Hey everyone, thanks for listening in today, I\u2019m Marty with Warehouse and Operations as a Career. We\u2019ve covered a lot of ground over the last 27 weeks, everything from my thoughts on how to write our resumes to getting the attention of the light industrial recruiter and how to take control of our phone interview & the actual face to face meeting. Man, I\u2019ve really enjoyed our talks about quite a few of the Warehouse positions we may be interested in, really good jobs to break into warehousing at the general labor level and planning out our advancements, formulating our goals towards our career choices! We\u2019ve had some great interviews, and I\u2019ve enjoyed covering the subjects and topics each week, boy our guest really enjoy what they do don\u2019t they!
\nYour questions have been great, keep\u2019em coming, it\u2019s so interesting to research your topics and suggestions. We had some scheduling opportunities for today\u2019s guest, seems flights are being delayed everywhere, I\u2019ll try and catch up to them next week. That being said let\u2019s get to a few questions that I\u2019ve been asked or heard about over the last few weeks! First up
\nWe hear something like this pretty often:
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s up with getting these warehouse jobs? They advertise a position for like 13.50/hr and when I apply I\u2019m just offered a job for like 10/hr. I can\u2019t figure out temp agencies, I\u2019ve been working in an auto parts store for almost 2 years and I was making 12/hr, I did everything in the store and I\u2019m a hard worker. I could learn to drive a forklift really quick, I\u2019m a fast learner\u2026..
\nO.K., I think it\u2019s important that we understand how a temporary agency works. As we learned from John in Episode 16 \u201cTemporary Staffing Agencies\u201d there\u2019s really like three kinds of services. You have the Day Labor gigs, the temporary or short term assignments and then the temp to perm jobs. In our world and what we\u2019ll probably be dealing with to break into warehousing is the short-term assignments and more often than not the temp to perm jobs.
\nIt\u2019s expensive to train a warehouseman, especially to positions where we\u2019ll be using equipment. It seems these days more and more Facilities, both in Production & the Distribution Centers we\u2019re seeing companies hiring Sourcing or Recruiting Agencies to find their talent or employees. These agencies are tasked with finding that experienced employee with a stable work history in the position. They want someone that can hit the floor, be shown the companies process and procedures and be productive that first week. We have to remember that $12.50/hr job we had we don\u2019t have any more and that salary doesn\u2019t necessarily move on with us to another field or position.
\nWhen we apply for a forklift position listed at $13.50/hr they\u2019ll be looking for the most experience person they can find. Their Customer has tasked them with finding someone that knows how to perform in the position and be productive in it as soon as they hit the floor. Being offered the General Labor position more at the $10/hr rate is not necessarily a bad thing. It gets us in the door somewhere and gives us the chance to impress our bosses with our work ethics. Then it\u2019s our responsibility to learn that job & start asking for others within the company, taking on more responsibility, learning the positions around us, getting those promotions. You\u2019ll be surprised how quickly we\u2019ll advance within the pay grades!
\nA quick story, I know a gentleman that just 5 months ago lost his job in the retail environment. He took a general labor position in a warehouse and a $2.50/hr pay cut from his previous job. In just 5 short months he\u2019s moved through 3 warehouse positions, learned to operate several different kinds of electric pallet jacks, received his 29cfr1910.178 training for free & has surpassed his old salary by $2.00/hr. He\u2019s working hard, learning everything he\u2019s being exposed too and will probably be an order selector within the year ...