electricalperson

i applied at over a dozen companies from monster.com and careerbuilder.com hopefully one of them hire me

slickvic277

In today's market emailing resumes will get you no where and quick. You need to get out there and pound the concrete. Show up at the shops, the job sites, their trailers, with a resume in one hand and tools in the other.

Dress accordingly. Which means NO SUIT (unless of course your showing up for a scheduled interview), what I'm saying is look proffessional. Wear the clothes that you would for work. Just make sure there new and clean.

You have to almost pester these guy's. Show up a few times a week and keep calling. Either they'll hire you or call the police.

Lot's of luck.

knowshorts

The email resumes do work, but not in this trade. A buddy of mine sent out about 50 resumes to HR people. He got an email list from a job fair at his former employer. They moved overseas. He has gotten close to a dozen phone interviews and 4 follow up all expenses paid in person interviews. A pretty good percentage. But, most of us don't have large corporate shops. When my phone rings, I want it to be a customer, not someone looking for work. Those calls bug me the same as the sawzall blade guy. When I need someone, I'll look.

Englishsparky

I will be looking for work shortly as well, with no experience in the USA I think it will be hard for me. The wife wants me to try the ibew but I'm not so sure at the minute, but thanks for the advice and thanks OP for the thread..

CADPoint

Did you leave your resume open so that anyone can see your resume? That’s an option on Monster!

Frankly, my feeling are that one has to be exact match for anyone to call these days. It is totally the employers market and they are certainly picking and choosing in many ways whom they want to talk to.
Frankly, your resume has to be spotless! JMO!

In the calmer days of the economy it use to be an employer would hire by the 10K amount. Now they are dropping the hire amount by the 1K’s.
Don’t be shocked if the job you had before is now 3-4 dollars less an hour, all depending on region and job skills of course.

If you got a call today, they will not hire you for three maybe even four weeks minimum, employers would rather work the existing people overtime then increase the workforce.

If you follow the numbers, construction is flat or even depressed. When the hick-up that happened after 9-11, the says said, we wouldn’t recover for ten years, compounded with modern day events things have only added to the pain.

From reading here, I see you’re a young gun, you might consider another vocation, if nothing else as a resume stuffer!

electricmanscott

Now the bad news.... I started job searching about a year ago. I sent out dozens of resumes. The only ones I got a reply from were places that I knew sombody. Most larger companies use online application systems and some are not even read by humans. Make sure you use all the key words that are listed in the job posting. If you don't, the bot that "reads" them will toss them.

It took almost a year to land a job and it was a direct result of knowing somebody. Everytime I applied to a place I asked everybody that crossed my path if they new anyone at the particular company.

Hang in there and be persisitent.

Use indeed.com to search jobs.

The Peterson School has job postings too.

Englishsparky

I did a job seminar the other month that gave some handy hints and tips about the larger companies and monster....

electricalperson

i have a job interview friday with a company called tradesman international.

the way they operate is similar to the union. we work for the company and when a contractor needs help on a job they cal up tradesman and they send us down to work for them. they have plumbers, pipefitters and other trades. the benefits are great and hopefully the pay is great too!

ill become a road warrior for sure.

SparkYZ

I've been hired off Career Builder, and I've had atleast 4 or 5 other callback from the online job boards. I even got hired off Craigslist too.

tkb

I wouldn't put that on my resume.

Big John

My suggestion is to attach a cover letter, too. A large company may get spammed with dozens of resumes a day, and a tailored cover letter gets you noticed.

When I was laid off, I sent out tons of resumes and got really good at writing quick cover letters tailored to each company I was responding to. A lot of the letters were very similar because they were all trade related, but I would mention the company name, often had a person I was writing to directly, do a little quick research on the company so you can include some reasons why you'd specifically like to work for that outfit.

It should only take about 30-40 minutes to do a pretty solid letter and edit it thoroughly. It gives you much more freedom to sell your abilities than a resume format does and helps you stand out from the crowd.

-John

__________________
Before posting, ask yourself "How hard would I get punched if I said this in person?"

Wirenuting

Try the federal government.
I just read an article at federal times website that said up to 300,000 employees are eligible to retire this year.
The baby boomers are on their way out.


http://m.federaltimes.com/?storyUrl=...e%3Dart_mobile

__________________
Teacher, my brain is full... Can I go home now?

SparkYZ

OI won't. I needed a job and I got it. The guy was a cheezeball but hey I got 4 months of work..

electricalperson

i had my interview today and the lady loves me. she said she is talking too other people monday about putting me on the "A" list of electricians at tradesmen international. that means i will be picked first above everyone else regardless of time at the company.

oldtimer

That must have been some interview!!

Is it on Youtube??

__________________
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me , than a frontal lobotomy. ( Quote from Tom Waits. )

electricalperson

i wish it was i was actually pretty proud of myself that is honestly what she told me

JohnR

Why is that song, Tell Me Sweet Little Lies playing in the background?

electricalperson

why would i lie about that? i have no reason to lie to anybody here

Eddies Electric

Goodluck with tradesman... I worked with them for awhile... I was on the "A" list too. Until I had a month in. Then I moved to the other list. They rotate their guys around just enough to keep you with them... I hated it... Everyone was talking trash about each other to try and get them to quit so they could work longer...

SparkYZ

Ride it as long and hard as you can. Be looking for other stuff, because they will tell you stuff you want to hear to keep you till they need you.
Good job though man, I'm not trying to come down on you. Who knows, maybe she's honest about it..