Ot: umemployed, canceled a interview, dangerous driving conditions

[gemship]

Well I don't usually start new threads heck sometimes I don't bother to log in but today is developing into a head trip for me. I've mentioned this situation of mine a few times in previous posts to other's threads, I am a unemployed cnc milling operator. I have also done landscaping and worked as a dishwasher and even a entry level electro mechanical assembler but for the past ten years I did a ton of job hopping working at various machine shops. Somehow I managed to pic up blueprint reading skills, reading and editing programs and setting up and operating mostly cnc mills and working with cnc lathes, mostly operating the lathes. A couple of years ago I was laid off from work, a job that I only spent six weeks at. I worked second shift with two other guys and never really developed much a relationship with the rest of the management, when they laid me off it was the same day the laid off at least a dozen others, it was a heavy hit to a company with less than fifty employees. I actually had mixed feelings about the lay off. With no debt, single, no kids and living at home, alone actually, my parents place but they have a couple of places, what can I say, they're generous to let stay at home and not kick me out and make a profit as renters. So anyways I never really loved the trade but for the past ten years as my resume relates I am pigeon holed as a machinist. The trade is just starting to pick up and I exhausted the full grant of benefits by our gov't two months ago. In a way I'm happy to have finished off the bennies but for obvious reasons, I'm no millionaire, it's time to find a job, can't stand drawing from my savings. So I have sent my resume out to a bunch of places and a couple advertised thru Monster, well Monster has my resume up for the world to see and I get a call from a recruiter today. She wanted to to interview with me so I said sure. The interview takes place twenty eight miles south. For obvious reasons I would like to meet with this recruiter but here in Ma. we're experiencing the first snow fall of the year and lots of people are getting into accidents driving on the highway and secondary roads, it's awful. I just feel like I have too much vested into to my truck to take the chance. On top of that about five years ago I interviewed with this same staffing agency and they were rather difficult to get a job thru, in fact there idiosyncratic means to employ people was a turn off that didn't land any position at all for me. So here I am practicing some wisdom and common sense and asking to reschedule a interview. I want to work but I am so annoyed with people having road rage, tail gating, getting into accidents and I don't see much point in me burning nine bucks in gas just to meet with someone and hand over my resume on a piece of paper along with references with no solid job offer or much less than that just a interview with one of the staffing agencies clients. I mean she had seen my resume on Monster so she has it, I can send my references to her, so what's the point in meeting. All she's going to do is shake my hand and get the info reiterated the old fashion way and then get on the email/phone with prospective clients to schedule another round of interviews with me to meet with them. I would think that it would be easier to just send my info to the companies and if they're interested then contact me to schedule meetings with the companies and if the meetings are successful then contact me again to have me come in and finalize any paperwork regarding legal citizenship and tax/payment status.

Any way I just received a reply from her in regards to canceling the interview for this afternoon, she is interested in meeting Mon. Hopefully that will be a better day for driving. Despite flurries people drive crazy, the roads are slick and I just want my efforts to count for something positive rather than getting stuck in traffic or possibly totaling my truck for some silly interview that will most likely land nada. You know just a couple days after a snowstorm the roads are so much better, even dryer with less salt sticking to your wheels. Maybe I'm just over reacting or ambivalent, I want to work but I don't want to be running around looking for it like a turkey with his head cut off. That's what I feel like and why is it that staffing companies are always doing the hiring for some many companies these days? Most companies I worked at never really offered many bennies anyways, companies can't be saving that much money using a middleman or can they?

[gemship]

Oh yeah and for whatever it's worth I already made introductions with three other staffing agencies within forty miles of my home. They all seem to be recruiting for the same clients/businesses and advertise using the same sources,local paper, monster job site, craigslist. Again I feel jaded but why deal with the middle man and I know nothing ventured nothing gained but I think I may start to lose count with all these staffing agencies. :confused:

[Tom]

Staffing agencies are used to screen so by the time the hiring manager is talking to somebody they've already been through one level of vetting. Today, especially, with so many out of work if you don't have somebody pick the best off the haystack of applications you're wasting a lot of time.

