So I am looking for a job in the Hot Rod or Restoration field. I have been looking for a job for months now and it seems impossible to find. I went to WyoTech for there street rod program and ended up taking every class they had to offer at that campus at the time. I ended up with 4 diplomas. I have been taking welding classes since i finished there. It seems hard to find any kind of decent job in this field. I either heard about jobs at places i would love to work for find out about them and they want to hire me for very little money or they tell me im over qualified to work there and want to payme little money or they tell me we just filled that position but they well keep me on file. With all my moving costs i would be in debt for a while. So if anybody knows of a decent company to work for let me know cuz i need a new job asap.
this is why i never went to those schools. you pay 10,000(or whatever) to get a piece of paper that no one cares about anyway. they are hard to find and i wish you all the luck, i was lucky enough to know some folks and got the job i wanted. but after quiting that job. i sure did realize how hard it was to find a decent job. i posted on the hamb about a job too.... only thing that kept me off the street was part out cars in the garage and selling the stuff on ebay. alot of times you need to KNOW someone! trust me. make friends, talk to people, show them your work. most places just toss your application the moment you step out the door, fact of life. keep at it.
Rule of thumb (Heard this from a professional head hunter.....no not THAT kind of head hunter) for every 10 grand you want a year, you gotta month wait time on the job. IE you want a 60K a year job, you gotta 6 month wait (you cant just wait though your future is in your hands) that said, its the diploma conundrum, you got the education but not the real world experience, you most likely wont walk into a high paying job. The tactic that was told to me was, A person that has a job is more likely to get a better job. You may have to suck it up and pay your dues. From me personally, I rather hire a bloke that has real world experience and can can do the job in his sleep than a bloke that has a pretty peice of paper and cant (granted I have one of dem der pretty papers but I paid me dues as well...)
i know most places want real world experience. which is one of the reasons i went to wyotech. the school is so hands on. my teachers we so impressed with my work out there i worked for some of them on the weekends. im not looking to make tons of money but the places i could have taken jobs at were really good shops. the one had 16 projects going and 2 years worth of work in storage and said the average restoration cost around $100,000 but they ony wanted to pay me $13perhour to move. so with moving and all my bills per month i would be in the red and not make any money.
Hey I went to wyotech as well and then looked for a job for a while. I wasnt extremly picky on pay rate b/c i knew i didnt have any experience other than in school and I just wanted a job I enjoyed instead of one I hated. I sucked it up and got a job in a small shop. It was rough for a while but once you get the experience things get better and raises come. Also people get to know you and your work and other opportunities may come up. Good luck
Ive job hunted at shops in the past and usually I would walk in and talk to someone in charge, and say hey you looking for anybody? and they would say nope! So the job I ended up getting was from a friends cousin's friend who owned a shop and was asking around for anyone who knew what they were doing. You really do need to be in the loop, or deal with shit jobs until your in the loop. Now I do paint and body or fab work in the garage for extra money, and work in a clean room at a place that cleans and refurbishes semiconducter manufacturing tools for fabs.. If that tells you anything
Don't take this the wrong way.. If you're confident enough in your skills that you won't take an entry level position at $13.00 per hour, why don't you go into business youself. Every employer is in business to make money, plain and simple. If you can't make them more money, they won't bother with you. I got my AME certificate (Aircraft maintenance engineer) through an apprenticeship. I started right out of high school with no experience at $8.50 per hour. In 5 years I had my ticket and was making $20.00 per hour. We hired a guy who was in my grad class in highschool. He went to AME school and came out with a shiny piece of paper after 3 years of school and 2 years on the job. When we hired him he new jack shit about how to do pretty much anything so we paid him..... $8.50 per hour... Textbooks knowledge and repair work that is in a controlled setting is good but real world experience will pay your bills friend.. Don't expect the big cash 'till you pay your dues. Oh.. Yeah.. I quit aviation after 8 years because of the stress and the people I worked with. Now I'm shop foreman in a tool repair shop. Not the most glamourous job but there is no