equipment mechanic practical test

[brain55]

Thanks everybody. My test is at 11 am tomorrow, so I will have a pretty good feeling by noon on how well I did. I should know by Monday or Tuesday about the interview the following Saturday. I'm pretty optimistic at this point. I'm going to get a good nights sleep, have a good breakfast, and leave plenty early enough to make sure I'm on time. I'll let you know how I think I did, and what was actually involved in the test. I did find out today that there will be two stations set-up.

Good Night,
Brian

 

[LD1]

Good Luck:thumbsup:

 

[dex3361]

Thanks everybody. My test is at 11 am tomorrow, so I will have a pretty good feeling by noon on how well I did. I should know by Monday or Tuesday about the interview the following Saturday. I'm pretty optimistic at this point. I'm going to get a good nights sleep, have a good breakfast, and leave plenty early enough to make sure I'm on time. I'll let you know how I think I did, and what was actually involved in the test. I did find out today that there will be two stations set-up.

Good Night,
Brian

Let us know how you make out we will be rooting for you. I will also say a prayer.

 

[brain55]

Well, I took the test. The first half was a welding test. The first part was flame cutting a 1/8" x 4" piece of bar. No problem, put on the safety gear, open the bottles, set the pressures, light the torch, adjust the flame, make the cut, put it all away. The second part was making a t-joint weld on two pieces of 1/8" x 4" bar with a small wire feed using innershield. I had never used innershield before, or a Lincoln SP135. But, I am smart enough to know that all of the settings are inside the side cover, so I read the chart, set the machine, and made the weld. It turned out pretty well, it would have been better but I couldn't see out of the crappy helmet they had.

The second half was diagnosing a cranks but won't start condition on a '98 Chevy pick-up with a 5.7L. I tried cranking it and it didn't start, cycled the key and did not hear the fuel pump, checked the fuses even though there isn't one for the fuel pump, pulled the relay to check for power there, and found that there was no 12v + power, only key on power. They did not have a manual or wiring diagram, so I was kind of stuck. I had no idea what would cause there to be no power for the relay. Being kind of lost at this point I just double checked to where I had gotten, and then checked for spark to be sure I wasn't way off base. It had plenty of spark. When my time was up, the person administering the test told me I was on the right track. I wish I could have gotten a little further but they told me right at the beginning that they didn't expect me to fix it, they just wanted to see my thought process.

I did get to shoot the breeze a little with the man that would be my boss. I don't think it hurt me any to be able to give a little background into where my experience comes from and that I have worked in similar situations before.

Brian

I just realized that I could have jumped power to the fuel pump. duh

I still think I did well enough to get to the oral interview next week.

 

[dex3361]

Sounds promising. :thumbsup:

 

[MicroPilot]

Sounds like you did well on the tests. Hope you get the interview.

 

[irvingj]

Very interesting post!

brain55, I've worked as a wrench slinger, an HVAC tech, computer repair person.... I'm not sure what sort of competition you've got, but what I see in your posts would cause me to hire you in a heartbeat: your attitude.

I think they'd be lucky to have you, it's pretty obvious that you care about your performance.:thumbsup:

 

[tthopskin@yahoo.ca]

I will tell you BULL **** baffels brains years ago I went in for a interview at the place i worked to apply for a millwright my interview was 5 min I just told the truth the other guy was 45 min he bull ****ted the boss he got the job 4 weeks later the boss came to me said there is a job posting on the wall you should sign it I looked him in the face said you did not wont me the first time why the **** would you want me now ..he **** then said no I have been asking the shop foreman and he sees your work said you know what your doing ..I looked at him and said we will see ...I signed got the job in 2 years went from class 3 to class 1 millwright and lead hand and started stationary engineers training you know it was sad I had to show the lic engineers how to run the boilers and me with no lic and even fix a 5 year problem they had with the chemicals even the suppler never fingered it out JUST BULL **** GET THE JOB THEN YOU CAN SHOW THE TALENT YOU HAVE :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[PILOON]

Our old boss used to ask prospective electronics techs to recite and explain ohms law. Staggering how many 'graduates' couldn't do that.

I owned an aviation electronics facility.

One applicant for an opening turned out to be the trade school teacher!

Fortunately I had a 25 question trade test that I used for all applicants.
You would not believe how miserably he failed the test!