Edit - postponing the interview can be a double edged sword but if the conditions are bad enough and I were the interviewer you'd already have one in the credit column before you started talking. Prudence ain't a bad trait.

[AngryScientist]

hang in there! it's definitely tough out there, but i predict you will be in a very good situation moving forward.

i work in the powerplant industry, and recently there is a lot more interest in nuclear power, wind, solar, etc. even new fossil power plants are springing up in the beginning licensing stages.

i hear from clients day-in, day-out that skilled labor is getting tough to find, and that few young men/women are interested in a career working with their hands doing the required skilled work to construct a power plant.

we are on the edge of another small industrial boom in the US, i can feel it. how long it will take is anyones guess, but it will happen, because it has to. a ton of our electric power in this country comes from old, tired coal power plants that just cant hang in there much longer.

when the demand rises, few will be able to meet it as far as skilled craftsmen, then sir - you will be the man.

sorry for the thread drift, but your day will come, i assure you.

[gemship]

Thank you for the inspiring note AngryScientist and thank you Tom for noting the value in taking caution or prudence as you put it.

No apologies required for any thread drifts, I feel a little guilty starting this thread on a bike forum. If I could even remotely justify I must say I like working with my hands and riding bicycles. Its the simple life. While I like driving my truck I don't want to head off into a crazy seen of impatient drivers at least not after all the news of accidents on the tv last night and this morning.

My ideal job would be working at a bike shop that I could commute to by bike if need be but unfortunately the society around here just can't support the demand. We have plenty of local shops and they all have ample staff so I guess at the age of 36 I feel like I have to stick with what I know to pay the bills. I used to work at places within reasonable commuting distance and I always managed to be a direct hire by the co. but now with this economy it's the staffing agencies that seem to be out there pooling for talent in any given industry and the jobs are getting further from home meaning no more bicycling to work. I hate relying on a car.

[mbrtool]

If there is an organization in MA. like tmanet.com, I would submit my resume there.

[Cinci Jim]

I'm the national hiring manager for a large manufacturing company. I have 3 staffing agencies I use to support my needs nationally. I rely on then to screen candidates for me. I have quarterly meetings to review KPIs with them which include performance, retention and job fit.

Basically if they want to keep doing business with me, they need to find me qualified candidates who fit into my culture. That is why they screen candidates. I then hire the best from the agency to fill my regular needs.

My opinion is we will see more & more contracted labor in the future. with the uncertain economic situation, no one wants to be caught with excess labor. Concerns about a beefed up WARN act make this worse.

Experienced skilled trades are becoming very hard to find in the US. Tool & Die is even worse. I have now partnered with a technical college to home grow my T&D candidates. Recruit them out of High School and train them up for 4-5 years.

[1happygirl]

I don't have any real world experience with finding work in your area but I just wanted to say I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers this week.

Sorry you are having a rough go of it.

[Pete Serotta]

YOU can do it!!!!!


PETE

[Ralph]

hang in there! it's definitely tough out there, but i predict you will be in a very good situation moving forward.

i work in the powerplant industry, and recently there is a lot more interest in nuclear power, wind, solar, etc. even new fossil power plants are springing up in the beginning licensing stages.

i hear from clients day-in, day-out that skilled labor is getting tough to find, and that few young men/women are interested in a career working with their hands doing the required skilled work to construct a power plant.

we are on the edge of another small industrial boom in the US, i can feel it. how long it will take is anyones guess, but it will happen, because it has to. a ton of our electric power in this country comes from old, tired coal power plants that just cant hang in there much longer.

when the demand rises, few will be able to meet it as far as skilled craftsmen, then sir - you will be the man.

sorry for the thread drift, but your day will come, i assure you.


I agree.......Although retired, I consider myself a professional investor....and lately I have been moving investment funds to American companies that make things. Companies that take basic commodity items and make things. Companies with skilled labor forces that make things. And, like you, I sense a rebirth of some types of manufacturing activity in US. I sense a desire and willingness of Americanans to buy home made things. Look at Ford. It's bigining to swing back our way folks!!