stress and I love the work. I make less per hour than I did fixing aircraft but if you add in my profit sharing and bonuses that I never got at my old job I bring home double what I used to. The company I work for knows what I'm worth to them. They take good care of me and I make them a good amount of money. Find an employer who has a profit sharing/bonus package. Then if you make the company more money, YOU get more money. Employers: If you don't have a program like this you should seriously consider it. Just my 2 cents.. You could always offer to clean up and do shit jobs at your local rod shop free of charge on your days off to get you foot in the door. Also, when your on your job search, sell yourself. It's not as easy as it sounds but it makes a world of difference. Be condfident but not cocky. Lay it out for them: Here's what I can do, Here's what I can't do and here's what I want to learn. Don't give them a reason to hire anyone but you. Don't lie but make them WANT to hire you. Ask them what they want and what they need. Show them what you can bring to the table. If you have skills that their current guys don't then make sure they know that. Do some research on the company before you go there and ask for a job. If they have a website, find out how long they've been around. Farmiliarize yourself with some of their products/services and have a conversation with the person you're pitching yourself to. It'll go a long way. Don't just go "hey, are you looking for someone?" Tell them: "Hi, my name is ----- and I would like to work for you because -----" after because let them know why you want to work there, make the reasons about THEM not you. Then tell them what you have to offer and how you can make them more money. That's what it comes down to at the end - $$$$$$$$ A good resume and a certificate is a very very tiny part of getting a job. Shawn
At that rate I'm looking at $150,000 a year at this point. I've got an advanced automotive diploma and 35 years experience. Damn, come on, where is it?
In our industry its all about experience and jumping..go ahead and take a ok job, then keep looking. I interview out of these schools and the teachers provide incorrect info....they overinflate the possible starting hr. rate to justify tuition price. So I have kids wanting 27.00 an hr with no experience...I offer 14 and they walk. Get your foot in the door and if your good, the word travels.
My car club has a scholarship program. We’ve sent lots of kids through schools including Wyotech. I’ve seen your situation before. My best advice is get out there and make a name for yourself with your work! Get out to car shows and make friends. I know many people who have jobs because they knew someone who knew someone who was looking for someone at their shop. So, get out there! So, where are you located? Did you make a list of shops in your area? Have you visited them? How does you non-auto resume look? Are you dependable & trustworthy? Do you have a portfolio of some of your work? I know when I am hiring Manufacturing Engineers it’s a lot easier to get a feel for someone’s capabilities when you see someone’s work and are able to discuss it in great detail. Just some of my thoughts. [FONT="]Steve[/FONT]
Most smaller companies (that includes most automotive shops) do not pay moving expenses. Companies that do pay moving usually reserve that for people higher up the food chain than trainees, and with no experience, that's what you are. I don't know where in PA you are, but around here you'd be hard pressed to find any blue-collar jobs that start at $13/hour.
Bite your lip, sell some of those vehicles in your sig, and get a job. $13/hr is a pretty decent start with no experience. If you are worth the money and you're with a good company you should be able to get up there in a few years. If the company isn't that good (I'm stuck in this position), hold your tongue, do your job, get your experience points, and bow out of there and move on. My second year eval is coming up, and I'll probably only be up to $13, but I'll have my two years experience for welding in and I can move on to a better company. Give me another year and I can move on to a better company.
Someone on here recently was looking to hire somebody, although I cannot remember who for the life of me. I'm wanting to say the job was in California, but it sounded like a helluva opportunity. Do a search on here and see what you can find. I don't remember the title of the thread or who it was, but it was within the last month or so.
With your cars & if you built and painted them I'd say you've got a portfolio started as your advertisement & experience. If you bought them then it's a different story. (like Lotek racing said) I just lined up work for the next year, but i've got my own workshop (40X50 pole barn) on my property & i'm retired. I use my cars to show people the capabilities I have & quality I can produce. If you have the location & tools why not freelance to get money ahead, that might buy you time & hands on experiece as well as a list of satisfied customers.
