job-seeker contacts/advice

[Samurai Bucky]

On 4/27/2022 at 11:43 AM, sveumrules said:

Brewers looking for a Developer - Baseball Systems if anyone in our midst would like to try & board the mothership…

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/instagraphs/job-posting-milwaukee-brewers-developer-baseball-systems/ 

 

That might be the first time I have ever seen a Physical Demands section for a Developer position.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Wondering if any among our ranks have taken up overemployment with the Covid-remote job explosion, i.e. holding multiple FT jobs simultaneously from home...

[NeedMoreFans]

I may have voiced this problem in the past on here, but I have arrived at it again.  There is a teaching job posted in a different school district than the one I currently am in.  I am desperately looking to leave and the new job is exactly what I am wanting in a new job and it's in the district that I live in.  The problem with applying for teaching jobs is that you need to submit letters of recommendation, and none of mine are anywhere near current.  I don't want to let my admin know I'm looking elsewhere, so what on Earth do I do? 

[igor67]

I don't have a direct answer, but perhaps supplementing your older letters with a more current letter from a colleague and not an administrator? Having interviewed my fair share of teachers over the years I can't think of a single time that age of a letter was an issue.

[madbad2000]

14 hours ago, NeedMoreFans said:

I may have voiced this problem in the past on here, but I have arrived at it again.  There is a teaching job posted in a different school district than the one I currently am in.  I am desperately looking to leave and the new job is exactly what I am wanting in a new job and it's in the district that I live in.  The problem with applying for teaching jobs is that you need to submit letters of recommendation, and none of mine are anywhere near current.  I don't want to let my admin know I'm looking elsewhere, so what on Earth do I do? 

I agree with Igor, I don't think age should be an issue.  What you have done in the past shows what you are capable of regardless of age. And using a colleague is a great option too if they can speak directly to your performance and abilities.  I have often seen this to be a better reference than a supervisor or someone with a bigger title because they tend to be  glowing without any meat or examples.  Just make sure that you let them know on your application to not contact current employer. 

[GAME05]

Learned of somebody who is 50/50 on applying for the same promotion I'm going for, and he'd get it ahead of me for reasons I could only say on Political Scene. Felt a little weird encouraging him to apply, but it would be a good move for him and he should. 

Since I'm only applying for the money and because I kinda have to retirement-wise, but I also don't really want the job, there's a good part of me that hopes he applies because then I have a good excuse for staying put.

[Jimbo]

On 4/3/2022 at 9:26 PM, Jimbo said:

1. Could be corporate policy.

2. Could be a compliance issue.

3. With new management people in place, they want their own person?

4. Maybe they're just dancing with me until a prettier girl comes along.

The backstory is I was pretty much hired on the spot after a twenty-minute phone interview.  Sight unseen, no background check.  The guy they had before walked off the job the second day and the guy I was replacing was retiring in three days.

--

Carried over from the bugging you thread.  Had my interview Wednesday.  They were more transparent.  They are looking to expand the role from an engineering one to more of I would say "quasi-managerial", so they're also looking outside the company.  My skills experience for this specific role would likely not match someone they would find through a search.  I questioned the timeline, The response was "as long as it takes to find the right person".  So I see it as a sign of above #4.  Indeed.com gets mentioned a lot here.  Time to open an account!

 

And the answer is....#4!  Informed yesterday of the decision.  Interestingly, they're talking about keeping me on until the end of June.  They would like me to train the next person.  He did ask nicely.  We'll see about that.

 

[GAME05]

Sorry to hear that, man. Hopefully something else comes along quickly. If you wanna run a park lemme know:)

[zurch1818]

Sorry to hear that. That would be incredibly awkward training your replacement. At least they were honest with you.

Just curious, what type of engineering do you specialize in? Part of the reason I ask is I'm a structural engineer and we hired a mechanical engineer a year or so ago and it has really worked out great. There was a huge amount of up front training, but it was a good personality fit with our group.

We aren't looking to hire right now, but I can say that there is no reason why you have to pigeon hole yourself into looking into something that exactly matches your education and past work experience. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but a good personalized cover letter and resume hand delivered definitely helps for an outside the box application.

