Why hire a maintenance technician?

Hiring a great maintenance technician ensures the company has clean and functional facilities and buildings, and they confirm that business operations run smoothly.

• Conduct general cleaning activities, such as mopping and dusting
• Perform minor repairs, such as a broken lock
• Review control panels and electric wiring to uncover any issues

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance maintenance technician

Many large facilities have enough tasks to employ a full-time maintenance technician. They become familiar with the infrastructure and are aware of the activities that must be performed on a regular basis to support consistent workflow. They also know how to use the equipment and tools supplied by your business and are able to maintain them.

Some businesses might not have enough maintenance work to justify the expense of hiring a full-time maintenance technician. If the required work only takes a few hours a week or you have irregular maintenance needs, hiring a freelance maintenance technician might make more sense. You can schedule the freelancer as needed to handle the upkeep.

What are the types of maintenance technicians?

General maintenance technicians handle a variety of tasks and work in many settings, such as office buildings, factories and health care facilities. Some organizations assign ranks, usually indicated by Roman numerals, to signify varying levels of technicians. A maintenance technician I is often an entry-level technician with fewer responsibilities than a maintenance technician IV, who handles more advanced tasks. 

There are also different types of maintenance technicians. Each focuses on a specific type of upkeep and repair. Some types include:

• Industrial maintenance technician: Works in a factory or industrial setting and focuses on maintaining machinery in the facility.
• Facilities maintenance technician: Maintains and repairs the building structure, including cleaning, painting, plumbing, electrical and other structural aspects.
• Apartment maintenance technician: Handles maintenance and upkeep of an apartment complex, including common areas, individual apartments and the grounds.
• Grounds maintenance technician: Focuses on maintaining lawns, landscaping, hardscape structures and other outdoor features on the grounds of the facility.
• Maintenance manager: Managerial role that oversees all maintenance tasks and might supervise maintenance technicians to ensure the entire facility is safe and works right.

Where to find maintenance technicians

To find the right maintenance technician for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Recruit at community or technical colleges: Look for colleges with industrial maintenance or similar programs. Volunteer your time as a guest speaker in class or look into posting flyers on campus.
• Attend career fairs: Set up a booth at a career fair focusing on technical-type jobs, which you might find at colleges or convention centers. 
• Look in adjacent fields: Expand your search to related fields, such as construction, automotive or cleaning fields. Reach out to contacts in those industries to find potential candidates who might make a good maintenance technician.
• Post your job online: Try posting your maintenance technician job on Indeed to find and attract quality maintenance technician candidates.

Skills to look for in a great Maintenance Technician

Maintenance Technicians should ideally possess strong problem-solving skills with attention to detail. They need to make sure that the company operations go on without any obstacles.

• High school diploma or GED needed
• Strong experiences in operating equipment like lawn mowers and small hand tools
• Valid EPA certification
• Ability to lift 50 pounds unassisted
• Proactive worker requiring minimal supervision
• Excellent work prioritization ability and can follow instructions well

Writing a maintenance technician job description

A thoughtful description can help find qualified maintenance technician candidates. A maintenance technician job description includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your maintenance technician job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms that lead to clicks on maintenance technician jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Senior maintenance technician
• Lead maintenance technician
• Facilities maintenance technician
• Maintenance technician
• Maintenance
• Maintenance mechanic
• Technician
• Apartment maintenance
• Building maintenance
• Industrial maintenance
• Maintenance person
• Painter
• Facilities maintenance

Interviewing maintenance technician candidates

Hiring the right person as a maintenance technician helps the company stay on track with dynamic business operations and minimal machinery issues. A good maintenance technician should:

• Have experience with maintenance on a variety of machines
• Have awareness of machine operation and related knowledge
• Explain how they’ve managed to achieve a company’s revenue and profitability targets by ensuring the smooth operation of machines and minimum machine vacancy or breakdown issues

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of maintenance technician interview questions for examples (with sample answers).