Vic's Hiring & Training:
It Takes a Special Person

Our greatest strength is our employees.  It is almost impossible to get a job at Vic's and it really separates us from all the other movers in Kansas City.
Richard Bitterman
President, Vic's Moving

Hiring
 
Vic's hires no temporary workers.  We are special in the market because of our no-temp policy.

Full drug screen prior to first day of employment.  If you use drugs do not bother to apply.
 
Full background check of all prior employers.
 
Must past our mutiple choice personality test.
 
Only about 5% of those who apply are good enough to be considered for employment at Vic's. 

Training
 
Complete orientation prior to first day.
 
Intensive new-hire training class covering "the Vic's way." 
 
Each employee is mentored by a crew leader until proficient enough to be a second man.
 
"Training Tuesday" classes for all employees, old and new, cover important topics such as customer service, role playing difficult situations, how to minimize furniture and real property damage, and safety.
 
Weekly crew leader meetings make sure a consistent message of our expectations reach all employees.
 
Ongoing training by outside experts.
Vic's backs pledge
with great training

“I expect nothing less than great customer service.” And with that came a commitment by Vic’s President, Richard Bitterman, to back up his promise with employee training.

For the second time in 12 months, Vic’s Moving hosted three intense days of re-certification training by the International Office Moving Institute (IOMI). Vic’s goal? To minimize damage and downtime, complete jobs on-time for the price quoted, and to become the best, most user-friendly mover in their Kansas City market. It seems to be working. Already, building managers and homeowners have praised Vic’s methods for minimizing the risk of damage to their buildings and homes during office and residential moves.
Vic's movers learn to move fully loaded lateral file cabinets using a Spider Crane®.
Training isn’t new at Vic’s. According to Bitterman, “Training Tuesdays” are a weekly staple and feature hands on, one-on-one sessions designed to greatly reduce damage to furniture, keep the movers from getting hurt, and help give customers the best service in Kansas City.

“Weekly, ongoing training, unheard of in an industry that’s notorious for on-the-job training at the customer's expense, has helped Vic’s set moving-industry standards in metropolitan Kansas City," said Ed Katz, re-certification trainer and head of IOMI. “Vic’s takes training so seriously that they’ve reorganized their office just to create a training facility. I’m very impressed,” Katz said.

“The new training center helps employees consistently maintain a high level of service. That’s a top priority at our company,” said Keith Moyer, Vic’s vice president.

“Morale is very high because our employees see the value of being trained. It makes their jobs easier and safer and makes the customer happy, too,” said Bitterman. “Everyone wins. A satisfied customer means repeat business and referrals, which means more hours, pay, profits and bonuses.”
Katz teaches Vic’s employees to dolly and transport a typical office desk while avoiding damage to the furniture and building surfaces.
Vic’s considers Katz and the Georgia-based IOMI its greatest outside training resource.

“IOMI re-certification means that Vic’s continues to estimate jobs accurately so that moves finish on time for the price quoted. It allows us to take the load and stress off the office or facility manager. And, nobody in Kansas City will do as thorough an inventory. It also means we have adopted the latest techniques and use the most modern equipment for preventing damage to furniture, computers and facilities,” explained Bitterman.

“Vic’s is the only office mover in their market to offer the “boxless” move where they move the contents in the furniture instead of the contents and the furniture.

Katz, former owner of Peachtree Movers in Atlanta, GA and founder and president of IOMI, is internationally recognized as the guru of office moves.

Carefully loading computer components minimizes damage.

He has authored three books on office moving and his patented devices are changing the way businesses move.

“He’s a natural teacher. His experience and knowledge are unequaled in the moving industry and why his visit to Vic’s was a highly anticipated special occasion,” said Moyer.“ This, his second training visit, will not be his last. Mr. Katz is going to be a fixture at our company. As long as we are striving to train the best movers possible we are going to bring Ed in to teach every year.”

Katz’ intensive training covered employee conduct, how to handle difficult situations on the job, and how to minimize damage to furniture and real property. He also trained each Vic’s employee to perform his famous “boxless move.

Vic’s management credits IOMI training with systematizing their household move procedures and heading them in the right direction to grow their office moving business.

“We knew what we had to do but didn’t know how to do it. Ed taught us in three days what it took him years to figure out,” Moyer said. “

“Having Ed train us for the second time was invigorating. When someone with his status talks, everyone listens and learns,” said Marty Barney, longtime Vic’s employee. Katz’ feelings about Vic’s are mutual.

“Richard Bitterman is one of the best students I have ever taught. He’s a visionary, has a great entrepreneurial spirit for he makes good decisions and has a backbone to back them up, and is one of the few movers that I know who believes in ongoing employee training. Always wanting to do the right thing for his customers, employees, and vendors makes Richard an exceptional person in my book,” said Katz.

“I have a great vision for our company,” said Bitterman. “I expect nothing less than great customer service and I mean it with all my heart. Customers develop a sense for a company’s integrity and compassion by their experience. Unfortunately, most people are conditioned to expect an unpleasant ordeal at best from service providers in our industry. We want to change that. I believe employee training and leading by example produces the kind of experience I want for our customers. My employees, without exception, are great people. Not only would you invite them once into your house or business to move furniture, you will invite them back again for your next move.”