His standard reply was "as per mfg's specs"
Ok I had a few trick questions designed to find bluffers, but the majority were very common trade standards like 'is acid core solder acceptable', size of fuse to protect a circuit, spec of co-ax cable for use in aircraft etc and it was all a multi choice or T/F thing, so the correct ans was there but in most cases he'd be 180 deg wrong.
Like is it permissable to use automotive wire in an aircraft Y/N or some very technical specs or regulations that I would not expect more than a few to know.

Tell you, it was scary!

 

[MikeD74T]

I will tell you BULL **** baffels brains years ago I went in for a interview at the place i worked to apply for a millwright my interview was 5 min I just told the truth the other guy was 45 min he bull ****ted the boss he got the job 4 weeks later the boss came to me said there is a job posting on the wall you should sign it I looked him in the face said you did not wont me the first time why the **** would you want me now ..he **** then said no I have been asking the shop foreman and he sees your work said you know what your doing ..I looked at him and said we will see ...I signed got the job in 2 years went from class 3 to class 1 millwright and lead hand and started stationary engineers training you know it was sad I had to show the lic engineers how to run the boilers and me with no lic and even fix a 5 year problem they had with the chemicals even the suppler never fingered it out JUST BULL **** GET THE JOB THEN YOU CAN SHOW THE TALENT YOU HAVE :thumbsup::thumbsup:

I work in nuclear power and tthopskin's right on the money here. All interviews are hypothetical senario based - "when in the past have you had to _____ and how did you handle it"? Outsiders can "baffle 'em with BS" and get by where in house people can have their story verified or not !!! We get mostly engineering grads in entry level positions & they all profess the same interview success path. The only challange left is who's BSing who at the interview? Many HR people know the questions but not necessarily the answers. MikeD74T

 

[brain55]

I'm not much of a BS'er so we'll have to see how that goes. My real world, large fleet experience, is going to have to be enough. Not that I don't know how to sell myself in an interview, but I also know how to say "I don't know". I would say that those of us that have 20+ years of experience should have a leg up on the twenty-something year old's applying. My guess is that they started doing the practical tests to weed out the BS'ers. You either have the basic skills or you don't.

Brian

 

[mmurphy]

You have some that will hire you for what you show of talent, then you have some that want to be able to chew your arse, and have you the ability to turn around and smile at them and ask "Do you want cheese with that". It really is pretty much a crap shoot sometimes. You may have worn a blue shirt and one of the guys hates blue. I had one interview that the interviewer told me I was not cocky enough. O.K. That guy wanted a jerk!!!
Being you went through the tests and made the top 20, you know you are at the top of the game.

 

[HiddenHollow]

I went to a interveiw many moons ago for a job installing alarm systems in homes. About 5 minutes into it the interviewer asks me " When you do repairs around the house do you show your wife where you made a mistake?". I said that I did. He ended the interview on the spot. He wanted a dishonest installer that would not own up to mistakes.

 

[brain55]

Well, I made it past the practical test. I go in front of the oral interview panel a week from Thursday at 1:30 pm. I am one of eight. I'm excited now, I'm very confident about my interview skills and my ability to sell myself. I'm convinced that this job has such a wide range of needs that it will be tough to find one person that is an expert at all of them. The person they choose will have to have a wide range of experience and ability. The difficult part might be matching all of the different mechanical needs with a person that also has management skills and has been in that position. There is still one more interview after this one. I have expected from the beginning to be in the top two. I hope I'm right.

Brian

 

[irvingj]

Best of luck to ya!:thumbsup:

 

[forgeblast]

Congrats, and good luck.

 

[brain55]

Well, I had the interview yesterday. It felt like they were lobbing me pitches to hit out of the park. I was very confident about how I did when I left, but of course, now that I have had some time to dwell on my answers, there are some that I wish I would have answered with a little more detail. I do expect to make the next cut. I won't have an answer until Feb. 1. They have to compile the results from the interview, practical test, and written test, then those results have to be certified by an outside agency. All in the name of fairness, I'm sure it's to keep the lawyers happy in case they are sued for discrimination or anything else. The next interview will be Feb. 4, then comes the pre-employment drug screening, physical, and background check.

Brian

 

[seymojo536]

Atta boy!

As Tom Petty said; "The waiting is the hardest part."

 

[tcartwri]

Good Luck!

 

[jinman]

Congrats Brian! With all the hoops you've had to jump through and the delays, it's a darn good thing you aren't out of a job and starving.:thumbdown: Also, isn't it kinda hard to get all that time off to go to all those interviews without your current employer getting a little bit suspicious? Sometimes the process by itself can really beat you up. I'm glad you're able to stick with it.:thumbsup: