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And Life Continues On...
Apr. 14th, 2009 11:08 pmIt seems hard to me sometime to believe that it was only three weeks ago that I was handed my DD214, turned in my military ID card, and took off my Navy uniform for the last time. On the one hand, it seems like it was just yesterday since it all happened; after all, three weeks is next to nothing compared to nine years. But on the other hand, so much has happened in the last three weeks that it makes it all seem so much farther away than it really is.
One of the things that recruiters love to tell prospective nukes is that the qualifications and training speak for themselves, and will almost certainly guarantee you a job on the outside once you leave the Navy, particularly if you're looking at working in the civilian nuclear industry. I'm getting a chance to put that theory into practice right now. A few weeks ago, while I was still on terminal leave, I put in an application with Southern California Edison for a job as an apprentice Nuclear Plant Equipment Operator at San Onofre, the local nuclear power plant. Last Tuesday I received an email scheduling me for an aptitude test yesterday for the prospective position- as well as links to online study guides to help prepare for the test.
Nine study guides, to be exact, covering basic math, physics, thermodynamics, and fluid flow. Basically, the first half of Nuclear Power School eight years ago. Except that we studied all of that over a period of about six months, not six days. Needless to say, as soon as I'd downloaded the study guides and seen how thick and extensive they were, a frantic week of studying, cramming, and cleaning out the cobwebs around my Total Power and Entropy equations ensued. I don't know how Tana put up with me- aside from my daily workout, I let everything else slide- cooking, laundry, cleaning, everything. Last week, it was me, the computer, and my pen and paper as I worked practice problem after practice problem. Yesterday morning, after rising extra early to beat the traffic up to San Onofre, it was time for the test.
The drive up wasn't too bad- not having to cross into Orange County like I used to was a nice breath of fresh air, and the weather was warm. Once I got on site, it was a bit different; the directions had me going to one building, but once I got there, they directed me towards another building instead for the test. I made it in the nick of time before I thought I would be late for the check in for the test. I was surprised to walk into the testing room and find there were five other people that were also testing- I was thinking I was going to be the only one testing, but apparently the job listing is going out all over the area far and wide. There was one other nuke there with me, a former ELT off the Stennis who works at the plant on Hartwell in South Carolina, but was looking to move back out to Southern California. The first bit of the testing wasn't so bad- more aptitude tests; math, reading comprehension, mechanical knowledge, and graph and table reading. I'd been trolling the forums at Nukeworker, so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from that part. The next part of the test, however was wide open about anything and everything I'd been trying to cram back into my brain for the previous week. Since it was all done on a computer and was (gasp!) multiple choice, I'd know as soon as I was done whether or not I had passed. There was no telling you what your score was- after you hit that 'submit' button, it was either 'congratulations!' on the next screen, or 'unfortunately'. I managed to actually take my time, held my breath, and hit that 'submit' key.
The screen came back with a "congratulations!" on it. I don't really remember what else it said, but the test proctor said that they'd be in contact with me within about five days to set up an interview. The drive back down to San Diego was much brighter and happier than the drive up. Within an hour of getting home, I'd gotten a call from SCE's HR people scheduling me for an interview this afternoon. Back up to San Onofre this afternoon for the interview.
This was only the second job interview I've ever sat through in my life (as the one being asked the questions, anyway), so I'm still having a hard time figuring out exactly what to expect. My first one was for Sear's as a repair tech a couple of weeks ago, and I still haven't heard anything back from them, even though they're advertising for people to fill that job on Craigslist. Hmmm. Anyway, the interview itself was I guess what I've expected job interviews to be like- they ask me questions to fit a specific scenario, and I answer with an example based on my personal experience or things that I've actually encountered. After they finished asking me the questions, they went over the way the training pipeline works: the first ten weeks of class, starting June 1st, are the fundamentals- I think all the basics of the mechanical systems- followed by six months spent studying and qualifying on the auxiliary systems, and up to 7 or 8 years before getting into a class to start the reactor- side of things, and possibly up to ten years before starting to work on an NRC license as a senior reactor operator. Talk about a long- term commitment, huh? I asked a couple of other questions, about how the classes work, the training, and the working conditions, but I really didn't get a warm fuzzy about how the interview went- I couldn't really get a read on my interviewers, and I know I was the last person of the day that they were interviewing, and they've been doing interviews for the last two weeks straight, but I can't help but be a bit nervous about it. They said I'd be getting a phone call or letter from SCE by the middle of May to let me know if I'd be moving on to the next phase of the hiring process, so in the meantime, I guess it's back to the job hunt.
