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Up Topic Welders and Inspectors / Education & Training / I cant find a friggin welding job, very mad
- - By KENNY629 (**) Date 05-24-2008 18:42
I have my welding certificate since march of this year and i have posted and sent tons of resumes out there, but its so hard for me to get a job, Now im a Entry Level welder, Im 36yrs old in live in Providence, Rhode Island... the smallest state in the union and we are friggin broke! maybe that's the problem.. anway. Im certified in SMAW Horizontal 4G.
but no one around here seems to wanna hire me. Maybe it's not suppose to be, I guess, not sure... oh well I am just venting here, sorry people.
Parent - - By JTMcC (***) Date 05-24-2008 22:15
Instead of "posting" and "sending out resumes" i would suggest you get up early in the morning, dress in good, clean work clothes (take your hood/gloves/ect.) and drive around and actually show up at places you might want to apply. This will get your foot so much farther "in the door" than any post or mailed/emailed resume ever will.

Being up front about your status as an entry level welder will help.

I garantee you that this will get you results within a couple of weels if you're dilligent. If you don't have any luck the first time around, start at the begining of your list and go see them again.

I do employ welders, and a post, phone call, or resume never got anyone hired with me. Talking to a guy in person does it. In my opinion.
A horizontal cert is pretty useless in the real world environment where all position/unlimited thickness will be quite a bit more helpfull. A horizontal cert tells me a welder can't weld vertical or overhead.

Good luck,
JTMcC.
Parent - - By KENNY629 (**) Date 05-25-2008 13:35
ok, i will try that and see what happens i guess... i guess i am **** out of luck with this certificate....what a waste of time!!!! thank god it didnt cost me anything to get this... i wold have been pissed.
Parent - - By jon20013 (*****) Date 05-25-2008 14:00
Try some online job banks too like Monster.com and also the AWS Job Find.  I know how difficult it must seem to you now but there are tons and tons of jobs out there, just for you, you might end up having to travel to jobs with set durations but thats what comes with the territory.  Best of luck to you!
Parent - - By KENNY629 (**) Date 05-25-2008 14:08
thank you. =)
Parent - - By swsweld (****) Date 05-26-2008 01:47
KENNY629, the previous advice from Jon20013 and JTMcC is correct. The need for welders in the USA is at an all time high. You will not have any trouble getting and staying employed in this field IF you stick with it and are proficient. It is not booming in every town, city and state and there will be slow periods even in the areas that have been booming. That is normal. When you make contacts always tell the employer that you want to expand your qualifications if given the opportunity. A 4-G may work in the shop but not in the field. But it shows you are certifiable. I encourage you to hang in there. After you are hired you can begin to network and it will get easier to find work.
Good luck.
Parent - - By KENNY629 (**) Date 05-26-2008 15:06
THANK YOU TIM, AND EVERYONE... I WILL KEEP ON TRUCKING!!!!!!!!!
Parent - - By ssbn727 (*****) Date 05-26-2008 15:30
Hi KENNY629!
"Weldcome" to the forum!!!

Here's a website that pretty good IMHO... It covers a bunch of job search engines around the country so, if you cannot find a job through here, then there is something wrong with you! ;) Anywho, good luck in your job search!!!

http://www.indeed.com/jobs

Respectfully,
Henry
Parent - By KENNY629 (**) Date 05-26-2008 16:05
thank you guys for all your help, i will check it out ASAP!! wish me luckkkkkkk..
Parent - - By jrw159 (*****) Date 05-26-2008 15:41
KENNY629,
  I respectfully agree with Henry. Indeed.com is a good one.

jrw
Parent - - By KENNY629 (**) Date 05-26-2008 16:05
THANKS BRO!
Parent - - By Superflux (****) Date 05-26-2008 16:49
KENNY629,
I can personally verify the validity of the employers and jobs listed by indeedjobs.com, as my last 3 assignments (and numerous offers) have been found by sifting through their postings.
Indeed will e-mail you daily with a list applicable to the criteria you enter. This of course is not a magic genie that will grant your wishes, and I've found it is best to phone first (this can often require a little detective work on your part) and then e-mail as a follow up, usually at the request of the interviewer.
There are literally a million welding jobs out there waiting to be filled, and unlike C-stores, there isn't a shop on every other corner so you might have to travel a little ways to find the job that wants you or the one you want the most. All career changes require a sacrifice of some sort....
Don't get mad, get even by finding the greatest entry-level welding job out there and have the satisfaction of knowing that all those that passed you up missed out on a hard working, talented and dedicated employee!
Best of hunting to ya. Get that "trophy job in your crosshairs"!
Parent - - By KENNY629 (**) Date 05-26-2008 17:00
AMEN brother, I wont be giving up, trust me, THIS IS what i want to do and i will follow my dreams to get it......., since my local UNION cant put me to work, im going to move on, its been a nice ride with them, but if there is no WORK, then what good is it sitting home unemployed!!!! thats NOT ME, so my days in the UNION are numbered..
Parent - - By ssbn727 (*****) Date 05-26-2008 19:27
May I ask which union do you belong to?

