mostly be auto work, I'm unsure of pay and benefits but it's within a 5 min drive of my house.

next place is a excavating company that runs a fleet of 40 or so dump trucks,  couple excavators, dozers and skiddys, small fleet of 3/4 an 1 ton trucks along with small gas engine work. Shop is union and is also within 10 mins of my house and the shop guys work year around. from what I've been told they will pay for CDL and probably some schooling as well.

I'm kinda stuck on where to go and really what to do. I wouldn't mind working on the big construction equipment but at the same time it's nice working on vehicles and vice versa, this makes me lean towards the first shop but it is a drive for me and well.... being the only one in the shop and just the size of the place kinda has me on edge. From what I've been told the guy is up on all of his bills and is doing good but still something to keep in mind. My schooling is high school diploma followed by just 8 years of professional work, no CDL, no special certs like DOT or even HVAC (though I can do all of this just not "legally"). Some are telling me to go do my own thing but man where do I start. I do quiet a bit of side work and honestly the dealing with ordering parts and staying in the loop with customer and payment is a pain sometimes that I really don't want to try and rely on that as a source of income. working at the other places I have potential to go to schooling and get different certs without having much out of pocket and in return i become more valuable not only as a worker to the company I'm working for but if I do change paths again I'm now worth more and I can prove it on paper rather then trying to make them trust me right off the bat. I know people will say certs and diplomas don't mean a thing but it still looks good on paper an when you're out applying to a place the first thing they see is gonna be your resume so really I would like that looking better then what it already is. I greatly appreciate any and all guidance on the matter and what to do from here. Being that I've been out of the "looking for places to work" market for so long I'm really kinda stepping into the dark on, what questions should I ask in a interview?, What's some huge red flags? that sorta thing so I greatly appreciate all of your time reading through this post and I greatly appreciate everyone's thoughts on this. 

 

I sat down twice this weekend to reply to this post Jake, and lost my work both times.
I'm very sympathetic to your situation, and willing to give you some advice regarding the interview process and what I look for in an interview.
Poor management is a killer. It doesn't matter how good you are if they keep steering the damn ship into the rocks. I am also (and have been) looking for the next place to park my tool box. But the bills don't stop because I feel a certain way, and at the end of the week I'm paid pretty well, so I'm no hurry to jump into the frey.
You've got to have a good sense for when you're being led or lied too.
I would say one of the big red flags I look for when interviewing shops is steering the conversation to boasting and story telling.
I go in with several questions written on a card and a pen to take notes. And I'm not afraid to steer the conversation back to a point that may have been glossed over.
I always start with questions about heat and hot water in the shop. I've worked at places that have neither. This usually brings the defensiveness down, then follow up with questions about the service information they use, and then hit them with "why is this position open? What happened to the person I am replacing, why weren't they a good fit?"
If at all possible, talk to the guys that work there, see how long they have been there and how they are being treated.
If the job is posted for a salary of $80,000-$15,000 a year, I call them out on the highest advertised salary. "Who here makes $150,000 a year? If no one, then what does that employee look like in your eyes?"

Awww I just had a good post typed up and like you it logged me out.
I did stop at the first two shops today and talked with the owners. Both seem to be pretty good, second shop isn't currently hiring right now until they do get a new place. First shop really wants me to have a CDL but I think if I go in for a actual "interview" we may be able to work out a deal. he did offer to pay for DOT and other certs. I'm gonna check out the third shop tomorrow and maybe do some more searching. Thanks for the info!

Well.... It's been a wild couple weeks here but I may be going into a indy shop here soon.
I contacted this one shop owner that is a one man show about 30 mins north of where I live. I contacted another shop just couple miles down the road and the owner said he'd love to have me but their shop is big enough for maybe 3 vehicles and he's been holding off until he buys a bigger shop. He's been trying to contact the city about the old fire dept. property that is currently for sale but no one is getting back to him so he said until then he can't hire anyone else. I went back and forth with the other shop owner and within a couple days he started getting spotty on replying back to me. I ended up sending a text saying if he has his eye's on someone else to just let me know so no one is wasting their time here. He ended replying back stating he'd like for me to work for a week to see how I like it. I agreed (I have 4 weeks of PTO that I'm gonna loose so might as well use it now). We set up a week and he stated he'd get a hold of me on when he wanted me to start..... Monday didn't hear a word from him. Monday night I had to reach out and he said show up Tuesday at 6. I showed up at 5.45 and no one was there.... that's fine, I'm early.... No one showed up until almost 6.30. Ok whatever, I didn't really count it as a strike. The variety of work was great. The not so great part.
no work orders. This means I have no idea what I'm working on next. Now trying to find him is another issue, when I would finally find him most of the time he was on the phone or talking to a customer. again nothing wrong with that but most of his customers were buddies so a 5 min conversation turned into over 30 mins of "remember when x,y,z did a,b and c?" and conversations about the newest drama in town. This kinda rubbed me the wrong way too because now I'm standing around doing nothing and of course I don't want to interrupt anything. Next issue, no parts on hand for anything and shop space. The shop was big enough for two semis/dump trucks so 90% of the time that I was there I was crawling through the gravel. Not the end of the world but shits starting to add up now. After seeing how unorganized he was I could see how he was "month" booked out. we ended up closing up shop early thursday and friday due to lack of work. then on friday when I picked up my tools and cleaned my work area we talked for about 10 mins or so and not once did he bring up possibly hiring me or asking what I thought. Overall I loved the work and I really liked working for him and the other guy he had working with him but if I was gonna bring my box in there I would've said there's gonna need to be some changes around here. Never made it that far though. I had a family gathering to get to anyways and he said "well we'll talk to ya later".... It's been a week and I haven't heard anything since nor have I been paid for working there. I think he figured since I was on PTO that he must've thought he doesn't need to pay me??? Idk, what really sucks is I'm good friends with one of his friends so we sorta know each other. Note to self to go into business with friends because it more then likely won't work.
anyways I moved on and I'm saying F that. The cornwell and snap on dealer however informed me that another shop just 5 mins down the road from me is hiring and they both told the owner about me and told me he was very interested. I went in monday and talked with him for about 2 hours. Super nice dude that seems to have his act together. I've driven past this shop for as long as I can remember and it's always flooded with work and he has almost 5 star google rating. I asked for a resume yesterday so I dropped that off and we're planning on meeting tonight or sometime this week for a interview and to check out the shop. I've been told it's a climate controlled shop and currently it's two high school kids back there doing LOF jobs and a older main tech. Older main tech just recently had a heart attack so he's out for the next couple weeks but the shop is busy enough the owner thinks he can add another guy to his crew. Just in the short convo we had it sounds like he knows how to run the shop and wrenches as well if he has time. He even made the comment that if everything works out good he'll pay a tow company to move my boxes for me.... I guess we'll see where this goes!

Sorry for the late reply, sounds like you've been busy!
Lots of red flags at the first place. Even if they do offer you a job, at this point I would likely decline.
Never don't get paid, even if you need to be pushy.
If they don't respect your time enough to feel like they NEED to pay you, then that is probably just the beginning of many ways they will take advantage you.
Even just not staying in contact with you about the position before hand shows the level of respect you can expect walking in the door.
I think you dodged a bullet.
Hopefully the next shop has their act together and you can work towards a real future.
Best of luck, keep us posted!