What do you do when you don't trust...

It seems you have already put more than enough effort into turning this turnip into a prince without success. I vote for helping him find a job somewhere else.  The challenge would be knowing what that job could be.

Give him a written evaluation.  Put his good and bad qualities & habits on paper for him to read & acknowledge, making sure to keep the criticism constructive and professional.  Give a reasonable deadline to correct his bad habits, and consequences for failure to obtain significant improvement, ir. demotion and reduction in pay or termination.

You could also hire a seasoned Party Chief and put the LSI under him on a crew. If that happened to me, I would probably quit on the spot. If he quit, you would already have his replacement in-house and your stress level leaves with the LSI.  If you have made recommendations for this gent to complete his path to licensure, you can revise your recommendation and hopefully prevent a sub-par candidate from obtaining his professional credentials.

My $0.04 opinions.  Good luck with your decision.

God called some people to be airline pilots. And some to be bulldozer pilots.

Don't mix em up.

Maybe you are hindering him from his "true calling', by trying to conform him to a 737, when he needs to be in a caterpillar.

Level with him. Truth sets us free. Tell 'im the truth. Let him make necessary changes, or move on.

Or move him on.

I had a super intelligent fellow, that was fun to work with. But, he was devoid of practical ability. I sent him "on to his calling". Elsewhere. I was much happier. And, I suppose he was too.

Nate

You know. When I was younger and less mature i had to swallow the dry bread of constructive criticism with nothing to wash it down. Now I am begging for someone to tell me what i am doing wrong how can I improve teach and mentor me. I believe the above is very wise advice. Sit him down in writing a more formal evaluation. If that doesn’t jog him then help him along but its not easy finding people for sure .  If you could hire me i will bring you the wet squirrel to beat me with. When i mess up. Sounds like he may be focusing on speed vs quality if he has a good attitude. Time to explain that difference.  Good luck.  

Does LSI stand for Land Surveyor Intern? Haven’t heard that acronym before. Up where I’m at we have the LSIT which is a Land Surveyor In Training. Are these one and the same? The reason why I ask is if it indeed an internship, the focus should be mostly on educating him, not production. I like Kevin’s suggestion of pairing him with a seasoned party chief. It seems like the current party chief might be dropping the ball with regards to training if easy to find monuments are being missed. And in the office all his work should be reviewed/redlined for corrections to be made by him before sending off so he can see his mistakes.

Other than that you said he has a good work ethic, then list a bunch of characteristics that display a lack thereof. You can mention that in a review and get real with him in a professional manner stating that you cannot sign off on certain portions of demonstrating qualifications when he lists you as the licensed Surveyor he learned them under.

@tim-libs In Montana the state refers to those that have successfully passed the FS as Land Surveyor Interns (LSI).  I know other states still use the LSIT.  They are one and the same.

Thanks for the input all.  I plan on following Kevin's advise and putting the good and bad into writing.  I also plan on having a long heart to heart with my business partners (another PLS and a PE) about my concerns.  I know they are very concerned about being able to replace this individual if he can't cut the mustard, which in this day and age is a valid concern.

Other than that you said he has a good work ethic, then list a bunch of characteristics that display a lack thereof. You can mention that in a review and get real with him in a professional manner stating that you cannot sign off on certain portions of demonstrating qualifications when he lists you as the licensed Surveyor he learned them under.

That's a good point - the possibility that experience might not get signed off on could be a powerful motivator. I too agree that putting things into writing is a must in this situation.

One other thing that I did think about...some folks are easily rattled when they perceive, either rightly or wrongly, that they are under the gun, so things drop through the cracks as they rush to get things done.

I've worked with folks who are great when things are calm and sailing is smooth, but as soon as the pressure is cranked up their work takes a nosedive and they start missing simple items. It's especially noticeable in individuals who may have spotty education and/or training, and really do not like asking for help because they think they should already know everything...

Obviously that's not always the case, and might still be a dealbreaker, but it might be worth talking about whether this individual is falling down because they're overly worried about just "getting it done".

He sounds distracted to me.  There is such a thing as adult ADHD.  I have a couple friends with it.  Can't stay on point.  They have trouble completing tasks fluidly without seeing a squirrel go by.  

I really want to just chew his ass, but at the same time I don't want to be that kind of boss.

What the hell do I do?!

I have the same guy working for me! 

I didn't think I was chewing his ass; I asked him to bring me my redlines, he only addressed half of them. His response was; I threw it in the garbage... Go get it out of the garbage then!

Why didn't you fix this, that and the other thing?! His response was, STOP TREATING ME LIKE A LITTLE KID! and stomped out of my office.

@dougie The struggle is real!

@hi-staker 

I've been thinking about making an "Old School Mentoring" post. I believe I'm better off for the way I was mentored...

When you act like a little kid and then bitch because you're being treated like one; is counter-productive.

I've toned it back, a lot... and things are a little better. Very little.

Like @kevin-hines says:

making sure to keep the criticism constructive and professional. 

It won't be easy; hitting him with a field book and telling him to pull his head out of his ass! would be a lot quicker.

Huge corporations don't worry about such things as they have no personal contact with individuals.

Small shops are all about mutual trust.

I visited with my partners this morning, and we have settled on sitting him down, pointing out his strengths and weaknesses, and letting him know that he needs to step up his game. 

I am compiling a list of jobs where he has missed tasks to give him as examples.  Then we are going to give him a few projects and tell him to make a list of needed tasks.  He will then bring those tasks to us, and we will add or subtract as needed.  He will then be solely responsible for completing those tasks in a timely fashion.

We will see how it goes.  Wish me luck!