Good luck with your job search. Don't give up. You have special skills.

[gemship]

The weirdest thing happened. About a half hour after I initiated this thread the sun really started to shine thru the clouds, so I figured what the heck and I emailed Wendy at the staffing agency and asked if it would still be ok if we met at the originally scheduled time and she said absolutely. It was a very nice experience and the driving was not quite as bad as I anticipated. I feel so spoiled to not have a treacherous daily commute although there is a reason for that and that is I am just not working amongst the urban sprawl.... yet. Upon arriving home I had a message on my answering machine from a rather prestigious machine shop located out in the country in literally the opposite direction and equal distance to this staffing agency I visited. The commute to this shop is much more scenic, backroads and when the weather is right it could be a fun but dedicated bicycle commute. Anyway it's a direct hire position meaning no temping, I really like that. So I have a job interview this coming Tuesday and looking forward to it!

Now I have a bit of a problem it seems like I may be on a roll with the several places I have been submitting my resume to. I mean I really want to work but I don't want to shoot myself in the foot and take a job that pays less than one around the corner that may be a bit better. I also don't want to hold my breath for any jobs that may not materialize. I suppose the classy thing to do is interview and hear everyone out and maybe set some sort of deadline in regards to any potential job offers. The bottom line is, I'm ready, it's time to go to work.

I shouldn't make it sound too bad for myself either, I have done some good home improvement on my parent's second home, busting out a old concrete walkway and replacing it with stonedust. The house has a well and working with my stepfather, we trenched in a water line for year round water service with the city, it would be cleaner water with more pressure. We also replaced the roof. I also did some land clearing on our property as well as working for a few people in my neighborhood. These aren't things that can really pay the bills though, and it's just stuff that one can always do on the weekends but I just want to point out I'm not completely useless being unemployed, at times I do feel like it. There's that saying that often comes to my mind, " Idle time is the devil's handiwork".

[rugbysecondrow]

Congrats. If you get an offer, take it, say thanks for the opportunity, and ask when you start. Make the best decision with the options and information you have at the time, and you move forward.

Best of luck!

[Peter P.]

You have issues, gemship. If I were an employer or staffing agency and read your posts above, I'd run the other way. You need to change your attitude and make some sacrifices if you want to get employed. It's an employers' market out there and I don't care how talented you are, your posts come across with so much negativity I'd sooner say "thank you very much, Mr. gemship," and continue with the next applicant.

[Blue Jays]

Gemship, remember to speak at a moderate pace and take a breath between sentences at live interviews.

[onekgguy]

Hmm...I don't want to rain on your parade but I too sense what Peter P mentioned. When you talked about not wanting to drive your truck because of the weather the first thing that crossed my mind was, how dependable an employee are you going to be when the weather is nasty but you're still expected to be there? I understand it was an interview with an employment agency and not an actual job but in some respects I would think that would be every bit as important.

Kevin g

[pbjbike]

Gemship. it's time to cowboy up. I've given you tough love in the past, and it came from a good place. I have good friends in the bike business who've been in the exact same place. I've been there too. Do what it takes to get the job and be there. You have skills, brother! Get on it. We are behind you. :)

[93legendti]

Congrats. If you get an offer, take it, say thanks for the opportunity, and ask when you start. Make the best decision with the options and information you have at the time, and you move forward.

Best of luck!
I just gave this advice to a friend who has a good job offer. Take the offer. Waiting around for a "better private sector job" in this economy would be a questionable move.

[Ken Robb]

If you are lucky and good and you have interest from three employers (A,B,C) you pick the two you like best (A and B?) and say that you have an offer from another company "C" but you don't mention any names to any company. You tell both A and B that you really would prefer to work for them, all things being equal, and could they tell you whether they want you and if so at what compensation package. If they say "NO" or the package isn't good enough you take the job with C and never let them know that they were not your first choice. It may turn out to BE the best after all. You can't really tell until you've been aboard for a while. OTOH, A or B may realize they missed a good thing and make you a REALLY good offer to lure you away from C. All the world is a negotiation and you don't have to lie to be good at it. Good luck.

