equipment mechanic practical test

[brain55]

Thanks everybody. My test is at 11 am tomorrow, so I will have a pretty good feeling by noon on how well I did. I should know by Monday or Tuesday about the interview the following Saturday. I'm pretty optimistic at this point. I'm going to get a good nights sleep, have a good breakfast, and leave plenty early enough to make sure I'm on time. I'll let you know how I think I did, and what was actually involved in the test. I did find out today that there will be two stations set-up.

Good Night,
Brian

 

[LD1]

Good Luck:thumbsup:

 

[dex3361]

Thanks everybody. My test is at 11 am tomorrow, so I will have a pretty good feeling by noon on how well I did. I should know by Monday or Tuesday about the interview the following Saturday. I'm pretty optimistic at this point. I'm going to get a good nights sleep, have a good breakfast, and leave plenty early enough to make sure I'm on time. I'll let you know how I think I did, and what was actually involved in the test. I did find out today that there will be two stations set-up.

Good Night,
Brian

Let us know how you make out we will be rooting for you. I will also say a prayer.

 

[brain55]

Well, I took the test. The first half was a welding test. The first part was flame cutting a 1/8" x 4" piece of bar. No problem, put on the safety gear, open the bottles, set the pressures, light the torch, adjust the flame, make the cut, put it all away. The second part was making a t-joint weld on two pieces of 1/8" x 4" bar with a small wire feed using innershield. I had never used innershield before, or a Lincoln SP135. But, I am smart enough to know that all of the settings are inside the side cover, so I read the chart, set the machine, and made the weld. It turned out pretty well, it would have been better but I couldn't see out of the crappy helmet they had.

The second half was diagnosing a cranks but won't start condition on a '98 Chevy pick-up with a 5.7L. I tried cranking it and it didn't start, cycled the key and did not hear the fuel pump, checked the fuses even though there isn't one for the fuel pump, pulled the relay to check for power there, and found that there was no 12v + power, only key on power. They did not have a manual or wiring diagram, so I was kind of stuck. I had no idea what would cause there to be no power for the relay. Being kind of lost at this point I just double checked to where I had gotten, and then checked for spark to be sure I wasn't way off base. It had plenty of spark. When my time was up, the person administering the test told me I was on the right track. I wish I could have gotten a little further but they told me right at the beginning that they didn't expect me to fix it, they just wanted to see my thought process.

I did get to shoot the breeze a little with the man that would be my boss. I don't think it hurt me any to be able to give a little background into where my experience comes from and that I have worked in similar situations before.

Brian

I just realized that I could have jumped power to the fuel pump. duh

I still think I did well enough to get to the oral interview next week.

 

[dex3361]

Sounds promising. :thumbsup:

 

[MicroPilot]

Sounds like you did well on the tests. Hope you get the interview.

 

[irvingj]

Very interesting post!

brain55, I've worked as a wrench slinger, an HVAC tech, computer repair person.... I'm not sure what sort of competition you've got, but what I see in your posts would cause me to hire you in a heartbeat: your attitude.

I think they'd be lucky to have you, it's pretty obvious that you care about your performance.:thumbsup:

 

[tthopskin@yahoo.ca]

I will tell you BULL **** baffels brains years ago I went in for a interview at the place i worked to apply for a millwright my interview was 5 min I just told the truth the other guy was 45 min he bull shitted the boss he got the job 4 weeks later the boss came to me said there is a job posting on the wall you should sign it I looked him in the face said you did not wont me the first time why the **** would you want me now ..he **** then said no I have been asking the shop foreman and he sees your work said you know what your doing ..I looked at him and said we will see ...I signed got the job in 2 years went from class 3 to class 1 millwright and lead hand and started stationary engineers training you know it was sad I had to show the lic engineers how to run the boilers and me with no lic and even fix a 5 year problem they had with the chemicals even the suppler never fingered it out JUST BULL **** GET THE JOB THEN YOU CAN SHOW THE TALENT YOU HAVE :thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[PILOON]

Our old boss used to ask prospective electronics techs to recite and explain ohms law. Staggering how many 'graduates' couldn't do that.

I owned an aviation electronics facility.

One applicant for an opening turned out to be the trade school teacher!

Fortunately I had a 25 question trade test that I used for all applicants.
You would not believe how miserably he failed the test!

His standard reply was "as per mfg's specs"
Ok I had a few trick questions designed to find bluffers, but the majority were very common trade standards like 'is acid core solder acceptable', size of fuse to protect a circuit, spec of co-ax cable for use in aircraft etc and it was all a multi choice or T/F thing, so the correct ans was there but in most cases he'd be 180 deg wrong.
Like is it permissable to use automotive wire in an aircraft Y/N or some very technical specs or regulations that I would not expect more than a few to know.

Tell you, it was scary!

 

[MikeD74T]

I will tell you BULL **** baffels brains years ago I went in for a interview at the place i worked to apply for a millwright my interview was 5 min I just told the truth the other guy was 45 min he bull shitted the boss he got the job 4 weeks later the boss came to me said there is a job posting on the wall you should sign it I looked him in the face said you did not wont me the first time why the **** would you want me now ..he **** then said no I have been asking the shop foreman and he sees your work said you know what your doing ..I looked at him and said we will see ...I signed got the job in 2 years went from class 3 to class 1 millwright and lead hand and started stationary engineers training you know it was sad I had to show the lic engineers how to run the boilers and me with no lic and even fix a 5 year problem they had with the chemicals even the suppler never fingered it out JUST BULL **** GET THE JOB THEN YOU CAN SHOW THE TALENT YOU HAVE :thumbsup::thumbsup:

I work in nuclear power and tthopskin's right on the money here. All interviews are hypothetical senario based - "when in the past have you had to _____ and how did you handle it"? Outsiders can "baffle 'em with BS" and get by where in house people can have their story verified or not !!! We get mostly engineering grads in entry level positions & they all profess the same interview success path. The only challange left is who's BSing who at the interview? Many HR people know the questions but not necessarily the answers. MikeD74T