$13/hr is $27k/yr, not bad to start around here. The Wyotech degrees really don't mean much without samples of your work. I'm starting to look for someone to work in my shop. It's a real tough situation. I can't pay to relocate. I probably can't offer $27k to start, let alone add in taxes and benefits. I'd say take the $13/hr gig, work it for 6 months to a year and show them what you can do.
Are you looking for a job in general or a hot rod job? You want a job/career in general go here... http://www.chevron.apply2jobs.com/ Once you are on that site there are a ton of Chevron jobs. However, here is the one you or anybody looking for work should apply for. Pick USA as the Country Pick California as the State/Province Pick San Joaquin as the city. (This is actually a Bakersfield area job). The job title is Fieldman/Trainee. Basically you are a applying for a Operator job. It could be a Lease Operator meaning you drive around oil field leases looking for leaks and fixing what you can and creating work orders for stuff that you can not fix yourself. It could be a plant operator meaning you do the same thing at a plant and or sit in a control room monitoring stuff too. It could be an injection operator (steam or water). They are wanting to hire 60 people this year. Right now they have hired 19. If they interview you and accept you then you have to pass a background check, drug test, physical and then you start. It is about a 3 month process once they interview you. you start off as a trainee and then move up to operator full pay if you are in one union or you go trainee, operator B then operator A if you are in the other union. full pay is around 29 bucks an hour. it is a union represented job The avg age for operators in San Joaquin valley is around 50ish so they are needing to hire people to backfill for all the people that are retiring and or are going to be retiring. PS if you or anybody else applies...stress safety, teamwork, computer skills, and mechanical skills in your application/resume.
It was bothering me about the add I saw on here before, so I went and found it. EvilT is who had posted it, and I listed it and several others I found on here as well. Most of them are older, but it is possible they'll have openings or know of someone who will. The first is by EvilT: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=172514&highlight=help+wanted http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118715&highlight=job+opportunity http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=116672&highlight=job+opportunity http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=88280&highlight=job+opportunity http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71283&highlight=job+opportunity http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=60882&highlight=job+opportunity
im not really looking for a shop to pay moving expenses. around here starting rate at a regular body shop is around 12 an hour. i have a large portfolio of my work. i do a little work on the side and use that as referene. i also take care of a rather large collection of cars for a private collector in return i get to store my cars when i need to. i have done the work on all the cars i have myself. i photo document every thing that i do. i could start my own business i have all the tools i need but i dont like dealing with govt. regulations and what not. i just want to do the work not have to deal with the politics. i have towed my restored cars to intervews already. i take pedal cars that i have restored and i drove my 48 coupe to a couple i had to two shops and they said they are really impressed with my work and wanted me to come on board. so i have no doubts in my work. i get probably 2 calls a week about dealership jobs but i pig headed and only want to work on old steel.
I thought that these trade schools had programs with job searches...............Isnt that what they say on the TV commercials?
then your only problem is you. if they said they would take you on, and you walked for 13 an hour..... dude, ive been working on cars for 10 years, and if i get 14 im ecstatic. so deal with the fact your school lied through there teeth to get your money, and take the damn job.
i was in the same boat but i had a new wife and an infant i was picky and got nothing you might just have to bite the bullet and take a dealer job like i did, it worked out well but like the other guys said you also have to pay your dues. My advice if your a bodyman get a job at a highline euro shop and get expierience there. I have seen ads for for resto shops before they eat up all that euro shop exp. and shit but no one ever wanted to pay and you do all the grunt hack rust work. If your willing to relocate move from pa to boston or nyc and get into one of these shops the replace work is easier than old tin and you hone your skills better on these new cars than on older ones ( on a new audi they make 2 fenders out of one highlife tall boy). Its not odd for guys in my shop to break 100k a year (its not easy). take it for what you will and good luck
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