[SPOKE]

If you don't enjoy working in the machining business then spend some serious time figuring out what you may really like to do.
If you decide to stay in the machining business then do all you can to be the best machining center setup/programer you can be. Just being an operator won't really secure you a future in the business. Be sure to gain an excellent understanding of the tooling used on these machines. Learn why certain tools are used for certain types of workouts materials too! Just learn all you can and make yourself the "go to guy" for getting the job done.
Best of luck....

[Pete Serotta]

Look at the environment as an opportunity...

Quantify what you want long and short term in work enviroment. Salary is only one part and iffy at that.


When interview is happening, insure you have quantified your needs (salary is not required to be ##1).

Does the job match your requirements. ? Do your skillls meet what the company is looking for.

ALso ask when they will make decisions on job filling or selection. Nothing has to be turned down until it is offered to you or the offer meets your needs from above. In today's environments there are usually far more resumes and interviews done than offers received.

[drewski]

These are the times that try men's souls.

I have been a corporate stooge for the last 5 years so I am not sure if
my advice works.

Know why you are taking the job. Don't try to kid yourself.
If you do it will reflect in the interview.
I would also encourage you to keep a journal. The times
in my life when I found myself under the most financial pressure,
I found keeping a journal helped me to stay in the moment.
I am the type of person who has 1 foot in the real time
and the other in dreamtime.

If you check out a book from William Stafford it might help put things
in perspective. He was poet who road about the importance of wisdom
and being heroic during life's most unheroic circumstances.


Best wishes to you in getting back in the game soon.



Wisdom is having things right in your life
and knowing why.
If you do not have things right in your life,
you will be overwhelmed:
you may be heroic,
but you will not be wise.
"The Little Ways That Encourage Good Fortune"
Stories That Could Be True, 1997



Take really good care of your health as well. Be gentle with yourself.
You are not a machine.

Andrew

Well I don't usually start new threads heck sometimes I don't bother to log in but today is developing into a head trip for me. I've mentioned this situation of mine a few times in previous posts to other's threads, I am a unemployed cnc milling operator. I have also done landscaping and worked as a dishwasher and even a entry level electro mechanical assembler but for the past ten years I did a ton of job hopping working at various machine shops. Somehow I managed to pic up blueprint reading skills, reading and editing programs and setting up and operating mostly cnc mills and working with cnc lathes, mostly operating the lathes. A couple of years ago I was laid off from work, a job that I only spent six weeks at. I worked second shift with two other guys and never really developed much a relationship with the rest of the management, when they laid me off it was the same day the laid off at least a dozen others, it was a heavy hit to a company with less than fifty employees. I actually had mixed feelings about the lay off. With no debt, single, no kids and living at home, alone actually, my parents place but they have a couple of places, what can I say, they're generous to let stay at home and not kick me out and make a profit as renters. So anyways I never really loved the trade but for the past ten years as my resume relates I am pigeon holed as a machinist. The trade is just starting to pick up and I exhausted the full grant of benefits by our gov't two months ago. In a way I'm happy to have finished off the bennies but for obvious reasons, I'm no millionaire, it's time to find a job, can't stand drawing from my savings. So I have sent my resume out to a bunch of places and a couple advertised thru Monster, well Monster has my resume up for the world to see and I get a call from a recruiter today. She wanted to to interview with me so I said sure. The interview takes place twenty eight miles south. For obvious reasons I would like to meet with this recruiter but here in Ma. we're experiencing the first snow fall of the year and lots of people are getting into accidents driving on the highway and secondary roads, it's awful. I just feel like I have too much vested into to my truck to take the chance. On top of that about five years ago I interviewed with this same staffing agency and they were rather difficult to get a job thru, in fact there idiosyncratic means to employ people was a turn off that didn't land any position at all for me. So here I am practicing some wisdom and common sense and asking to reschedule a interview. I want to work but I am so annoyed with people having road rage, tail gating, getting into accidents and I don't see much point in me burning nine bucks in gas just to meet with someone and hand over my resume on a piece of paper along with references with no solid job offer or much less than that just a interview with one of the staffing agencies clients. I mean she had seen my resume on Monster so she has it, I can send my references to her, so what's the point in meeting. All she's going to do is shake my hand and get the info reiterated the old fashion way and then get on the email/phone with prospective clients to schedule another round of interviews with me to meet with them. I would think that it would be easier to just send my info to the companies and if they're interested then contact me to schedule meetings with the companies and if the meetings are successful then contact me again to have me come in and finalize any paperwork regarding legal citizenship and tax/payment status.

