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Not sure if this is the right place to get this answered but I thought I might try it out.
I saw that a couple of the jobs I had applied for had their links removed. The site says that this means they are no long accepting applications.
Anyone know if these means that I also didn’t get the jobs? =)Thanks
A number of current employees were offered contracts before the end of the summer season. Could be that since some positions have been pre-filled, that they no longer are offering them online.
By all means, visit Denver for the job fair (whenever that will be). You may find something that’s even better than what you were originally looking at.
BTW, what job is it you were interested in?
Good luck.
aI actually applied for a number of positions, two of which have been filled. The two that got filled were the GA position (figured it would get filled) and one for a shuttle driver.
I’m still hopeful that I’ll be able to get either a courier position, or work as an aircraft transportation assistant.
I’m a intelligent, hard working, african-american, recent college grad with lots of varied work experience. What more could a government contractor ask for, right?
I’m willing to do any kind of work though, I’ve worked construction, computer programing, auto repair and most things in between. Plus I am a seriously intelligent and a quick learner. Any suggestions for what else I should apply for? I have a burning desire to work in the deep south.Also, on a side-note: I applied for an administrative assistant position and accidently attached the wrong cover letter (Rayjobs doesnt play nice with Safari) Any idea how I can fix it? I already have an e-mail in to the tech help
GA and shuttle driver are very competitive positions… lots of applicants. It would help us make suggestions if you let us know what your college degree is in.
Good with computers (esp. Windows XP)? Try applying for a Help Desk position.
Don’t mind being one of the trash people? Solid Waste Technician.
Good with electro-mechanical doo-dads? Try Utility Technician (they repair the furnaces, pipes, toilets, etc). Also Plumber Apprentice.
Also Fuels Operator or Carpenter Apprentice.
> What more could a government contractor ask for, right?
Are you female? :->
Sometimes I act girly? Does that count?
My major is in Liberal Arts though also spent three semesters workings towards an associates of chemistry with a sprinkling of biology.
Not to sound cocky, but I’m a real well rounded person and a quick study so the problem isn’t figuring out what job I could do, I’m just concerned about how many is too many to apply for.You sound like you would do fine. Good learners tend to do well. Most of the jobs end up not being much like similar jobs back home. For lots of reasons. The cold for one, but moreso old computer programs you never heard of (Mapcon), a supply line that means parts can take a year or more to get there. Then there is the 24 hour operation, with a night shift that is really daytime.
Call Denver, find out when the job fair is and go into it with a good attitude. Like you said, what more could they want. You might just need to shmooze in person a bit.
Good luck.
MikeThanks for the encouragement! When I saw the first couple of jobs close up I got a little nervous.
The job fair is on the 28th, I’ve already been up to Denver once and had a nice face-to-face with one of the recruiters there. I can work a crowd like none other so hopefully it will go well for me.
This is my big plan for after graduation so I need it to work and I’m sure it will if I can just keep up the confidence.Who did you get the information from on the job fair? Nothing is posted yet on the RPSC site and lots of folks have bee asking.
Been ThereI realize that its not posted yet and I find that really odd so I won’t say who I met with. I’ll just say that the person I talked to in Denver told me that it would be on March 28th.
When you go to the fair, you will be in with possibly hundreds of people looking for the same jobs. (Although if they aren’t posting on the website, this might just be intended for local Denver area people. Better for you with less people).
The next part is my opinion only. This is not a normal US company. Let the others chime in as well.
Raytheon, as you can tell from the Rayjobs process, is very corporate. This is exactly opposite to the kinds of people who are willing to leave their friends and family and travel to work in Antarctica. Under the old contractor, the program was full of the ex-hippie wanderlust types. I didn’t like that so much coming from a corporate environment myself. It was a bit loosy-goosey. Raytheon has modernized things, but they really can’t get away from the fact that most of people who really are willing to come down don’t like a corporate environment. The hiring process, along with the medical and travel details, frustrates a lot of applicants. HR seems to have a hard time filling positions, especially experienced tradespersons. This last year they asked the food service contractor NANA, to hire electricians, which they did fast and with little problems.
The people who do the hiring are a mix of the two types. Keep that in mind when you talk to them. You’ll have to figure out where the person you are talking to stands. Corporate people like corporate types. Ex-hippies like hippies. And then there are the in-betweens.