One of the things that recruiters love to tell prospective nukes is that the qualifications and training speak for themselves, and will almost certainly guarantee you a job on the outside once you leave the Navy, particularly if you're looking at working in the civilian nuclear industry. I'm getting a chance to put that theory into practice right now. A few weeks ago, while I was still on terminal leave, I put in an application with Southern California Edison for a job as an apprentice Nuclear Plant Equipment Operator at San Onofre, the local nuclear power plant. Last Tuesday I received an email scheduling me for an aptitude test yesterday for the prospective position- as well as links to online study guides to help prepare for the test.
Nine study guides, to be exact, covering basic math, physics, thermodynamics, and fluid flow. Basically, the first half of Nuclear Power School eight years ago. Except that we studied all of that over a period of about six months, not six days. Needless to say, as soon as I'd downloaded the study guides and seen how thick and extensive they were, a frantic week of studying, cramming, and cleaning out the cobwebs around my Total Power and Entropy equations ensued. I don't know how Tana put up with me- aside from my daily workout, I let everything else slide- cooking, laundry, cleaning, everything. Last week, it was me, the computer, and my pen and paper as I worked practice problem after practice problem. Yesterday morning, after rising extra early to beat the traffic up to San Onofre, it was time for the test.
The drive up wasn't too bad- not having to cross into Orange County like I used to was a nice breath of fresh air, and the weather was warm. Once I got on site, it was a bit different; the directions had me going to one building, but once I got there, they directed me towards another building instead for the test. I made it in the nick of time before I thought I would be late for the check in for the test. I was surprised to walk into the testing room and find there were five other people that were also testing- I was thinking I was going to be the only one testing, but apparently the job listing is going out all over the area far and wide. There was one other nuke there with me, a former ELT off the Stennis who works at the plant on Hartwell in South Carolina, but was looking to move back out to Southern California. The first bit of the testing wasn't so bad- more aptitude tests; math, reading comprehension, mechanical knowledge, and graph and table reading. I'd been trolling the forums at Nukeworker, so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from that part. The next part of the test, however was wide open about anything and everything I'd been trying to cram back into my brain for the previous week. Since it was all done on a computer and was (gasp!) multiple choice, I'd know as soon as I was done whether or not I had passed. There was no telling you what your score was- after you hit that 'submit' button, it was either 'congratulations!' on the next screen, or 'unfortunately'. I managed to actually take my time, held my breath, and hit that 'submit' key.
The screen came back with a "congratulations!" on it. I don't really remember what else it said, but the test proctor said that they'd be in contact with me within about five days to set up an interview. The drive back down to San Diego was much brighter and happier than the drive up. Within an hour of getting home, I'd gotten a call from SCE's HR people scheduling me for an interview this afternoon. Back up to San Onofre this afternoon for the interview.
This was only the second job interview I've ever sat through in my life (as the one being asked the questions, anyway), so I'm still having a hard time figuring out exactly what to expect. My first one was for Sear's as a repair tech a couple of weeks ago, and I still haven't heard anything back from them, even though they're advertising for people to fill that job on Craigslist. Hmmm. Anyway, the interview itself was I guess what I've expected job interviews to be like- they ask me questions to fit a specific scenario, and I answer with an example based on my personal experience or things that I've actually encountered. After they finished asking me the questions, they went over the way the training pipeline works: the first ten weeks of class, starting June 1st, are the fundamentals- I think all the basics of the mechanical systems- followed by six months spent studying and qualifying on the auxiliary systems, and up to 7 or 8 years before getting into a class to start the reactor- side of things, and possibly up to ten years before starting to work on an NRC license as a senior reactor operator. Talk about a long- term commitment, huh? I asked a couple of other questions, about how the classes work, the training, and the working conditions, but I really didn't get a warm fuzzy about how the interview went- I couldn't really get a read on my interviewers, and I know I was the last person of the day that they were interviewing, and they've been doing interviews for the last two weeks straight, but I can't help but be a bit nervous about it. They said I'd be getting a phone call or letter from SCE by the middle of May to let me know if I'd be moving on to the next phase of the hiring process, so in the meantime, I guess it's back to the job hunt.