Any way I just received a reply from her in regards to canceling the interview for this afternoon, she is interested in meeting Mon. Hopefully that will be a better day for driving. Despite flurries people drive crazy, the roads are slick and I just want my efforts to count for something positive rather than getting stuck in traffic or possibly totaling my truck for some silly interview that will most likely land nada. You know just a couple days after a snowstorm the roads are so much better, even dryer with less salt sticking to your wheels. Maybe I'm just over reacting or ambivalent, I want to work but I don't want to be running around looking for it like a turkey with his head cut off. That's what I feel like and why is it that staffing companies are always doing the hiring for some many companies these days? Most companies I worked at never really offered many bennies anyways, companies can't be saving that much money using a middleman or can they?

[deechee]

Good luck and it sucks to be in your situation during the holidays. We just had some layoffs announced here and moral is a bit low.

I don't know much about your industry but at my work, all of the temporary workers are hired through an agency. Even if we decide to hire someone that the agency didn't provide to us, their employment is dealt with through the agency. Its the company's way of protecting its butt.

All that just to say, sometimes the middleman is inevitable. Good hunting :)

[gemship]

You have issues, gemship. If I were an employer or staffing agency and read your posts above, I'd run the other way. You need to change your attitude and make some sacrifices if you want to get employed. It's an employers' market out there and I don't care how talented you are, your posts come across with so much negativity I'd sooner say "thank you very much, Mr. gemship," and continue with the next applicant.


You'll get no argument from me, I am unemployed and I need a job, BIG ISSUE! Pardon me for being hesitant to rush out the door in treacherous driving conditions. In Ma. we have roads that aren't wide enough for the Massholes, yes they do exist, it was also the first snowstorm and the state as well as my local city were very slow to salt and sand the roads. Many accidents on highway and secondary roads, heck my aunt the elementary school crossing guard broke her arm because the road wasn't salted and the city worker who tried to help her up slipped and fell straight to the hospital with her. It was just a bad day for driving and the interview although important could of been delayed for another day. The thing is I am familiar with this staffing agency and they just never delivered a job in my time of need five years ago, I was more marketable then,if that makes sense. I also have already signed up with three other staffing agencies within a 40 mile radius, they all fish for the same pool of talent for the same businesses. Companies hire multiple staffing agencies to do their job hiring and even if you get to work you still don't work for the co. Alas a sign of the times. At least I made the interview, I'm glad I made it. Actually I sort of envy the men at this agency as they were the minority, it was a very slick atmosphere filled with pretty twenty somethings, almost worth the 9 bucks in gas and two and half hours of my time just for the eye candy. I also appreciate the fact that even if I don't land a job at least my resume is worth a glance, along with a follow up call I guess I'm finally doing something right with all this new fangled resume submitting online because I wasn't sure if I was attaching documents in the correct manner, I have a macbook, they all have windows based whatever.

I want to be hired by a company, I don't want to work for a temp agency. I want a chance to show off my Mitutoyo digital mics that can read within .0002" and my swiss jeweled Interapid test indicator, I have a lot of really nice tools collecting dust. There are aspects to machining that I enjoy and would probably enjoy more if I could go to business for myself or simply be making bike parts rather than contributing to the war machine or semiconductor industries. However the investment to make ones own modern machine shop is rather daunting in terms of capital. I'll be happy to get a job. If I have to flip burgers or wash dishes I would be happy with that too, I actually thought about going to school for cooking, it's second to enjoying being around bikes with or without engines. I also like landscaping unfortunately my body doesn't always agree.

