Job Hunt Opinions Needed

[sergechronos]

Well, after several months working at Ninja, I recently decided to start looking for new work. Something that offers better pay, benefits and preferably a shorter commute for me.

I had an interview for a company building utility body trucks, pay would've been 14-18 per hour, but no response yet since my second interview a week ago.

Have an interview tomorrow for a field service tech job for CNC machines. No indication on salary, however it is a 100% travel position so I'd fly out on Monday mornings and home on Friday afternoons. Not an ideal scenario, but if the money is right (I'd like to be seeing mid to upper 30k at least) might be worth doing.

What I'm trying to find from the community is a kind of general sense of what most of you look for in a job and how you weigh salary and benefits vs the work life balance, see maybe if there's a point I haven't considered or a devils advocate opinion.

[stealthee]

It's all in what you want. There are those that will sacrifice their home life for more money, then there are those that would rather make less and still live life. There are a lot of factors, but the ultimate choice comes down to how you want to live.

[j2k4]

It's really all down to what you can make work for yourself, and the situation you feel you're likely to occupy on the financial ladder:

How long will it last?

Is there appreciable upward mobility?

Does it interest you? Be honest.

Are you or are you likely to be involved with a woman?

Do you want to be?

Also, as Brian says - look at the life you've got, and be sure you're evaluating things accurately.

That last is pretty fucking important, I've found.

There have been about a half-dozen critical decisions I've made in my life that were in serious error.

In every instance I acted rashly.

Don't do that, ffs.

[R/T93]

Check out usajobs.gov for possible government jobs in the area. Top step mechanics make 25+ an hour and have really good benefits. Kind of hard to get in but worth looking at. Send me a PM if you want more info on the application process.

[stealthee]

I posted my original response from my phone, so I will extrapolate even further now that I am at my PC. I have had job opportunities and even actual offers that could have potentially made me a lot more money than I am used to, but I turned them down for the simple fact of what is the point in having money if you can't get to enjoy it?

My brother just got his Class A CDL's and has been job hunting. He had one offer, which he attempted to take up which would have worked him 12 hours a day 6 days a week at $18 an hour. With OT and everything that would have put him around $82,000 a year. He was reluctant about even accepting the offer because having more money than he ever had before would be a waste working 6pm to 6am. His intent was to take the job until something else came along. Ironically the job kinda fell through when the rigs the company was hauling water to went down.

A few years ago as the fraccing boom hit I had many opportunities to go work one of the rigs making at least 80k, but I would have never been home. People were like "Do it for a year or two and bank money then get into something else." What people like that don't consider is you get used to making that kind of money and then you aren't going to be likely to find that kind of money elsewhere when its time to make a change.

These are just my thoughts, but you may feel differently.

[onebadmollafolla]

would have worked him 12 hours a day 6 days a week at $18 an hour. With OT and everything that would have put him around $82,000 a year.

AKA indentured servitude.

[DK77]

A few years ago as the fraccing boom hit I had many opportunities to go work one of the rigs making at least 80k, but I would have never been home. People were like "Do it for a year or two and bank money then get into something else." What people like that don't consider is you get used to making that kind of money and then you aren't going to be likely to find that kind of money elsewhere when its time to make a change.

This is exactly what happened to a buddy of mine. He made bank working on the rigs and bought a new house with a badass garage and a lot of toys, then gas prices crashed and he got laid off (and split with his girl) so now he's selling everything because it's more than he needs and it's too expensive.

[stealthee]

Yeah, the crash hit hard here too. My brother and I both lost our jobs because of it. We both worked for a supplier to the rigs.

I've got relatives in the coal mines and they are going to end up being out of jobs thanks to cut backs and severe over regulation in that market too. They are going to end up having their pay cut in half with whatever else they get into.

Making a lot of money is nice, but if its not what you want to do, or not stable then it might be smarter to make less and do something else.

[futurevr4man]

As I said on FB, CNC is a good world to be in. It's also worth figuring out if the travel job can morph into something closer to home... maybe they stick the low-man on the travel jobs but once you're trained, you can do more local stuff?

[donniekak]

If you want to do actual work type work for a living, move to a union state. Back in eastern Ohio/western pa most laborers for the drilling and pipeline work going on are making around $30 an hour through the local labor hall, and getting 60+ hours a week. It's outside, dirty, hard work, but it's like the old adage "you get what you pay for", except what you get is money, and what you pay is hard work.

Not sure what you're physical condition is either, but trimming trees through the ibew on power line right of ways starts out around $15, and tops out around double. The good thing about that is you can get a job through a company with a union contract and get into the union right away.