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Spoke to my local yesterday, and I'm 4th in the list. The last 2 they called turned down the position

So were there lay offs that moved you to 4th after you were told you were next on the list?

Anyone know if you are injured as a probie, whether on the job or off, are you put back in some queue after you heal up or removed from the list?

I assume they move on to the next candidate before you even make it to a doctor, but happens afterwards. Trying to gauge how insecure the probie phase is.

Thats my assumption, I didn't want to ruffle any feathers so I didn't pry too much. I know 1 ahead of me turned it down because he got hired by Otis in another state, and the other came to the realization that he has a fear of heights lol

So I've been following this thread for 3 months now and it has been very helpful. I passed my test and i have an interview on April 5th. no one has really covered what kind of questions do they ask in the interview??

for example:
-"Tell me about yourself" "What are your greatest weaknesses" "tell me of a time you had to work under pressure" "why should we hire you"

I think because nobody wants to help someone to appear more qualified than they actually are at the interview.

You have a good point. But shouldn't that be what the test was for? I know I would be fit for the job, I've always loved working on cars and hands on and this job would be an exciting career for me. The only problem is, im bad at interviews, I get nervous and choke up and stumble over my words. but that doesn't mean im not capable of doing the job. I just have bad anxiety when it comes to interviews. after that I have really good work ethics. Every manager who has hired me would back that up.

They really are just basic questions like are scared of heights, do you mind being around loose wires and cramped areas...how did u hear about iuec and how do u get along with others...stuff like that...I know a few guy who failed the interview and they answered the questions pretty much the same as I did,so I really don't know how they grade the interviews.

As do you have a good point. I think I might be in somewhat the same boat as you so I won't bother give you interview pointers since they'd be useless. However, I did the interview twice. I did much better on the first one. Preperation for the interview won't necessarily help.

Thanks! that makes me feel better. Hopefully my interview will be a breeze.

I did the interview twice myself. The first time was almost 3 years ago. The interview was not really structured at all and I was in there for about 5 minutes, I didn't do that well. The second time was earlier this year; the interview was much more structured with a set of questions. I felt much more comfortable with that approach and ended up scoring much better than the first time.

So basically depending on how the interviewers are feeling that morning ? lol. what did you end up scoring?

I got ranked 12th on the list...scored a 78 or something I believe

Man alot of you guys had it easy, here in chicago 6-8k people took the test in 2013 and 1900 or so passed and got ranked after interviews, i got an interview score of 93.967 and was ranked 176. I recived that ranking in January 2014, last month they called me on my birthday feb 22 but someone in the office had transcribed my phone # down incorrectly on the call list, the last digit in my phone # was wriiten as a 7 insead of a 9. So i called a few days later to see what # they were on and told me 190. I freaked out called everyone i know in the local left messages for the ba's and got a call back from a ba that afternoon, he told me he was sorry they screwed up my # and that i would be the next one called. Well a month later today i got the call i have to drop test and fill out paper work this friday

Congrats! Although it was about 2xxx people who applied, not 6-8k. I can't believe they're up to 190, my number was in the low 80's and I was worried I would be on the outside looking in. Took them almost two years to call me. I heard a lot of guys turned it down, which could be why they got so high on list.

I've been in new construction for about a year now. So pointers: be at least 15 min early, don't be arrogant -I've noticed this a lot, it's a small community and you don't want to burn any bridges, move fast -but work safe, during break don't be the last one to stand up, take notes on your phone during break on what you did the first have if you worked with a mechanic that way you get the hang of it -a lot of it is repetitive and you don't want to have a mechanic have to keep telling you how do something, at the end of the day don't take your gear off until everything is locked up and all the other apprentices have their's off too.

To everyone who has an interview coming up, I'll give you a tip: DON'T WEAR A SUIT LIKE A DOUCHE. You're interviewing for a tough, nasty, dirty fucking career. The men interviewing you will not be wearing suits and neither should you. Nice work pants, work boots, and a collar shirt work shirt -a clean flannel works.

I saw countless people in suits way back when I went through this. Me: dressed as above and I'm in.

Good luck

Very well said Nick!

Thanks for the tips, well noted. I do disagree with "not wearing" a suit though. One of the guys that interviewd me was wearing a suit. I didn't wear a suit, but I did wear a tie, dress shirt and dress pants and nice shoes (no one wore work boots the day I interviewed) so it was business attire. Not everyone there had a tie on, but I'd say half of them did. It sounds as if you were interviewed over two years ago....they have changed the process up a bit with structured questions with one individual from HR and one from the union office. So, I would say a suit won't hurt you, go business casual. The union rep at my interview was dressed business casual....no tie, but dress shirt, slacks and nice shoes.

That's insane, they went from around 80 to 190 in what 6 months? It makes it really difficult to predict when your number might be called.

My interview was more structured than this and much more behavioral interview-type questions. I would definitely look up typical behavioral interview stuff online because it seems like you could either get straightforward questions or more the type that ask you how you would act in certain situations that they're asking about. A friend let me borrow a book called "101 Great Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions" and I thought giving the whole thing a good skim was very helpful. Just remember to try to structure all your answers like

• Task (what you needed to do)
• Activity (how you did it)
• Result (how it turned out/what you learned from it)

and you will seriously do better than most people who go to interviews.

I agree coconut. My interview was done the same way.