At 7am today I felt really good, two weeks ago I bruised my ribs and sternum, had a accident felling a tree, long crazy story but today I felt very strong.Despite deep bruising to the chest area. There was a great limb severed from a oak tree in a storm about a mile from house so bucked that tree into logs today and hauled them back home, I even gave some of the wood to man that lived near the tree, I felt bad that I was the bigger opportunist and made me know that believe me. I worked hard and hustled today for my next years firewood supply. I had to do this so I wouldn't tie up the rest of my day sitting by the computer job searching in a gloomy economy at a time when people would rather be with their families. So here I am ready to take a phone call or a email for a job offer. Would rather be riding my bike by the seaside listening to the echos of fisherman lost at sea.

I like the encouragement and I like the tough love Thank you for making this a sticky thread,although I was a bit surprised by that move. I believe I am going out on a limb here speaking for myself but I'm not alone. The reason why I did this is because I believe it's therapeutic for me to sit and type away my thoughts. People come here to the forum for whatever reason, maybe just bored? It's hard for folks to lend listening ears to my woes. I guess if the weather was nice I would of just drove off to the interview and not even of logged in to comment on any thing here, I needed to vent a little. It worked, I haven't' talked to anybody about this stuff since the interview, just felt like I did enough whining thru my posts.

Thankyou all and I'll keep you posted on my job search progress and feel free to give me the love, tough, easy, how ever you want to serve it up. :p

[benb]

You need to be super eager at interviews and if you get a job take it.. long term unemployment (perhaps unfairly) is a major strike against you in the job market. Some companies are so rotten in this environment they only want to hire by poaching from another company even though there are plenty of unemployed qualified people who can fill the job.

I don't think you're killing yourself that much with this kind of response to someone at a temp agency, but it's good you made it in there!

You should also try hard to get more comfy with driving around in our New England weather.. the storm this week was a real non-factor compared to the storms we get most winters, so your fear of driving in it seems pretty strange.

Monday I did my 60 mile round trip commute in the snow storm, got home, and my wife and I promptly got back in the car and drove into Boston. It took us a miserable 2 hours to get into the city (10 miles!) but the roads never felt particularly dangerous, it was just incredibly annoying to be in such slow traffic.

The weather here this week would never in a million years have stopped me from getting to a job interview.

[shiftyfixedgear]

Judging by the length and nature of your posts I'd like to suggest that you get some additional human and/or canine contact. Sounds like you have too much solitary time on your hands and this will sometimes make situations seem more bleak than they are.

It's holiday time - great time to find a church or community based organization to cook and share with. You said you like to cook . . .

Good Luck,
SFG

[gemship]

You need to be super eager at interviews and if you get a job take it.. long term unemployment (perhaps unfairly) is a major strike against you in the job market. Some companies are so rotten in this environment they only want to hire by poaching from another company even though there are plenty of unemployed qualified people who can fill the job.

I don't think you're killing yourself that much with this kind of response to someone at a temp agency, but it's good you made it in there!

You should also try hard to get more comfy with driving around in our New England weather.. the storm this week was a real non-factor compared to the storms we get most winters, so your fear of driving in it seems pretty strange.

Monday I did my 60 mile round trip commute in the snow storm, got home, and my wife and I promptly got back in the car and drove into Boston. It took us a miserable 2 hours to get into the city (10 miles!) but the roads never felt particularly dangerous, it was just incredibly annoying to be in such slow traffic.

The weather here this week would never in a million years have stopped me from getting to a job interview.


It didn't stop me either just had me think twice and aloud on a forum. Jeesh posts like this make me wonder if I am the only one in this world that whines. You were incredibly lucky you didn't make the evening news with a car accident.Plenty of others did. I don't take driving especially slick road conditions on a poorly engineered twenty miles of highway for granted.

You don't want to see me in a situation like you described, I get really pissed off being in a cage.

