In 1995 I was employed as a quality assurance technician, not inspector, at a local manufacturing concern. Had been for seven years. I had little formal education beyond a high school diploma but I had joined the American Society for Quality and had passed their Certified Quality Technician exam. I was doing okay.
On the morning of June 6 that year I was going to work in bad weather and woke up on July 3. I had lost control of my pickup and was in an accident and had a closed head injury as a result. I had to learn to walk and take care of myself. It was two years before I had the mental capacity or the motor skills, literally, to exist as an individual again. I had to learn to read and do math once again, also, and all of my working skills were gone.
In 1997 I became a client at SC Vocational Rehabilitation and they helped me to get to where I had the basic skills to be employed (sack groceries, fry burgers, etc.). In 2000 I went back to school to learn how to do something more fulfilling and have been studying civil engineering, being that jobs in QA in manufacturing don’t fall out of trees in the SC Lowcountry. I will have an associate degree soon.
In November I was looking at local job ads and one of the factories near home was looking for a Quality Assurance Technician. I applied and told the Vocational Rehabilitation manager about the job. He made a call to their HR office and pointed out that an exceptional candidate had applied for their job. In January I was called for an interview. It went well, the Quality Manager and the Quality Engineer talked to me for about four hours and took me to lunch.
This past Tuesday I was offered a job and I started on Thursday. I am being paid almost twice as much as I was paid in my former job and most of the quality staff at that factory were laid off shortly after I was hurt anyway. Also, I only have three or four classes before I complete my degree and I will be able to complete them in evening classes.
Wow, congratulations! You should be so proud of yourself, I don’t know you and I am.
You’ve accomplished so much, keep your eye on the prize and keep setting new goals. Are you rewarding yourself for getting such a cool job? At least go get some jelly donuts or something.
Good going hlanelee, your where I hope to be some day. My experience is that finding a good QC employee is not easy. The biggest problem is they can’t do the math and statistics.
I hope to take the Certified Quality Engineer exam in the next two years or less. When I was hurt in 95, I was six months shy of the requisite 8 years experience with no degree. I’ve got all my books still and I have a better math base now. I’ve taken three semester of calculus since the accident. Still haven’t taken a formal stats course though.
Congratulations on your new job, hlanelee, from someone else who just got a new job. Also, I’m duly impressed by your successful recovery from a heck of an injury.
As I previously noted on this board, I moved back to the DC area in the beginning of November, after having job-hunted long distance for about a year. It took me four months to find a job down here; Wednesday I got a lead on a 5 month temp-to-perm position with L-3 Communications, met with the recruiting firm on Thursday, interviewed with L-3 Friday morning, and the recruiter called me Friday afternoon with a verbal offer. If the system works fast enough, I start this Wednesday.
I can’t promise donuts or chocolate to the various posters, but I am likely to do my bit to keep twickster employed, by resubscribing to a magazine she edits.
Statistics are more important than ever due to iso and process control methods. One bonus is the hard work is done by stat packages, and not you. You need the ability to understand the statistics. It sounds like you’ll be an asset to the company that hires you. Good luck again.
minor hijack … i just got a job [tomorrow is my first day, after being unemployed scum for the last 3 years] so what is Twickster’s magazine? I will have disposable income again and might like to invest in some new reading materials=)
I edit puzzle magazines – email me if you want specific titles.
(And, Ben, you know how I’ve been saying for the last year and a half I need to look for a new job? I’m looking pretty seriously, and have a couple of nibbles for things that look interesting and pay pretty well – keep your fingers crossed.)
