...prior strong job performance would seem to indicate some promise of future achievement. Of course, that's information that the recruiter and the employer are paid to uncover in order to eventually funnel that man or woman into the place where they have the greatest chance for success.
The point here SWO is that one's shoulder boards are not always as predictive in the commercial nuclear world as your posting "seems" to suggest. (The evils of Internet forums/Email). In fact, one might read some of the recent Navy Times articles and wonder what the heck senior enlisted and LTs are doing to earn their paychecks these days. We'll save that parallel for a rainy day...
Also implied but not yet stated is that the actual Hiring Nuclear Manager that makes the decision on a candidate...in the nuclear world...is likely a MM2, ET2, etc that left the Navy in 1990 and knows EXACTLY the calibre of "LT" that HE experienced and could care less about your shoulder boards. In fact, depending on HIS background with the military, a transitioning officer's arrogant tone/cockiness could have one looking for work elsewhere. I've seen it happen. Again...that can happen anywhere though.
So, when one is told to check their shoulder boards and "small reactor" at the door leaving the Navy, they're saying that humility goes a long way in the Commercial World...especially since everyone pretty much starts over as a NUB. High paying NUB in some cases...but a NUB none the less. It's my opinion, even in this forum, if you have to use your college degree, title, applaud points, gold stars, etc to validate your opinion or point, then it starts off invalid. That's the way nuclear power truly works...the technology we serve doesn't care about our titles.
And yes, the SRO ILT pass rates are horrible...at some plants. I've heard of 100% pass rates to 0% pass rates. However, any Training Manager reading this that has a 0% pass rate...sorry, but that grade is YOURS, not the candidate's, and certainly not the Navy's! TMI thought their operators could take the panel after a quick 3-month fam course....we all know that didn't work out to well for the world. Since then, the NRC continues to "continually improve" the training requirements. It doesn't matter if we like it or not...or like the exam questions or not...that's the way it is, for now. And...don't tell me the NNPP Training Program is flawless. I know better.
It's a great time for Nukes (of all ranks) to transition to Commercial....the LT doesn't need to lurk here to figure that out. If the LT is worth his pay, he'll have contacted the bosses of the posters here to get more precise information and stats. He will likely understand today that the disdain for "Instant SROs" is not shared by all managers. True, some companies do NOT hire Direct SROs...instead, they seem to have a healthy mentoring/training program that gets their AUOs ready for the Control Room. Perhaps we all agree that is the IDEAL route. Otherwise, I continue to see a steady stream job announcements weekly from Nuclear HR Reps that I networked with on LinkedIn that are looking for ex-Navy people for Direct SRO.
So, I wonder why we don't see more HR Reps here jumping into the middle of these "my reactor is bigger than your reactor" conversations? <grin> It's like a nuclear version of "Survivor" here...e.g., who is Broadzilla going to vote off Nukeworker.com this week? (Meanwhile, HIS company is one that is undermanned...even more so now that he retired, I assume). It's not too different than a heated debate during a mid-watch in EOS...is it SWO?
Life goes on...
Co60