The reason why I ask is because some union locals have "B" lists where you can be put on that list, and if there's too much work in a local not too far from you, then they'll grab you so that they can maintain enough heads on the job so-to speak! ;)

If I were you, I would look into that because, when I was with the Boilermaker's union and my local was slow, I got on the NTL (National Transient local)which gave me all kinds of work all over the country where I was able to pick and choose which job was preferable to me as far as distance, pay, and length of job. So, if your union has something similar to the Boilermaker's NTL, then I would strongly suggest for you to look into it!!! :) :) :)

Anywho, Happy hunting KENNY629!!! :) :) :)

Respectfully,
Henry
Parent - - By KENNY629 (**) Date 05-26-2008 19:39
LOCAL 271 LABORERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF NORTH AMERICA
Parent - - By DAKW Date 05-28-2008 00:39
I had an interview today for entry level welder. I had to take a math, safety, blueprint reading test before I could even the shop.
Parent - By KENNY629 (**) Date 05-28-2008 14:59
wow, thats not cool.......
Parent - - By jrw159 (*****) Date 05-28-2008 15:17
Sounds like they want employees of a legitamatly high standard.

This eliminates those monkeys that call out "six feet, five inches, and seven little marks" and can not read a drawing because, well, they can't read, and even if they could read they would have to do it with the one good eye they have left because they can not see well out of the other one that has a piece of grinding slag stuck in it due to thier lack of safety knowledge and thier unwillingness to utilize said knowledge and provided PPE.

I have been told while interviewing people many times that I was looking at the "cats meow" only to find out differant when they hit the floor. Personally I would like to verify this before I hire someone. It also helps to evaluate starting pay more accuratly.

I have even seen tests at evaluation time that would put one in a higher skill set thus validating a pay raise, or not as it may be.

There are some instances where this would be overkill, but IMHO in most fabrication situations, if you can not pass these basic tests with a certain level of compitancy, I do not need you. I need someone that can do the job, not someone that I need to babysit.

Harsh? Maybe
Benificail to production and the well being of the company? Heck Yeah!!

Just my opinion,
jrw159
Parent - - By Lawrence (*****) Date 05-28-2008 15:33 Edited 05-28-2008 15:37
Just about every member of my advisory committee now has a written exam on safety, process and basic math and fractions that they administer before they let anybody strike an arc on a weld test.

When I worked for an airline 70% of applicants never took the performance test because they failed the written exam.......

As long as the test conforms to what the worker will be required to do I think it's valid.  Most of the entry level tests given are simply checking to make sure the prospective employee will be trainable in a reasonable amount of time... They aren't looking for perfect scores.

D9.1 sheet metal code even has test questions in Annex J and a Performance Qualification Test Record template (Annex F) with a check box for written or oral examinations!
Parent - - By jon20013 (*****) Date 05-29-2008 06:20
DAKW, get used to it, it is the coming thing.  While I never had to do these when I was a young man just breaking into the trades, I now see this as beneficial and while it might not seem so if you're the one having to take these tests before going onto the "hands-on" portion, in the long run I think this type of thinking will benefit America.
Parent - - By Billyjoe (***) Date 06-07-2008 03:43
you need to pack your stuff up an move out west ,Texas is begging for welder ,the Gulf of Mexico are welding jobs every where you go. go to www,hotsheet.com if you can;t find work where you live it time to move to a new town .
Parent - - By jrw159 (*****) Date 06-07-2008 04:33
I said, "Texas." She said "What" I said "Texas" (What song is it?)

Anyways Texas is big right now. $$$

jrw159
Parent - By weldrecruiter Date 06-26-2008 19:26
Just a thought, besides randomly sifting through job postings, you may want to look specifically at the companies you'd like to work for.  Once on their sites submit your resume directly.  Speaking from a recruiting standpoint (of which I have a couple years under my belt), there are definitely opportunities in IL.  Right now, I'm looking for a Welding Engineer within the auto industry.  Competitive pay, incentive bonus plan, pension plan, 6% company match for the 401K.........it goes on & on.

Anyone interested? Email me.

M
Up Topic Welders and Inspectors / Education & Training / I cant find a friggin welding job, very mad

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