# Any apprentices been laid off recently?



## MechanicalDVR

You need to answer a few questions in your own mind.

Were you the only apprentice laid off where you were employed?

If so were you the last hire?

Have enough time in the job to collect unemployment while you job hunt?

Could your work ethic / attitude kept you there if it had been different?

A couple hard questions in there but the answers could make a difference down the road.


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## 99cents

Things aren't looking good here in Alberta. The bigger contractors are feeling the pinch. I'm definitely not making what I did a year ago.


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## Lone Crapshooter

Get use to it. I went through apprenticeship in Texas in the mid 80's if you had a job that lasted 6 days you had a permanent position.


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## shockme123

MechanicalDVR said:


> You need to answer a few questions in your own mind.
> 
> Were you the only apprentice laid off where you were employed?
> 
> If so were you the last hire?
> 
> Have enough time in the job to collect unemployment while you job hunt?
> 
> Could your work ethic / attitude kept you there if it had been different?
> 
> A couple hard questions in there but the answers could make a difference down the road.


No, a couple of 1st years and a 3rd year was laid off. They kept a couple of 2nd years however, which confuses me.

I probably was one of the last hires, but the two I sat in the interview with are still there, but both are women.

I got along with everyone, but sometimes I got bitched at for not walking fast enough, going to the gear trailer too many times, and just other random things which I don't think would have be grounds for letting me go considering I was there for a year and two months.


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## MechanicalDVR

electricnewf said:


> No, a couple of 1st years and a 3rd year was laid off. They kept a couple of 2nd years however, which confuses me.
> 
> I probably was one of the last hires, but the two I sat in the interview with are still there, but both are women.
> 
> I got along with everyone, but sometimes I got bitched at for not walking fast enough, going to the gear trailer too many times, and just other random things which I don't think would have be grounds for letting me go considering I was there for a year and two months.


Women would have to be like serial killers of office staff to get tossed sometimes, they meet a quota, which is wrong.

Sounds like a personality conflict, everyone isn't going to love everyone else. Just a sad reality, I'd never lay a guy off that was productive no matter if I liked his personality or not.

Hang in there and don't let it get you down. Attack the next job head on, do the best you can do.


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## 99cents

Depending on where you are, it could be time to dig in and weather the storm. When I was a fresh journeyman, the economy went sour and my truck payment was higher than my mortgage (that was intentional; I wanted to pay it off fast). I went to the bank and stretched out my payments. Then I sold it and bought a beater. I swept floors to make money. Besides the truck, my expenses were quite low. You can go from steak to KD pretty fast, though.


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## chicken steve

Decades ago they had a chair in the unemployment line w/my name on it.

I live in a rural area , where construction is often a seasonal event ,ergo my xmas bonus was often a handshake and a lump 'o unemp coal...

Just 200 hrs short of Jman eligibility ,nobody was hiring , and I was working in a dead end factory full of penis envy bull ***** hating the sight of me, with one _'in the oven_' & wife unable to work ....so i got desperate:whistling2:

I mailed my resume' w/a pix of myself , with as many tools as i could hold , toolbelt , suspenders, etc. 

I looked ridiculous...:no:

A local contractor picked me up:thumbup:

I was told later the boss & office help all_ laughed so hard _at the pix , they decided to _"give the yutz a go"_:laughing:

~C_(not proud when hungry)_S~


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## SdCountySparky

Don't worry its just a part of the trade. Never really know what's around the corner as far as jobs. As soon as you journey out get a government electrical job. I wish I would have went this route 14 years earlier.


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## shockme123

I just need a job that will last more than a couple of years. Tired of being laid off. I think I've proven that I'm a reliable worker compared to someone 10 years younger than me. They don't have the responsibilities either like me. I'm 32 so I need some stability when it comes to jobs. I own a rental property and am trying to fix it up so I can rent it out and move but I can't afford to do much else to it if I'm relying on unemployment benefits. I had a stable job when I bought the place, but was laid off a year later.


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## chicken steve

Stability and construction work are strange bedfellows Shockme

You might fare better workin' the maintenance end of this trade 

~CS~


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## MechanicalDVR

chicken steve said:


> Stability and construction work are strange bedfellows Shockme
> 
> You might fare better workin' the maintenance end of this trade
> 
> ~CS~


Yeah buddy, construction comes and goes. Worse than a soiled senior citizen on boner enhancing drugs.