[LouisEly]

Agree with Zurch.  I'm not an engineer, but the job I've had the last 15 months consists of responsibilities and skills that I've done in bits and pieces throughout my career but never all at the same time and some of them I hadn't done in ten years.  I took a shot at it because I thought the list of people who have market research, sales, CRM data/reports/dashboards, and people management experience is a short list to begin with, much less finding one who wants to live in a non-major-market.  What I think put me over is that in a presentation they asked me to describe myself and what I would bring to the team and I showed an image of a Swiss Army Knife; I said that if you need the best Philips screwdriver that's not going to be me, but if you need a Philips screwdriver, flathead screwdriver, paring knife, bottle opener, and tweezers all in one person I'm it.

They offered me within 48 hours after the interview and more salary than what the recruiter told me they were looking to pay.  Bill Belicheck supposedly says, "Don't tell me what a guy can't do - tell me what he can do."  You may not be able to do everything in a job description, but focus on what you can do and show how you have learned new skills.

[madbad2000]

2 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Agree with Zurch.  I'm not an engineer, but the job I've had the last 15 months consists of responsibilities and skills that I've done in bits and pieces throughout my career but never all at the same time and some of them I hadn't done in ten years.  I took a shot at it because I thought the list of people who have market research, sales, CRM data/reports/dashboards, and people management experience is a short list to begin with, much less finding one who wants to live in a non-major-market.  What I think put me over is that in a presentation they asked me to describe myself and what I would bring to the team and I showed an image of a Swiss Army Knife; I said that if you need the best Philips screwdriver that's not going to be me, but if you need a Philips screwdriver, flathead screwdriver, paring knife, bottle opener, and tweezers all in one person I'm it.

They offered me within 48 hours after the interview and more salary than what the recruiter told me they were looking to pay.  Bill Belicheck supposedly says, "Don't tell me what a guy can't do - tell me what he can do."  You may not be able to do everything in a job description, but focus on what you can do and show how you have learned new skills.

This right here, I can't recommend it enough.  Apply for those jobs that you think you would like to do and can give you a skill, certification, clearance, travel, location or work life balance that you desire. I think this advice transcends industries too.  It is very often the case that training a good candidate with potential is cheaper than waiting on the unicorn to walk through the door.  Show them your potential, what you can do and that you have a plan.  Don't blow off the 3/5/10 year question, show them how both sides benefit even if it means you plan to leave after 5 years.  Odds are other candidates will probably leave before then, but they would have a chance to get 5 years of production with a possibility of keeping you longer.  Plans can and do adjust as new data arises.

When I left the Army, I had a very specific skill set that pigeon holed me into a very good job with decent location, but not everything else I was looking at achieving.  I set my limits: no shift work, no nights/weekend, no bitter cold locations (wife), and no extreme travel.  My field often has 2-3 of these per job.  I eventually added goals for pay bands, retirement system and workload (no excessive overtime).  I got a chance to step into a completely new field adjacent to my skills, hit more money than I was anticipating and lined me up perfectly for a Government role because they liked my potential and skillset.  The skills needed for that role were so unique the only way to get them was to do my job which maybe 3 people were actually qualified and I could point them out by name.  I furthered my experience and I am now very specialized in a field I had no idea existed 3 years before doing it.  5 years later I am now in the senior role and setup on the career path I identified for myself until retirement.  Great feeling to know you hit your goals, but it is much easier by making a plan and being honest with your skills and desires.

I have plenty of direct examples from friends applying for jobs outside their comfort or skills.  My buddy got a ridiculous network engineer position without even having a college degree because of his actual work experience and he already lived in Alaska.  If you're willing to take a tough assignment/relocate, that is another way to build your portfolio.  He wasn't going to apply because it required a degree in engineering, but the circumstances of the job, employer and his demonstration of knowledge made that degree req disappear quickly as he accepted one of two open positions from a highly competitive process.

Be honest with yourself, make a plan and apply...push boundaries and surprise yourself.  Motivation session over.

[GAME05]

My brother's engineering firm is hiring. What kind do you do and I can see what he's looking for.

[Jimbo]

My 30-year career has been quality engineering in the manufacturing sector, specifically in metal fabrication.

 

[GAME05]

On 5/17/2022 at 9:41 PM, Jimbo said:

My 30-year career has been quality engineering in the manufacturing sector, specifically in metal fabrication.

 

The brother said BB7 in Madison may be hiring for that due to an upcoming retirement, as well as Milwaukee Tools out of Milwaukee. And if you see something with Milwaukee, he'd be able to give you the right person to contact.

