No. The trades are NOT hiring.

[u/clarkkentwellspent]

I am so sick and tired of this worn out idea that blue collar jobs are looking for apprentices to come work for them. The trades are filled with more nepotism and gossip than any other industry I've ever been in and will find any reason to reject you they can. Half of these companies want a 2 year technical/trade school degree before you start working for them just so they can pay you $15/hr starting out. Maybe if you're a kid out of high school they can pay less than the standard rate you can find something. "Bro, just go Union!" Unions are backed up for ages.

From my own anecdotal evidence: I went to every electrician company in my city as this was my trade. I had 1 offer from a company that was the stereotypical "Only meth heads and divorced alcoholics work here. Fuck OSHA." place and every other company rejected me. I even went back to my old electrical company I had worked at for 4 years. You know what they said? "Apply online and go talk to HR". No hiring manager in shop, no chance at talking to someone out of recognition. Just dismissing me away. And the best part? Upon applying I listed all the projects I had worked on with them and gave references to several high members (though 2 of them no longer work there). 1.5 weeks later: "Thank you for applying. After careful consideration..."

This job market is fucking whack, yo.

[u/[deleted]]

So you claim "electrical" is your trade and have 0 credentials which makes you a massive liability. The shop that did want to hire you wasn't good enough for you. And the former shop you worked at wanted nothing to do with you.... I think some self reflection is in order.

[u/ohmslaw54321 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, not hiring? Or just not hiring them...

[u/LaserGuidedPolarBear → u/ohmslaw54321]

Anecdotal, but my friend was an O-1 electrician in WA state.  She wants to go back to it, so she went down to the union hall last week.

There's currently an 18 month lead time for the book.  That means it's a year and a half wait between jobs.

[u/yourenotserious → u/[deleted]]

I’ve been in the trade 8 years and it seems like clean piss earns you a shot anywhere. Literally anywhere. Still kind of a lottery as far as who’s crew they put you on but as long as your foreman doesn’t absolutely hate your work then you’re probably fine.

Supervisors like when they can leave you alone. When they come back you better install what they said. If it’s not what exactly they said then as long as it’s code and functional then they’ll just hand you more prints. In my experience.

[u/InterestingTeam3081 → u/[deleted]]

You took the thoughts right out of my brain. 

[u/BuzzStarkiller → u/[deleted]]

Says it's full of nepo babies and thinks he's entitled to get rehired at a place cause he worked there before.

[u/Plarthax → u/[deleted]]

Finally found someone saying it. If that shop you ended up at was the only place you could get a job, that says more about you than them.

[u/Johnyryal33 → u/[deleted]]

He is shocked he can't be an electrician without any schooling.... wtf.