Random Nuclear Strikes

I’m out to drop off some resumes in person as requested by the ads. I’d say I’m bringing all my gear in case they want me to test there and then, but part of the reason I bought Grimm was because he has a built in stash spot for my gear, so it hasn’t left the vehicle since I cleaned out my locker at school. I’m ready and more than willing.

I’m also expecting a call back from the intermodal repair shop telling me the whiz quiz and background check came back clean and we can discuss which days I’ll be working this week.

Also, my wife’s mother is flying in this morning to stay with us for a couple days before they take off for San Diego this weekend.

Life happens. I’ll keep y’all updated.

No disrespect to Joe Jackson, but naw

And just because

Also

So I actually got a call back Wednesday afternoon from the now 18 resumes and/or online applications I’ve sent out this week. It was from a shop that does repair work on intermodal trailers and conex boxes.

Showed up yesterday morning, nailed the welding test, with the cast on, got offered a tentative position on the condition that I pass their UA, which won’t be a problem. Start date to be given when the thumbs up gets back to them.

It’s three, eight hour days per week for 30 days. Full time after that. They hired at least one other person, and I suspect it is to see if either of us has a work ethic, and they’ll keep that person.

While I wouldn’t mind staying there full-time, I do have more than a dozen resumes out, and this position will still leave me a fair amount of time to test elsewhere and see what else is out there.

Which is what I’m doing this morning at a fabrication shop that is more art and design than engineering and structural.

The cast comes off this afternoon and I can’t wait that long. I have the tools and I have the knowledge, I just don’t have a way to get the damn pins out myself, safely.

Cross your fingers that there’ll be little to no physical therapy required afterwards.

About this 21st Century.

Before leaving school, knowing my cast might hamper my ability to take a welding test, I sent out resumes to only four employers. It took nearly a week (Friday to Thursday) for one of them to respond. Took the test and haven’t heard back (I’ll be calling them today).

The day after the last day of school, last Friday, knowing my cast would come off this Friday, I sent out eight more. I have heard from none of them. No, my phone did not explode on Monday.

Yesterday morning I sent out four more. I actually got a response from one of them, but it was from the company that the company I want to work for hired to handle hiring. She had, in my opinion, some benign questions that weren’t likely very helpful to my prospective employer.

I talked with David about this last night and he said this is typical. That these days it takes a while for companies to get in touch with prospective employees.

This is completely foreign to me. But, then again, I haven’t looked for a job in over 15 years. in 1999, I could carry a resume with me, walk into a company and talk to the HR drone, fill out their application form in the lobby while we talked, have an actual interview with the HR supervisor and the department manager, and walk out with a job.

Yet another former fact of life time has ruined. And I would put $20 down that none of the backgrounding most likely going on behind the scenes while I wait can be shown to improve the quality of employee they actually hire.

What does a guy who wants to work have to do to get hired faster, please?

FYI: This is not an April Fools. I am getting bored with sleeping in and doing no welding. Yes, I may be insane.

So that’s it. I’m done with school (I do have another quarter scheduled in the fab shop for side projects) and am a member of the available workforce in the job market.

I have sent out nearly a dozen resumes (8 last Friday alone) and am hoping my phone is going to explode today. The cast comes off on Friday for those employers who won’t let me test with it on.

I was able to take a weld test for an employer on Thursday morning and should get a call from them today or tomorrow. There are, supposedly, 4 open positions there and ten people who tested for it. My welds were flawless and a couple of former students from my school that I know work there, so we’ll see.

Sadly, the timing for this new skill-set come at a bad time for my attendance at Boomershoot. I will be there, but my options for being there for the entire event are likely poor. I can’t see an employer letting me have three days off within a month of my start date, so expect a mid-day Saturday arrival with a haul ass exit time as things wind down on Sunday. I’m going to ask anyway. All they can do is say no.

In the mean time, wish me luck.