Career Path > Outages
Outages For 2010
btkeele:
[Well, the carnie spoke up ;D (No offense intended to actual hard working contractors) Kind of like calling the kettle black!!
I worked with you many times when I was a junior. I learned from the best how to abuse, I mean train juniors!
Over the years I have seen plants move juniors from being on the coat tails of seniors to PCM watch. I did my share of PCM watch one time as a junior at Clinton during their extended shutdown on nightshift. What a miserable job! If I had not been so close to being a senior that 3 months of sheer boredom would have done me in.
[/quote]
Thanks for not lumping me in with the "hard workers" I've made a career out of avoiding physical labor :o
Even with those 3 months of PCM watch, you were still better prepared than a certain RPM....you know, the
one who asked a contractor if the Rx Cavity was inside Ctmt.....LOL
retread:
It has been fun but from my perspective I have found out what happened this season from the recruiters and I am satisfied that they are not restricting anyone, and if there are some who restrict non-college trained it is a utility decision that they simply do not post the job in the first place if they intend to use interns. The recruiters are OK. It now becomes a matter of extending the search to include anything/everything out there, a level enough playing field for me. That is all I originally sought to find out.
Sorry, but I think I'm going to lose some karma points on this one. Content 1 seems to be blaming the staffing co.'s (Bartlett, Atlantic, etc.) instead of the plant bean counters. I'm the last one to defend Bartlett et all, but they can't offer jobs that aren't awarded in the bid. The staffing companies make money in keeping employees working. They aren't going to turn down juniors if there are positions open!
For an educated man, it sure took long enough to figure out people were emphasizing A.N.S.I. 1.8 vs 18.1!! :P :P :P :P
I was lucky, Virginia Power paid for my edumaction! Once I had my three years in, employment was easy to find. I never had to fight the Jr. drought so many others have. I feel for them, please keep plugging. We're getting kind of old and the industry needs to replace us as we die. :( :( :( :(
RRhoads:
Well this Jr discussion is getting off topic but..
Getting in JR time hasnt been easy since the early 90's but it can be done...and yes it will TAKE A WHILE!
It took me 4 years in the early-mid 90's & didnt try that hard....$7/hr & $40/day almost every place i went!
The point that is being missed is this;
Just because you have the time, doesnt mean an new Sr has the EXPERIENCE.
Jrs do soo little these days & not a complete fault of their own but to an extent, it is.
Enjoy the ride up & LEARN...The plant iam at brought in a couple of B- Jrs & a hand full of college kids.
As for the content 1, if your offspring has such a difficult time, why are you on here defending/ bemoaning the recruiters/ business???
Shouldnt they be & not you??
Content1:
--- Quote from: RRhoads on Mar 19, 2010, 01:26 ---
As for the content 1, if your offspring has such a difficult time, why are you on here defending/ bemoaning the recruiters/ business???
Shouldn't they be & not you??
--- End quote ---
Because I do not speak just for them, all juniors are finding similar problems and in the forum, like a crucible for ideas, look for answers that benefit all rather then suffer individually in silence. I have heard mostly those who either blame themselves, or say, "It's the systems and accept it," and I am encouraged by the few brave souls who share how they have succeeded in spite of the obstacles in the system. What else is a forum for? My offspring don't have the investment in the industry I do. If it gets too bad they can do something else. We old fogies can't run , we must hold our ground and fight for what we feel is right. Forums like this spread the word what is happening in the industry and it is up to the individual to decide what are they going to do about it. Many fear saying anything for fear of being "Blacklisted." I have never found that to be the case. Always find jobs in many fields in spite of my holding of an opinion. If a person's complaint is reasonable you have to believe reason will eventually prevail.
jheard:
I know this reply is a bit late since it has been months since the last post. I would just like to add a little more information on the topic of internships (school vs. traveling hard workers blahblah). I was introduced into this field my junior year in collage (i am studying Health physics ,minor in homeland security). An internship spot had opened at the local power plant (which is located about 20 miles from my school) and was offering a 6 month internship, student pay, mentoring experience etc. The qualifications were : at least a 2.5, someone enrolled as a full time student, preferably an upper classman (sophomore or above), and you had to be majoring in either radiation technology/ health physics or some form of advanced technology or science. After the qualifications were met we had to go through an interviewing process with a few staff members (RPs) at the plant. This program began my freshman year in collage, I am a senior now.
Now that I am finally a recipeant of the internship/scholarship all I can say is wow. I had never seen the inside of a nuclear power plant. I began my internship 2 weeks ago. For the months spanning between the call I received and my start date I was to spend my time studying all the information I was going to need at the site. Some I had already studied for 3 years at school and some was new to me. Over the past 2 weeks all of the House Tecs and contractor RPs have been like a huge family to me and my fellow co-op student. We are to grab as much information available to us, study, and after we pass the NEU/NUF we begin our QUALS. The purpose of this co-op/internship (in our area at least) is to introduce, educate, and train young individuals and mold them into RPs.
Now in no way am i knocking hard working people who go the other route (traveling and gaining experience) but one thing the contractor RPs are constantly telling me is that I am very lucky to begin this journey fresh from collage with the guidance of all of my mentors. They stress to me the importance of gaining a house position for security (benefits, retirement, etc) but on the other hand they are not knocking outage work either. Their best advice to me is to persue what makes me happy.
Now for a show of how this program has turned out in the past, all of the co-op students from my school (over the past 3 years) have taken up a job in this field. And the most recent graduates are able to apply for a house job here. This is nothing new because actually before the co-op was geared towards radiation it was a program strictly for the chemistry department. So this is just a different view showing that this program does work but it is up to the plants to continue to hire hard working people. And not to accuse you of anything, but content 1 your opinions kinda made it look like you were bashing the importance of a good education and college degree. I do agree with you that some people do graduate receive a degree (piece of paper) and dont know crap but thats their problem and in that case that piece of paper won't get them anywhere but on the couch at their parent's house.
:o sorry so long but thats my story
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