Getting Back In

[Prairieson]

Hey all, newbie here.  I will try to make a long story short, so here goes.  I got out of the navy after 12, went to work for some conventional plant for 2-3 years and finally finished by nuke eng. bachelors.  I am looking to get back into the civilian nuke power scene, and was wondering if anybody could suggest agencies or HR departments to contact to get started.  Thanks in advance.

The Son.

"If it ain't painful, it ain't worth it."

[Roll Tide]

Congrats on your degree!

You need to be a little more specific: what jobs (HP / OPS / ENG / Maintenance) would you accept.
What areas of the country (or other countries) would you work? Do you want permanent or temporary assignments?

Look forward to more information.

[Prairieson]

Well, I was a 12 year EWS mechanic in the navy with an instructor tour.  My geographic preferences are pretty broad right at the moment, I have been looking in the New England area, but I am from the Minnesota area so that would also work well.  Basically the only area I am not fond of is down south.  As far as work goes, I would actually prefer to get into the training field, but from job openings I have seen, operations experience (i.e. SRO license) is generally required, so operations will probably be the thing.  Engineering jobs are nice, but most places I have seen are looking for master's degrees for their engineering slots, which rules me out.

I am still trying to figure out where I can fit or find a spot in the industry, so I guess I'm looking more for opinions/comments, although anyone willing to hire me on the spot is welcome to.

Thanks

[Roll Tide]

Look at the utility websites for Ops classes. They aren't done often, but they occasionally have instant SRO classes. Check back every week for new postings.

Also check the NRC website page at http://www.nrc.gov/who-we-are/employment.html
The NRC often has openings for degreed engineers with little experience. I always scroll past Region I / III / headquarters positions, but you might like all of those.

Barring success there, you can get a slot in a non-licensed operator class and work your way up.

Good luck!

[Prairieson]

Thanks a lot, it's nice to find people who can just give good advice.  It's moments like this when I miss the navy.

The Son

[Roll Tide]

Thanks a lot, it's nice to find people who can just give good advice.  It's moments like this when I miss the navy.

The Son

If you miss the Navy, being a Nukeworker is the next best thing. There are plenty of people ready and willing to show you what their experience has been, and how you can do it with less pain.

Better yet, you don't have to wear bell-bottoms!

[RAD-GHOST]

Newbie,

Take a jump at the NRC, or other government agency.  The Utilities may want to wine and dine you, but the atmosphere is dangerous!  The utilities will draw you in and give you the facade of a life long career, most are short lived!  Utilities are looking for the young and the new.  Most managers I know, simply figure they will jump into a job, then bail after about a year or two, take the money and run!  The government sector offers some security, advancement and a ton of bennies!

The navy and degree should give you quite the edge!

Good Luck 

[CheeseheadNuke]

Give Kewaunee a try. They are always hiring operators (or so it seems) I&C techs and need trainers (ops & maint). It's not Minnesota, but it's right next door. Less than an hour from football heaven (Lambeau -not the Metrodome).
Good Luck!

[Fermi2]

Try Ops, Unlike what Rad Ghost sayts Operations careers tend to be long, so long as you don't mess things up a lot. They spend way too much money on your training just to cut you loose.

I'm not sure on the Instant thing. I know some utilities wil hire for Instants off the street, but the majority of these people don't end up doing all that well. To be an Instant at Fermi2 you have to come from the Engineering Department or have a degree and come from Maintenance. In the 14 years I've been here we've never had an Instant who came off the Street, and of the 15 Instants we've had only one has ever made it to Shift Manager. Instant is a tough road to hoe unless you have previous commercial experience.

At my plant we don't require a Masters for Entry Level Engineering Positions. In fact most of our Engineers are usually people who were Summer Students here. Probably our best engineer is a female we hired in when she was 21. She was a summer student here, we liked her and prior to her getting her bachelors degree we had an agreement to hire her. One of the reasons we like summer students is we get a chance to evaluate them, they get paid a good wage, and we know when we hire them that they already know how the commercial game works. This engineer has been at my plant for 6 years now, I've been her "mentor" for 5 of them. I'm hoping she gets accepted into OPs because we just had an Instant SRO Bid. If not, we're not doing ourselves any favors by not making her at least an Engineering Supervisor.

Mike

[Prairieson]

Thanks again for all the advice.  As a matter of fact, I am working with NMC concerning all of their plants, as well as Entergy Northeast and Dominion (Millstone).  I would really appreciate any contacts or names anyone could give at any of these places.  I have been working my way through HR, but sometimes the messages get garbled a little, more info is never a bad thing.

Thanks Again,

Prairieson

[Fermi2]

One of the managers at Dominion told me the only SROs they're hiring these days are either Upgrades, Instants from In House, or SRO licensed at other utilities who come to Dominion as Instants.

I'm curious have you checked www.dom.com??

Mike

[Prairieson]

Yes, I have been watching the websites for openings, but nothing can substitute for good old fashioned human contact.  It seems like online submissions are easily lost.  I don't know, maybe I just don't trust computers that much.  Anyway, the Millstone HR department told me as much yesterday, although they had some engineering positions they were going to refer me for.

Prairieson

[Fermi2]

I stay away from HR Departments. I just call the Ops Department when I'm interested. HR Departments are the death of an applicant.

Here's a suggestion that worked GREAT for me when I was doing my job search out of the Navy.
Go to your library and see if they have Standard And Poors (which gives corporate structure and bond ratings) It'll give you a good idea of a companies economic health.

It ALSO usually has the Higher Ups names in it, for instance the VP Of Nuke Gen, sometimes even plant managers.

Send all the people on the Nuclear End your resume up to and including the CEO.
Whether they look at it or not they or their secretary will stamp it and send it to HR and Nuclear Generation. When those departments see it they see the stamp and assume the people who sent it to them did so for a reason and will at least show some interest.

This mechanism got me 13 interviews, and 4 more after I hired in at Fermi.

I learned that technique from Navy PreCap school.

Mike

[Prairieson]

Thanks, I hadn't thought of that approach.  I think I might try that.

[CheeseheadNuke]

Kewaunee will be a Dominion plant after our fall outage.
Heather Schroeder is our NMC HR contact: (920) 388-8232
Jeff Stafford is our OPS  Manager: 388-8328
Pat Ehlen is our I&C manager: 388-8320
Walt HUnt is our training manager 388-8786

Lucky Wroniewicz is our Dominion transition manager if you want to try that route: 388-8173. Everybody says he's a real nice guy.

By the way, we union folks here are not NMC employees. We are still WPS employees and are members of IUOE Local 310 - that's operating engineers. Our contract is guaranteed to remain as is by federal labor law until 30 months after the plant sale, so there aren't too many unknowns for us.

Hope this helps.

CheeseHead

[Prairieson]

Wow, thank you for all the info.  I will be using it soon.  Thanks again, although I don't know if the Vikings fan in me could tolerate living in Packer hell.