Donuts aren't going to do it. But calling them a couple of times per week until outage season might. Then step it up to daily around the second week in February. Lay off it a little during the summer. You want to be poised to strike, but don't nag them about it. Also, this week and next aren't good for more than maybe one call total. It's Christmas. They aren't going to be getting new contracts until after the 1st. They will be taking time off, etc.
After a year or two, you won't have to call them anymore. They will be calling you. That is another conversation altogether.
Here is the inside scoop: If they say an outage is "staffed" it only means that they have enough resumes approved by the site to fill the open slots. It doesn't account for the techs who decline to confirm, the ones who back out after confirming, the techs who are somehow caught up in an access/badging issue, the ones who get sick or suddenly get hired as a house tech somewhere, the ones who bust out on the exams or FFD ...
There are going to be a lot of openings. When those have to be filled quickly, the recruiter has to get on the phone and call a lot of people who aren't going to be available for whatever reason. Sometimes it takes a dozen calls to get a yes. If you just happen to be on the phone with them when they have an opening somewhere, you will be saving them a lot of work. It really does work that way. On the other hand, the fact that you are sitting at home wanting work, and you have let them know it, doesn't get your name to the top of the call list. If you are 45th on the list, you are going to still be 45th on the list. If you are already on the phone with them as they are about to dial number 11, you automatically become next in line.
Why is it not alright to call the plant? Because you are not the company's authorized point of contact with that customer. You are going outside your area of authority as far as they are concerned. If, by doing that, you show up or embarrass the company you work for, that makes you a bad employee. Remember the relationship here. The company writes checks payable to you - not the other way around. Because that is the case, they get to tell you what to do and when to do it. They are your employer, not your agent. The recruiter works for the company, not for you.
If the plant wants you, they put your name on a list of pre-approved techs. Those techs are confirmed first. Then, they submit a pile of resumes for the RPM to approve. If your pal at the plant gives you the "why wasn't this guy's resume submitted?" line, he's just saving face with you. The fact is that your resume may or may not have been submitted but they just didn't care enough to notice until you called them and brought it to their attention. If they wanted you back, they would have already approved you - period. If, however, your name was not on the pre-approved list, your resume was in a pile with all the others. The fact that they approved and staffed the outage before they got down to your name does not mean that you weren't submitted. It just means that they didn't give a s--t until you called.
Then, you call the RPM and he fakes outrage that he didn't get your resume. You get in through the back door. One of your fellow techs who was approved and confirmed now has just lost his job and has to find another. You f---ed your fellow tech over.
Or, your resume was not approved because you were pre-approved at another site with a conflicting date. Because they will never submit you to two outages which overlap, they are going to put your name on the shorter list.
In the case where there are split or backup contracts, your name will be automatically stricken if it is submitted by both companies. If that happens, you can only get it put back on the list of one of the companies (but never the backup) if the other company agrees to withdraw it.
This is all really simple: It is not the NFL. You shouldn't call the site because you shouldn't have to. If you have to call them to remind them that they wanted you, they didn't want you.