Hey Guys! My Name is Neil, I'm from British Columbia, Canada. I'm new to this Forum and wanted to say Hello, But also to ask from some Advice. Let me start off by saying I'm an Ex-Landscape Labourer/LeadHand whatever you wanna call it started off behind a shovel when i was 15 Diggin all day for 6-7 years and im now 25. With that said i've been Running Bobcat/Skidsteer Pedals/Joystick CAT/Bobcat for about 4-5 years probably about 3,000 Hours started doing it slowly parking it at the end of the day when i was landscaping then moved up to big things like backfilling foundations etc. I went to School here at Interior Heavy Equipment for Excavator (all i could afford at the time.) However ive ran Packers, Rock Trucks as well. Have all my tickets to go up north i tried applying up north in Alberta/BC. Didnt get any offers other than a few in a Skidsteer, But i wanna work on my Excavator Hours, and Learn other Machinery. After a couple months of sending hundreds of Resumes out i got a job here in my town Running Excavator/Bobcat/Skidsteer my boss is very nice and gives me the chances to stretch my skills and abilitys and get better and work on my civil in town work. But id like to go up north on the oil sands and im finding as a green operator very hard as obviously it should be not anyone can jump in and do what you guys do, ive probably almost got about 1,000 hours in a excavator now. prolly a bit shy of 1,000 but ill just round up. So my question is what can i do to get my foot in the door a bit more? My dad was a Dump Truck driver for 30 years and one of the best where i live and been told that by many here so i kinda am following in his foot steps he can run all machines but he said i will gewt my chance and i know i will its just somtimes i get down about it cause im trying my best everyday to learn new things and abilitys and be the best operator i can be. Any Advice from you Experts out there that have been doing this for years id really appreciate it i love these machines i am very fascinated about them have been since i was very little the power they have and the things they can do are awesome and being the person inside one making art in the dirt is even more awesome. Thanks in Advance guys!
Well, I dont know much about Canada for starters and things may be different there. I live in Texas. I started as a plumber's apprentice as a child and now I am a supervisor of facilities. I personally have had to take lower skilled jobs to get my foot in the door for jobs that were initially my goal. You may have to take a job that is below your skill level in order to get hired by a company that possess a job that you desire. The opportunity will come when someone is on vacation or sick and the company is shorthanded and you will get your chance to prove yourself and move up but it wont happen overnight. Just remember the squeaky wheel gets the oil. So, with that said. Keep on Squeaking and watch others and learn from their mistakes. I have made a point to break workers out of there comfort zone and push them to try new things ( in a safe place to learn of course ). Make sure others on the job know your interest and never kiss nobody's butt to get there.
Agree with he point about taking a job that may be below what you feel is your skill level. If you show that you care about doing the job and show up in the morning ready to work someone will notice. Then when some lazy bum fails to show up and the boss needs someone in a hurry he will think to ask you to help out. This may not happen this week or even this year but as long as the paycheck is there at the end of the week hang in and the chance will come if you really want it. One thing that I know will make or loose points is how you treat the equipment you are working with, be it a wooden handled shovel or a Cat350 excavator. The tool/machine should be in as good or better condition as when you started using it. Clean mud off shovel and keep cab of excavator as clean as possible. One thing that I hate as a mechanic is working on a machine that is cluttered with trash in cab, if you can carry it in you can carry it out.
Not sure what companies you applied to, its next to impossible to get a job right off the bat with any major oilsands companies ( Exxon, Shell, Suncor etc . ). About once every 2 months they have a job fair in Edmonton, its always heavily advertised in the Edmonton Jounal, usually 30-40 companies go looking for staff. Some of the companies I have seen advertising for operators are Thomson Brothers, Graham, North American, Prairie North, SITE. We`re still in spring break up here, probably be mid June before things get going again.