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Internet Career Seeking

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Keith Browning

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Just for giggles I signed up on actautostaffing.com just to see if I get any bites. I am not looking to move but I am interested in what is out there and who might be interested. Anybody ever use one of these web sites? I know my manager has in looking for technicians.

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I sometimes peruse http://www.needtechs.com, just to see what's going on south of the border. I often consider a move out of this tax-pot country I live in... (I know the taxes have their benefits), but from what I've heard from people that have done it, it is a bit of a pain in the ass getting permits and such...

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I looked into it a few years back. What happened in my case,(and I believe it is very common)was that a headhunter contacted me directly as soon as I posted a resume on needtechs.

He hooked me up with a Ford dealer in Ft. Collins CO.

We talked, he promised, I listened. I said show me your serious...

Flew me into Denver, picked me up at airport(hottee driver too boot) and took me to Ft. Collins and showed me the whole deal.Talked to 3 or 4 techs there also(service managers can be just a wee tad deceptive at times..no?)

Put me in a car, wined and dined me all weekend/nice hotel the works.

I was happy with it. We came to terms.

The main thing I asked for and stressed this heavily, was that I wanted them to do all the immigration paperwork and the costs associated with that.

They were very happy and said no prob at all...hehe

In the end they could not get it done as they had seriously underrated the immigration process.

Kinda strung me along for 4 months with immigration stories.

I have no record and advised them that I do have family living in the U.S. and I felt that was the better way to get it done..

In hindsight I believe it may have been possible to do with all their ducks in a row, but what it boils down to is this: I was coming into an "at will" employment state(Colorado) for this dealer.Which means they can fire a person pretty much at any time.Under immigration law, my sponsor (dealer) would not have been able to fire me if they wanted to. Basically i would be unfireable(is that a word?) to them, but free to leave and seek other employment,the day after I arrived if I chose to...

Ahh well I ate some fine dinners, did a bit of skiing, drove the rental car high into the mountains to see if i`d get dizzy(no bull..) and saw alot, and I mean alot of some fine skanky college girls. All in all a decent weekend as I recall.

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I've been looking at a few of those sites due to the work ethics in this general area, and the fact is there is no work back home (tried that scene last year) and me being the curious type I am, I always keep an eye open to see whats out there in case I decide to roll the box out the door.

 

I've talked to a few places but none was offering what I have now so I politely declined but thanked them for the offers, mind you I had nothing offered like Rick did lol.

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Seems like I have nearly the same story as Rick. Looked on autodealerjobs.com , picked out 4 places sent my resume. The next day I get a call from Steamboat Springs Colorado. They're interested, I'm interested, they're willing to fly my wife and myself down. We go down check it all out. Things look great. We want the to take care of the immigration costs and paper work etc. They agree, I decide to check out if there is anything I can do to speed things up, so I go to the American Consulate in Vancouver. They tell me that because I am possibly taking an Americans job, the job had to advertised nationally for 6 months, I tell them that I found it on the internet (you can't get more national than that,they didn't think it was funny). They also tell me that as a mechanic I am unskilled labor and in the same classification as fruit pickers and cab drivers and there was at least a 3 year wait to immigrate. I took a job here on the Island instead.Needless to say I saw the same dealership was still looking for someone 3 years later.Oh ya I told them at the consulate next time their car breaks down they should call a fruit picker.

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*Unskilled labour*??? OK... I guess all the US techs know where they stand now...

 

We just hired three techs from Mexico through something similar - the jury is still out.

 

After the months and months of false starts and run-arounds with some of these cross border employment agencies, I have my trepidations.

 

Dropping my own fate into their hands??? Ummm, lemme think about that for a while.

 

Occasionally, I'll look at something like monster.ca just to see what other shops and areas are paying... Thinks can be bad enough as they are - I don't need to go looking for another headache.

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I would be worried about my boss seeing me listed online and thinking I am bailing and blow me out. Some places might be like that I guess it depends on if they use the internet to find techs. Do a lot of dealers do that?

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*Unskilled labour*??? OK... I guess all the US techs know where they stand now...

 

I once worked for an employer who thought like that, he felt and let it known to all that "anyone" walking down the street could do our jobs......probably the reason I still tend to move around every few years.

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Originally Posted By: Jim Warman
*Unskilled labour*??? OK... I guess all the US techs know where they stand now...

I once worked for an employer who thought like that, he felt and let it known to all that "anyone" walking down the street could do our jobs......probably the reason I still tend to move around every few years.

What an A**hole

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Well, the on topic part of my response is that no, I don't really look at online tech placement services. I went through a phase where I thought I wanted a different job, had an offer from a local public transit system and submited my resignation. The company convinced me that I was an integral part of the machine, I stayed, and have not regretted it (or looked around) since.

 

The off-topic part is that the "dramatic change" stories are Canadians trying to get positions in the US. My image of Canada is formed by being an occasional visitor and what I read on forums like this. But from what I read here the store where Jim works could use good, skilled, trained help and has the possibility of making 6 figures +. Pretty good money no matter what the exchange rate is.

 

Now, I think that I live in a place that could not be more perfect for what I love: mountains, trees, green year-'round, not too hot in summer, nor too cold in winter. Reasonably good firearms rights; honest, hard-working citizens are allowed to arm themselves against the possibilty of crime. The government is more "liberal" than I would like, but (at least by my perception) probably not as much as Canada. Many people find the frequent rain and gray skies depressing but I love it: always green!

 

Otherwise it would be tempting to try to go north of the border and try to make some good money in an area that is probably more remote than where I live now (I can see one other house from my place, I feel a little crowded). I guess the part that puzzles me is that a Canadian would consider living in Colorado (and I think of eastern Colorado as the same as Kansas; western CO is considerably different) and not take the opportunity in an area like Northern Alberta (no immigration, same government, lifestyle, and currency [and language, eh?]. What is the attaction to the US?

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At the time I checked U.S. employment the dealership I had worked fro 10 years had gone bankrupt. The prospects for a job in central B.C. at that time were poor and the oil patch in Alberta hadn't really taken off yet. The only reason I checked out U.S. jobs was at that time there were only U.S. jobs posted. As for where I chose to apply, I had personal motives. I like the outdoors, hunting, skiing etc. So you can see the reason I chose Steamboat Co., Jackson Hole Wy., Taos N.M., and Powell Az. to apply. Where I am now on central Vancouver Island is beautiful, it has everything I wanted. The best thing was my first winter here, I played 18 holes in the morning, rode my mountain bike in the afternoon, and went night skiing on December 22. Tough to beat. Am I sorry I didn't move the U.S.? I still think it was a good opportunity that was missed, but I'm happy where I'm at.

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Ron, you'll find that the oil patch is usually in a "boom/bust" cycle.... A "new" field is easy to get the stuff out of the ground... After a few years, it starts to cost more money to get the same production out of a hole.... Finally, it get's to the point where they will shut a well in as being unprofitable...

 

The well can be shut in for many years but, as the price of crude skyrockets, the well can become viable again... They may choose to open the old hole or they may decide to drill near it (there have also been improvements in the geophysical side of the coin).

 

Back in the Trudeau years, I recall a bumper sticker... "Please, Lord... let there be another oil boom - I promise I wont piss it all away this time".

 

Compared to the rest of Canada... when things are good, they're great... when things are bad, they're still pretty good.

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Where I am now on central Vancouver Island...

OK, now you're talking! I'll confess a bit of envy that you have such a beautiful place to live. I wouldn't feel bad at all that it worked out the way that it did. Congratulations!
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The farther out of the big city the better, thats what I did and I don't ever look back, especially because I'm close but not too close. In Irish Hills Michigan and 6 miles from MIS how much better can it get. By the way I have 64.3 miles each way from work. Deer in the back yard and fish in the front...need I say more. Could make more but why????? My Black Lab has never been happier!!!! /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cheers.gif

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