[LouisEly]

On 5/19/2022 at 9:14 AM, GAME05 said:

The brother said BB7 in Madison may be hiring for that due to an upcoming retirement, as well as Milwaukee Tools out of Milwaukee. And if you see something with Milwaukee, he'd be able to give you the right person to contact.

One of my best friends works for BB7.  If you're interested, send me a PM and I can connect you.

[Menotti80]

Anyone know anyone in SE Wisconsin that might be interested in a career move (either as a supply chain manager or a process/mfg engineer)?

My company has been looking to fill these two key roles for almost a year, and for some strange reason they can't find good candidates...

[wallus]

Hiring for my family's seasonal business is a nightmare right now. We have a lot of open spots and I would prefer to not scrape the bottom of the barrel if at all possible since the workers need to face the general public. If we can't find workers for easy work (not physical whatsoever) at over $20 an hour, things will be closed at our place.

We used to get a ton of teens and retired age people to apply but we have gotten very few so far.

Sigh, rant over.

[GAME05]

17 hours ago, LouisEly said:

One of my best friends works for BB7.  If you're interested, send me a PM and I can connect you.

My brother worked there, too. He was the tall one.

[Jimbo]

A Madison gig would require relocation.  I'll keep you in mind,  Thank you.

 

[Jimbo]

OK, so I need to pick some brains here.  In the last 21 days I have applied to about 24 openings, all in my field, all within 40 minutes of home.  The most I've seen at any time.  I figured there would be a few, but not this many.  So then why only four call backs?  Only thing I can think of is people are taking advantage of the current situation to job hop and get a solid raise.  Nowadays, it's the only way.  How many of the same people am I competing against for these jobs?

 

[zurch1818]

My educated guess is your resume may not be making it through a software keyword scan. You likely are competing against the same people. Some of which may be employed by other places you are actively applying to. Online job application is both a blessing and a curse because it can take so little time and effort to apply for a position. Link

As someone that has manually scanned through dozens of resumes in one sitting, I can tell you it is very time consuming, mind-numbing and also very difficult to judge character and how well a candidate would fit with the company culture. As someone that works for a small company, I can't imagine the volume of resumes a big company gets. This is why I'm a big fan of cover letters. A good cover letter showing your character can easily put you in front of the line. 

There are 2 ways I can think of to get past this barrier and slip through the backdoor after already submitting an application online

One, hand deliver a resume and cover letter to someone at the office. Since they are all so close to you, pick a few out and make a little road trip out of it. Link

Two, if you know someone that works there, try giving your resume to them. A personal reference from someone from within is such a huge asset.

[Jimbo]

zurch - thank you for the advice.  I can only read the second link.  I'll have to wait until I'm done working this gig. to go out and make the rounds.  The thing is, many places no longer have a receptionist.  I'm not doing anything differently than in year's past, and I had always gotten a 75% success rate.  I'm in a niche field and its always been hard to find people in my profession.  My current place only interviewed two others beside myself and went with someone else.

[Baldkin]

On 5/17/2022 at 8:41 PM, Jimbo said:

My 30-year career has been quality engineering in the manufacturing sector, specifically in metal fabrication.

 

Not sure where you're located, Jimbo, but I know Blast Cleaning Technologies in Milwaukee is always looking to hire good people. 

Also, I've heard through the grapevine that Milwaukee tool is about to do a big expansion into the Sun Prairie area over the next 6 months or so.  

[LouisEly]

On 5/21/2022 at 7:49 AM, Menotti80 said:

Anyone know anyone in SE Wisconsin that might be interested in a career move (either as a supply chain manager or a process/mfg engineer)?

My company has been looking to fill these two key roles for almost a year, and for some strange reason they can't find good candidates...

UW-Madison has a supply chain management program, both MBA and undergrad.  Maybe consider an intern from the MBA program?

[nate82]

My department is currently hiring for a sr reporting analyst.  Looking mainly for someone who knows how to use excel.  Have to be able to work from the office 3-days a week in Tempe, AZ.  
 

Need to know how to use advanced formulas in excel nested IF statements, vlookup, index match and some VBA experience preferred.  If interested let me know and I can send you the requisition number.  This would be in financial risk mostly in VOLKER.  Finance knowledge is not needed.