Job Hunting Thread

As I posted in the Minor Rant thread, I am being laid off in July unless our company gets new business.  As suggested by Purple Frog, he said networking and posting skills here may help. 

With all this COVID business, I'm sure I'm not the only one in this boat.  I figured I'd start this thread to help anyone else looking for work post their skills and maybe someone here can point us in the right direction.

That said, here's my LinkedIn profile: PMRacing's LinkedIn

So post away. This whole situation sucks. Hopefully this thread can help some people find future work.  

Hey. I'll connect with you on LinkedIn. Not that my company has anything. But. I'm happy to help.  We're figuring out the global aerospace impact right now. 

I sent you a LinkedIn connection request. What types of positions interest you?

In reply to dj06482 :

I'll reply in the a.m.!  Thanks

I'm in a similar boat.  I thought I would take a leap out of our small business (wedding photography) last year and started down the path of Chick-Fil-A ownership.  I've been running the kitchen in one of the busiest in the country but it's not for me.  I've helped others open and operate businesses on the side for years, and I'm good at operations.  Have managed teams of 50.  Right now I run an 11M kitchen with 3M in food budget and 37 direct reports.  I'd like to do some type of development but my 95% of a Biochemistry degree isn't helping.  Any suggestions and I'm all ears. We're looking at about a 100k income loss this year with rental income and weddings cancellations.  

My linked in is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-hood-0339a5178/

We're putting our house on the market this week I think. Would like to stay in the south if possible.  

OK, you asked...

I used to hire technical people for a living...

Looking at your Linkedin page, at first glance it all looks Automotive, Automotive, Automotive.   Understandably so. I get it.  But, geez, could be slow growth in short term.  As a HR person, I might be looking for somebody to be a product manager for garage doors...or hurricane shutters.

So... I dug deeper into your page.   What I dug up that applies great to many industries:  1.  Works well with customers, 2. Creative solutions, 3. Clear and concise communication. 4. Can do product training.   OBTW , Rochester Institute of Technology  gives you a gold star.   All this said, and I've never met you.  Those may be the things to highlight.  Guys that can sit in front of a customer and not call their baby ugly are hard to find.

Those attributes could be used in so many places.  Are you seriously wedded to automotive?    Would you be willing for example to  create solutions and train customers on lets say... medical equipment.   If you think you can apply your talents to many different industries, say so.    Maybe soften the automotive emphasis (e.g. different title picture, etc.)   Don't look like a one trick pony.

Now... on the otherhand.  People will need cars. That industry will come back.  Hitachi may bring you back.  So don't burn any bridges.   But, it could be a slow 6 months.  Spend the next three months wisely, not burning bridges, but building them.

e.g. one of the fastest race drivers I have ever known is making good money selling roofing of large commercial buildings...and makes enough to keep racing.  Just saying.

As always, YMMV

In reply to Purple Frog :

Points well taken. I'll go through it tomorrown. Thanks!

In reply to grover :

Are you a chik fil a owner? If so, do you have an email to contact you? 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

I'm not.  I am an assistant manager basically. welcome to email though.  brhood and then you enter googles email.  

In reply to grover :

You are living in Ground Zero #2 and employed. That is the good news.   The rentals will come back,(it is Florida, duh)  and the weddings will come back like a landslide. Can you ramp up in the meantime to handle the floodgates when they open?  Being a wedding photographer says so much for your ability to handle difficult customers, the most difficult.  Bonus points for pulling that off for many years.  Advertise that ability.

It might be time to suck it up and keep the job in hand for a few months.  Branch the wedding photo gig into photos for advertising, maybe in your area... real estate.   Focus on doing high end spreads for realtors?   Fills the weeks days when bridezilla is not getting married.  Just saying.

Purple Frog said:

In reply to grover :

You are living in Ground Zero #2 and employed. That is the good news.   The rentals will come back,(it is Florida, duh)  and the weddings will come back like a landslide. Can you ramp up in the meantime to handle the floodgates when they open?  Being a wedding photographer says so much for your ability to handle difficult customers, the most difficult.  Bonus points for pulling that off for many years.  Advertise that ability.

It might be time to suck it up and keep the job in hand for a few months.  Branch the wedding photo gig into photos for advertising, maybe in your area... real estate.   Focus on doing high end spreads for realtors?   Fills the weeks days when bridezilla is not getting married.  Just saying.

