It's official

Well this past weekend I rolled on up to Boston to visit a friend. Put a bunch of applications out. Within a half hour of putting them out I had 2 replies. One here in NY one in Texas. Within 1 hour had 2 more replies, then today so far just one more call back. Out of all of them I have one interview today, two later in the week. A buddy from my firehouse is setting something up for tomorrow. I am just trying to keep at it. Interviews are nice but something that come's out from them would be better.

Good luck Evan!

Holy crap! That's Awesome! Congratulations!

You are gonna be so needed everywhere.

Ulmus wrote:

You are gonna be so needed everywhere.

Including here!
Don't let your membership expire, who knows when we are gonna need you.

Thanks guys. Today's interview went well, but my gut is telling me think twice about this place, while leaving(through the shop) I got the feeling it wouldn't be wise to turn around without my box being locked.

You will want insurance on your tools and may find out the shop doesn't cover them. Check your home owners policy or you may need a special policy to cover them. Every so often you see a dealer that was broken into and they take a stolen truck and load it with tool boxes.

Your first instinct is your best, maybe you should pass on that one.

I went on two more interviews and dropped my resume off in person at a fire apparatus dealer. The first interview resulted in being told to report 0800 Monday morning with whatever can fit in a small toolbox to see how things go. The second one also went well resulted in being told their not ready at the moment for an entry level mechanic but they just bought another building and to call in a few weeks to check on the status. My fire department uses the apparatus dealer to repair our stuff so one of the chiefs will put a call out for me.

That sounds good! Good luck!

Good news Evan! Hope it goes well.

Thank you guys! I am sure it will go well. The downside is that the commuting costs to the job are high $31.50/day in tolls alone plus about 80 mile round trip.

OUCH !!!! but it still beats unemployment. Good luck to you !

Ouch is right. Approximately 800/month in expenses. I might get a beater or move up there.

Renting for a while might not be a bad idea.

Going to see how much he actually offers. Ad said 19-26 starting or something. I may point out if he does hire me I'll need 26 or close as possible to make it work. But I have a great feeling not just about the guy in charge but the place. It was a clean shop, guy's toolbox was clean and he was relatively clean as well. I he asked my experience and how much $ in tools I had and said come up Monday to see how you do I asked what time. Unfortunately I didn't confirm the rate because I was so excited.

While getting top rate is always a good thing, being happy at work matters more in the end. I get lousy pay, boss is a dick, but I stay because I'm less than 2 months away from a pension. When I first came, I had the best boss anyone could want, he moved on for more money.

IMO it might be hard to get near the $26 with the lack of experience.
I managed to walk into a shop at top rate once because of all the school/training I presented along with 5yrs work experience. The chance of raises after that were slim however.

Is it an hourly or flat rate shop?
If flat rate you need to ask what the average hours per week the techs are generating.
Why are they adding a tech?
Work load? ie are customer cars waiting 2-3 days before being serviced.
Are you going to be a specialty tech(driveability, heavy repair etc) or general service?

Good luck!

Rich, I know. I had the same type boss when I was at my last job. He did everything he could do to keep me happy because he knew how valuable I am with not just physical stuff like turning wrenches, driving truck, and so on, but also customer service. But the boss above he didn't care so my boss bent over backwards sometimes even getting himself put on the firing line. He said if left and had any spot open he'd call me, and I always call him with a heads up when a place says they're calling past three places where very impressed with what he had to say.

Diesel Dan wrote:

IMO it might be hard to get near the $26 with the lack of experience.
I managed to walk into a shop at top rate once because of all the school/training I presented along with 5yrs work experience. The chance of raises after that were slim however.

Is it an hourly or flat rate shop?
If flat rate you need to ask what the average hours per week the techs are generating.
Why are they adding a tech?
Work load? ie are customer cars waiting 2-3 days before being serviced.
Are you going to be a specialty tech(driveability, heavy repair etc) or general service?

Good luck!

Well they adding they were replacing a mechanic seems to be a high turnover rate because the owner is such a pompous douche. Yesterday first day was a little rough but tolerable, only because the foreman was around. Today was way worse and had learned it was going to be any better. For so little money plus 2-3 hours of commuting a day it really wasn't worth to have my first experience or place of employment as a full time mechanic a horrible and miserable experience. I really do like turning wrenches and having to have to figure out challenges so I decided that leaving while ahead was a good career move. I saw an ad for a fire truck place needing a service writer and parts man so I'll apply so at least I am using my knowledge.