[gemship]

Judging by the length and nature of your posts I'd like to suggest that you get some additional human and/or canine contact. Sounds like you have too much solitary time on your hands and this will sometimes make situations seem more bleak than they are.

It's holiday time - great time to find a church or community based organization to cook and share with. You said you like to cook . . .

Good Luck,
SFG


Well I do have a cat at home, he doesn't like other animals and besides dogs need to be leashed, registered and get expensive when they get sick.

I do actually go to the community food pantry, and the community meals. I hang out with people that others, I imagine many even on this forum would find below their standards. I don't judge they're good people, I check in on the forum from time to time, it's on another browser page, I multiple pages tuned into job sites, I being a secretary right now for myself and with out pay :rolleyes:

I absolutely loved that temp agency yesterday, so many cute girls there. You know the thought crossed my mind that maybe the girl that interviewed me while certainly knowing very little about the nature of my work, was performance driven. Meaning she had seen my resume on Monster was prompted to call me, get me to the office for a face to face that really wasn't necessary. In the end she gets a gold star for occupying a hour of her time to do her job. As a machinist I fail to even see the end product of any office worker :rolleyes:


Okay so I have to add to this post here where I am quoting you. I have absolutely know idea about you as you don't know about me but I always had this observation a rather Seinfeld like way of looking at bike geeks who post on forums as somewhat introverted attention seekers. I mean there are bike geeks that just act as a voyeur as it's worthless to post and they know this, I often participate in lurk mode with this rationale and then there are the real bikers that never even bother to check their email if they even have internet access. I know what your'e saying regarding social interaction but I can kind of see a double standard. FWIW- I don't own a cell phone or a pda, I deprive myself with a landline and a message machine,my splurge is high speed internet so I don't have to leave home but when I replaced my desktop it was with a laptop in case I can't afford the internet anymore.

[ThomasAylesbury]

I live in Mass, the people drive like idiots, I grew up there. There were cars all over the place during and after that storm. Wake up, who ever wrote they drove 60 miles round trip and then went back to Boston, you are probably the same guy passing on the right and tailgating everybody. Safety first.

Second, you will go on a lot of wasted trips finding a job. Actually nothing is wasted. You always learn something. Be positive and be aware of how you are coming across to other people.

People in Mass and Connecticut are horrible drivers, no way around it..

[rugbysecondrow]

Second, you will go on a lot of wasted trips finding a job. Actually nothing is wasted. You always learn something. Be positive and be aware of how you are coming across to other people.



Bingo. The best way to be good at interviewing is to interview.

I also understand what you say about not wanting to work for a temp, but many agencies use the temp as a defacto HR department, at least for initial hires. They might transition you over, so I wouldn't view the work as any less or more important. I had so many free jobs that I did just to get experience and to get to know folks that if I had to, I would do the same thing just to get a chance.

Keep plugging away and you will get there. I beleive in momentum, positive and negative. You have some Positivie momentum, but the minute you stop it you have negative...there is no standing still. You are either moving forward or backward and it is soley up to you to decide.

Cheers

[johnnymossville]

hang in there! it's definitely tough out there, but i predict you will be in a very good situation moving forward.

i work in the powerplant industry, and recently there is a lot more interest in nuclear power, wind, solar, etc. even new fossil power plants are springing up in the beginning licensing stages.

i hear from clients day-in, day-out that skilled labor is getting tough to find, and that few young men/women are interested in a career working with their hands doing the required skilled work to construct a power plant.

we are on the edge of another small industrial boom in the US, i can feel it. how long it will take is anyones guess, but it will happen, because it has to. a ton of our electric power in this country comes from old, tired coal power plants that just cant hang in there much longer.

when the demand rises, few will be able to meet it as far as skilled craftsmen, then sir - you will be the man.

sorry for the thread drift, but your day will come, i assure you.

I couldn't agree more with this assessment. Hang in there and keep yourself as current with trends in your field as you possibly can. Good Luck.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . and suddenly have several offers at once then you are where I was at last summer. Not a damn thing in my field for 21 months, then as Wise Man Serotta Pete Mckeon told me it would, the cherries on the slot machine all lined up and suddenly I had two offers and several more people expressing definite interest. I had to stall one off afor a few days until I could solidify the other and while I cdertainly didn't want to be jerking anyone around--I wanted to be professional and ethical--I also wanted to look after my own best interests.

BUT . . . also keep in mind I deliberately had a Plan B. I went and got my personal trainer's license because it was something I had wanted to do for years and got a job as a trainer. I also formed my own free-lance business with cards and a DBA so I could honestly say I wasn't just sitting around on my duff. I was showing initiative and energy and I WAS doing freelance work.

It was not easy to do that while I was also continuing my search in my field, but I have to tell you that if you want a job in this climate, you NEED to show that you have energy and initiative--even if that means waiting tables or other "menial" work you don't want to do forever while you look for machining work.

You also have to know how to at least give the appearance that you will do whatever it takes to pursue a job opportunity because that's what potential employers want to see! If you give any appearance whatsoever that you don't care--and care a lot--about the potential opportunity they are offering you then they won't care about hiring you!

And . . . if a potential employer in your field does not appreciate the fact that you don't want to sit round and are waiting tables because you want to pay your bills and be productive, then I can pretty much guarantee you that's not the kind of employer you would want to work for anyway.

If I'm looking to hire somebody and they are willing to fight their way miles through a snowstorm to talk with me about it, then I'm going to look really hard at hiring them because I know they want it.

BBD

[Climb01742]

gemship,

a) what do you need to do to put food on he table over the next 6-12 months?

b) what do you want to do to make yourself happy and fulfilled over the next 5-40 years?

don't confuse a with b.

it sounds as though you're young enough, and unattached and unemcumbered enough, to explore b while getting by with a. you also sound unsure enough about things to make exploring b worthwhile.

answering b early in a career is a gift. being imprisoned by a early in a career is a tragedy.

[Pete Serotta]

gemship,

a) what do you need to do to put food on he table over the next 6-12 months?

b) what do you want to do to make yourself happy and fulfilled over the next 5-40 years?

don't confuse a with b.

it sounds as though you're young enough, and unattached and unemcumbered enough, to explore b while getting by with a. you also sound unsure enough about things to make exploring b worthwhile.

answering b early in a career is a gift. being imprisoned by a early in a career is a tragedy.

Listen to Climb!!!!! and BB DAVE, among others. They have been down the road.

[bike22]

why was this (formerly) a sticky anyways?

[gemship]

why was this (formerly) a sticky anyways?


+1, actually if I recall this thread didn't start out that way but it was made a sticky then it became unstuck :confused: As flattered as I am to start this thread and see it get sticky, I didn't think it was sticky worthy however it does have some association to the trying times of this nation, on the other hand this a bike forum and I'm not any more important than anybody else.

I do appreciate all the responses although I have to disagree with some that say it's a measure of devotion to drive in bad weather conditions. It's bad enough that roughly twenty miles of highway wasn't designed for the volume of traffic it see's daily but worse than that a majority of folks taken to the roads don't have respect for others and the weather conditions were described as such by the news people and just looking out the window to understand all the accidents that were taking place. You know it's possible I could of started a OT thread about how my truck was totaled because I left house on command for a interview and to add insult to injury it was a interview that could of been postponed for a fair weather day. Just saying...

[gemship]

Listen to Climb!!!!! and BB DAVE, among others. They have been down the road.


Yes, those were some very thoughtful posts I read, those words articulate off the page and resonant within me. I'm digging it. I actually see good pointers in many of the post, I think the hard part is combining it all in to a brief code to go by that makes sense.

These really are trying times for the economy and they at least for me along with getting a bit older but not so much that have had me faced with accepting my situation and settling on a job that I can be grateful for at best. Although I do know that there are those out there doing jobs they love or at least sought out a education for a profession they love but there is a place in society for the grunts like me who soldier away. We can't all be the lucky ones.

[bike22]

why was this (formerly) a sticky anyways?
moderators?