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## stuiec

shockme123 said:


> Just looking for some feedback from others and what they intend to do, etc. I know I've likely burned some bridges on this forum but I'm just trying to survive just like everyone else.


you in e-town?


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## shockme123

gluiec said:


> you in e-town?


Where?


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## Service Call

shockme123 said:


> Where?




He said E town! ( I don't even know what that is). Not trying to bust on you, but I had an apprentice that could not remember what a PVC male adapter was the next day after putting on over 100 the day before. This went along with other things of that sort. Just a note.


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## Bird dog

gluiec said:


> you in e-town?


Edmonton, Canada (tnx Google)


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## telsa

MechanicalDVR said:


> Yeah buddy, construction comes and goes. Worse than a soiled senior citizen on boner enhancing drugs.


I'm going to quote you.


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## telsa

Service Call said:


> He said E town! ( I don't even know what that is). Not trying to bust on you, but I had an apprentice that could not remember what a PVC male adapter was the next day after putting on over 100 the day before. This went along with other things of that sort. Just a note.


My apprentice could NOT replicate the work he'd just done -- even though it, the prior effort, was right in front of him.


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## MechanicalDVR

telsa said:


> My apprentice could NOT replicate the work he'd just done -- even though it, the prior effort, was right in front of him.


Some are just quicker than others.


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## shockme123

I received a call today to go back to school so that when I come out I'll be a 3rd year. I started my first day today. Maybe I'll have better luck then, but with the way things are going here, I doubt it.


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## Service Call

shockme123 said:


> I received a call today to go back to school so that when I come out I'll be a 3rd year. I started my first day today. Maybe I'll have better luck then, but with the way things are going here, I doubt it.




Good luck. Give it your best shot.


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## MechanicalDVR

shockme123 said:


> I received a call today to go back to school so that when I come out I'll be a 3rd year. I started my first day today. Maybe I'll have better luck then, but with the way things are going here, I doubt it.


Really apply yourself and see what happens.


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## 19delta

Walk faster as well haha. Seriously though, a little hustle goes a long way.


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## Service Call

I just noticed in your profile that you signed up in '09 as an apprentice?? That was 7 years ago. What year are apprentice are you now?


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## shockme123

Service Call said:


> I just noticed in your profile that you signed up in '09 as an apprentice?? That was 7 years ago. What year are apprentice are you now?


2nd going into 3rd. I was out of the trade for a while. Couldn't find any work and needed to do something else to pay the bills. It's really hard to survive here, so in a year or so I'll be packing up and heading somewhere else in Canada where I won't suffer from unemployment at least once a year.

I have two trades, yet can't seem to find steady employment in either of them.


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## MechanicalDVR

shockme123 said:


> 2nd going into 3rd. I was out of the trade for a while. Couldn't find any work and needed to do something else to pay the bills. It's really hard to survive here, so in a year or so I'll be packing up and heading somewhere else in Canada where I won't suffer from unemployment at least once a year.
> 
> I have two trades, yet can't seem to find steady employment in either of them.



What is the other trade?


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## shockme123

Computer support. Troubleshooting over the phone and such. Got downsized and made redundant at my last job. The only people I know with steady jobs work for the federal govt in Ottawa.


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## MechanicalDVR

shockme123 said:


> Computer support. Troubleshooting over the phone and such. Got downsized and made redundant at my last job. The only people I know with steady jobs work for the federal govt in Ottawa.


Oh, my friend Bob in Bangalore does that for Microsoft.


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## shockme123

Yes, yet another job that's become a victim of outsourcing. 

At this point in my life I'm incredibly frustrated about my prospects.


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## MechanicalDVR

shockme123 said:


> Yes, yet another job that's become a victim of outsourcing.
> 
> At this point in my life I'm incredibly frustrated about my prospects.


How much do you know about energy management and control systems?


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## shockme123

Not as much as I want to. I've been tinkering around with some PLC simulations and trying to teach myself how to program, but I get a little disillusioned by it.


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## MechanicalDVR

shockme123 said:


> Not as much as I want to. I've been tinkering around with some PLC simulations and trying to teach myself how to program, but I get a little disillusioned by it.


Computer guys in control work are a desirable commodity. Keep the faith, grab all the education you can, there is a lot of free stuff online. Apply apply apply!


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