Hey guys I'm new to this forum and looking to get into the nuclear industry. I recently graduated with a BSME and have my EIT cert. A HR rep from SoCo saw my resume and called me personally and asked if I would be interested in a Nuke tech position. I was hesitant at first because I would like to go into Ops. and eventually attain a SRO license. She told me that at the current time no ops. position was available. If I were to get the job as the tech. they said I could move into ops. when the position became available. Now I'm waiting on my email to set up my POSS/MASS exam. If I did get this job could I move up to System ops. when the position became available, or would I have to spend a minimum amount of time as a tech. and hope to get into sys ops.? What is the outlook for this? Plz help 
First I'd like to second what Grantime and ContractSRO have said.
Second let me o'pine on what you have been told. Yes, you could go to nuclear technician. Or, you could wait for a ops position to open. Or, you could even wait for an eng position to open.
Let me offer you my take. Take the nuclear technician position and get paid to wait for a ops position to open. I am told that less and less off the street folks will be required due to the larger (than normal) number of nuclear technicians. They get to bid (due to being a covered employee) for a maint. or ops job directly without any other process. The left over positions go to the street. You will be way ahead of your peers for ops that come in off the street due to your plant knowledge (i.e. procedures/policies/locations/etc). Plus you are getting to know the other departments and personnel while getting paid.
SNC has three sites. All use the Nuclear Tech's differently. At Farley they are mostly janitors. At Hatch they are a jack of all trades (and not janitors .. because we have contractors for that). At Vogtle they are designated to a set mission and don't float around all the jobs like Hatch (and yes Vogtle doesn't use them for janitors either).
It is, from what I've seen, a pretty easy job. In fact a lot of senior Ops (e.g. SO's) bid back to it to get off shift.
You can always bid on jobs while you are employed at SNC, why not go for it.
Mac