It is crazy here.  I agree that things will come back in abundance come fall, but I think we are still going to take the equity out of this house in order to ride it out through the summer. I'm 40 in May and I'm working on figuring out what I'm going to do with my life-I can't, and don't want to photograph wedding forever.  I've been working through the salesforce trailhead training and really enjoying that- I really enjoy customer service and problem solving so I'm hoping that may lead to something.  Thanks for the advice! 

In reply to PMRacing :

Racing doesn't always have to have the image of selfishness.  Highlight what running a successful race team entails:  preparation, attention to detail, high concentration, making deadlines (the grid does not wait), teamwork, ability to adapt to changing environments in a very competitve environment, focus, results count, yadda,yadda,yadda... you get it.

OBTW, i always had multiple versions of resumes... One i would hand to Jack Roush, another for the governor of Florida.  

You should include some more information here about your experience and abilities - those of us who aren't on LinkedIn can't see what you have posted there.

I've also been looking for work since February, most of my job experience is in IT but I'm not married to it. I'm not on LinkedIn and I'd like to keep it that way, could be a positive for jobs that require secrecy.

Computer skills:

- Full-stack LAMP web development

- Programming in C/C++, Python, shell & batch scripting

- Linux system administration (can also do Windows but I'd rather stick to Linux), security testing and hardening

- Experience with VMs, VPSes and containers.

- VoIP admin with experience in Asterisk and FreePBX

- Database administration on MySQL/MariaDB, PostgreSQL and MSSQL

- Raster & vector graphics, photo editing

- Audio and video editing

- PC assembly and hardware repair on everything from phones to rackmount servers

A list of motorsports-relevant skills in case that industry ever feels like hiring someone who didn't do FSAE:

- Tuning MegaSquirt EMS for NA and turbo engines

- Suspension tuning

- Configuring data logging systems

- Combining data log files for data analysis and datalog videos

- Offroad tile map file creation from paper and digital maps

- Experience with MyLaps Orbits timing software

- Livery/graphics package design

I'm kinda searching myself but wasn't sure if okay to post something (with so many people out of work).. Is there anybody out there who can put eyes on my LinkedIn and see how it looks?

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Where are you living now?  I may be able to help.

dxman92 said:

I'm kinda searching myself but wasn't sure if okay to post something (with so many people out of work).. Is there anybody out there who can put eyes on my LinkedIn and see how it looks?

dxman, I'll be happy to help. I am not/haven't been a hiring manager but have had my own stuff critiqued a ton of times and have worked with others on their resumes/LinkedIn Profiles as well. Feel free to PM me a link and I'll take a look today.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Location? 

And why anti-LinkedIn?

I added you on LinkedIn PMRacing.

I'm also thinking about trying to re-write my profile and resume to be more broad and less automotive focused, and try to look into other industry opportunities.  The auto industry was already undergoing a large shift prior to the pandemic, this is just more reason to keep your options open and branch out.

My background has been in testing and data analysis but more recently focused on "Big Data" analysis.  Statistical analysis of large populations, establishing trends and predictive results to drive action to improve the overall "health" of the system ("health" in this case being quality and reduced warranty cost).  I hope that tranlsates to other industries better than my prior experience, which was very calibration and software focused.

Added as well. theres a lot of stuff open here in the indy area if we ever get off lock down and the whole world doesn't collapse. 

In reply to dj06482 :

I'm not 100% sure what I'd be looking for right now.  I was finally in a job that was starting to use my skills and have a good manager.

Last time I was looking at a job change, I was almost ready to pull the trigger on opening my own indoor kart track. I tried to do a shift into sales from applications engineering at the previous company. I'm good at coming up with unique solutions and problem solving, good with people, good at long term thinking. I guess I haven't found the perfect career path, yet.

Aaron_King said:

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Where are you living now?  I may be able to help.

yupididit said:

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Location? 

And why anti-LinkedIn?

I'm in Oshawa, Ontario. LinkedIn is sort of "career facebook" and I'd rather stay off it for many of the same reasons I stay off Facebook. Sometimes the potential career positives are tempting, but there could be career negatives too...

In reply to GameboyRMH :

If you for some reason end up coming south of the border I can put you in touch with some people but I have nothing up there.  Sorry.

It looks like we have openings, as well as (I believe paid) internship openings: ccmsi.com/careers

If you're interested in working for an amazing company and in/want to learn the insurance industry you should definitely apply & put me as a reference. 

Do you have any jobs for canoe factories?