First off, you have to be qualified to get a primary contract. That’s not hard for recruiters to find. Everyone under the sun initially wants to work here and recruiters have little trouble finding qualified applications. However, every year a good number of those primary people drop at the last minute. Some never were that serious. Some recruiters spot that up front, some don’t. It kills the program to have everyone scrambling in September to fill open spots. Nobody likes it when people drop. Depending on the recruiter, sometimes a marginally qualified person who is energetic wins out over someone who is lackluster. It would be good to stress that if you get the contract, you are coming, no matter what. Take an alternate contract if offered.
Even if you don’t get a good response, don’t despair yet. If possible get permission from the heads of the depts that you like to keep in touch. It’s likely that come August, they will be searching for people at the last minute.
Some general jobs to look for
Dining Attendant (DA)- lowest paying (300+ and up /wk)and since you work meals, you work when everyone else if off. If you have food service experience in college, you will be used to it and it might not be so bad.
Janitor- Still low paying, but numerous janitors come back year after year, [] can tell you more if you want this one.
Operations GA- Not a bad gig. Still the lowest paying job and miserable work as well. You may find yourself chipping away frozen urine and bagging it. However, you may find that the frozen urine is in a field camp and you had to be helecoptered through the Dry Valleys to get there. Most on station would die for that opportunity. GAs sometimes never leave the station, but often they do. Many GAs have been to places I’ll never get to see.
Trades GA- Not as flashy as the Ops Ga’s. Here you would be helping electricians, plumbers, carpenters ect. It’s still the lowest paying job, but gets you real life experience in a trade you can use later in life. If you come back it will somewhat follow a union like training system. The next level is helper, then apprentice and finally journeyman. These will require you to take schooling at home.
Supply- This is where I work. So if you want more info-email me. There are a couple of apprentice jobs that are lowest pay, but most are materialspersons, starting in the 500+/wk range. These are good starting jobs, but be forewarned, you may find yourself in a windowless warehouse for the season counting nuts and bolts. They are generally inventory control jobs, but will get you to specialized warehouses(plumbing, electrical, vehicle repair etc). You will gain a lot of knowledge of the particular commodity you work with. Supply has a high concentration of college grads. The job requires you to be a bit computer savvy. The inventory program is an old dos based program that requires you to learn things like Control-F10 to move from one screen to the other. Everyone in Mcmurdo tries to learn MAPCON, few learn it well. A good supply person can work it in their sleep. You will use Excel on a daily basis, as well ,and to a much lesser degree you may use Access. That said, it is still an inventory control job and mostly you will be sitting in front of endless shelves for the season counting, counting , counting and counting. If you have done inventory control, it will be a breeze. It might be hell, depending on your attitude. If you want to get outside and see McMurdo during work hours, you might not. Me, I love it.
IT-There are numerous IT jobs, if you have computer skills. I’ll let somebody else tell you those.
Good luck with the hunt. Let us know what happens.
MikeHow many positions should I apply for? I have actual work experience with all of the positions you described, I just don’t know if it would look bad to apply for a lot of jobs. My only concern is that I would like to do something with my hands, after spending 4 years at a liberal arts school I would like to get back closer to my roots working on the farm.
I just want a job =)
apply for everything. What’s the harm. As to hands on, mostly you are looking at trades. IE carpenters, plumbers ect. The IT folks also do a lot of radio installations all over Antarctica. Can’t get much more hands on than that. Most of these jobs require some experience. After being here once, it’s not unheard of to spend your off time working with other workcenters to build up your resume.
I’d say if you only plan on coming once, then take only the jobs you would like. If you are planning multiple seasons, take what you can and network around your second year.
MYou are getting solid advise from others on this site. Read it carefully since they know what they are talking about. The one thing I really question is the date you gave for the job fair. I think you need to go back and question who you spoke with in Denver. Nothing is posted on Rayjobs about the job fare and I just can not believe they would have it in just over two weeks. Would make it impossilbe for many folks to go with such short notice. I would believe 28 April but not 28 March.
Anyone else care to comment?
Been ThereI don’t know if this is the offical job fair or a small thing, or something else called “job fair” However, I do know that there is a “job fair” on the 28th. Heard it from two people at RPSC so far
Well hey… Check this out:
http://www.rayjobs.com/index.cfm?NavID=27
It’s on MARCH 28th for only one day. Huh. Since it’s so poorly advertised this may be to your advantage.
Raytheon’s web page is screwed up. If you look for the job fair under the usual RayJobs/Job Fairs link (it shows a picture of the country and asks you to choose a region for a fair) you won’t find it. You have to click on the Polar Services link in the side bar, then on the Job Fairs link on the bottom of the Polar Services page.
Welcome to the company.
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