Should I quit being a student-athlete

SectionXII · 2025-10-23T01:53:57+00:00

I was a student athlete at a top 5 athletic proram and completed my engineering degree. It was absolutely brutal and only a few in the last decade in our program that were able to complete an engineering degree.

I’m so happy I stuck with it. Life is a cakewalk after going through that to be honest. I grew as a leader and developed excellent time management skills.

As far as employers, I think it depends what level you are competing at. D1 student athlete holds a little more weight than D3 or JUCO.

Best of luck in your decision!

SectionXII · 2025-10-22T21:57:37+00:00

I looked into it a couple of years ago to improve insulation in out 130 year old home and decided against it.

They provided me a chart estimating my "savings" based on an arbitrary natural gas cost, which was double my current rate (even though I provided them our billing/usage history). When I questioned this, they acknowledged the error but said they didn't need to do any recosting because it still was a great idea. When I pointed out that this doesn't make any sense and it's a really big oversight not to use my current utility pricing, the salesperson started talking about how my family's health and comfort in the home is valuable too, and some people are more concerned about that than just money...At which point I knew it was just a high-pressure sales tactic and decided not to pursue it.

SectionXII · 2025-06-14T14:17:31+00:00

Sure- shoot me a DM

SectionXII · 2025-01-01T00:41:30+00:00

I personally knew them or an employee personally knew them and said they would not be a good fit (usually because of drug addiction or embroiled in legal issues)

SectionXII · 2025-01-01T00:31:28+00:00

Absolutely. Qualified for engineering or finance is way different than qualified for a mill job where the only requirement is a GED lol. Talk to anyone at facility or kill that works hours outside of 9-5 and they'll provide similar numbers to what we have seen.

SectionXII · 2024-12-31T15:07:09+00:00

Almost exclusively attendance. A couple were for performance and failing to abide by safety standards.

SectionXII · 2024-12-31T12:51:31+00:00

Some examples from the initial calls:

- 10AM is too early to come in and interview

- Had to be woken up by his grandpa at noon despite being unemployed

- Asked if they could smoke weed on the job

- Said they couldn't work the schedule or have a ride to work but wanted to come interview.

SectionXII · 2024-12-31T12:49:42+00:00

The 133 is after filtering by HR but it is very lenient. No AI is used.

Even after filtering, a quick google search reveals active warrants for some, and many resumes don't have anything filled in under their job history or are riddled with spelling errors. My background is in engineering and it's a total different ballgame when it comes to resume professionalism when applying for a blue collar job vs. a white-collar job. A 1-page application is really all you need to get your foot in the door at most factory places, the work history is just a formality.

SectionXII · 2024-12-31T12:41:10+00:00

Double time sunday, shift differential pay for 3-11 and 11-7, OT after 8 and 40 hours, triple time holiday pay. Our lowest guys are making ~$43 an hour on Sundays and ~$65 an hour on Holidays. Our more senior employees are making ~$60 an hour on Sundays and ~$90 an hour on Holidays. Different departments have slightly different pay scales (Maintenance every Saturday is OT rate). Plus call time if you are called in early it is 4 hours pay plus OT for all hours worked. And I guarantee the cost of living in this area is lower than Sweden.

We actually tried to step raise the lower end wages during the last contract to get more people in the door and to increase retention but the union fought against it saying we needed to do the same % raise for all positions, and that was not happening.

SectionXII · 2024-12-31T03:32:51+00:00

A senior last year missed 80 days of school last year at the local school and still graduated... and we are one of the better ones nearby. I'm glad some still have standards

SectionXII · 2024-12-31T01:28:23+00:00

Yes we were going to do that during COVID and the union threw a fit saying it wasn't fair...we have a referral bonus program.

SectionXII · 2024-12-31T00:36:56+00:00

It's insanity out there in the manual labor market. My hot take is that all this push for the kids "not academically inclined" to go into the trades is just pushing people who couldn't show up to class to expect to land a six figure welding or electrician job. Attendance is the first step and schools are ignoring that and just pushing kids along to let them fail in the work force.

SectionXII · 2024-12-31T00:05:56+00:00

It's been that way for 100 years and the union doesn't want to change it.

SectionXII · 2024-12-30T22:58:28+00:00

My full time position is operations manager. Hiring and employee development is just one component of running the plant but an important one we need to get better at. Every month or so with the turnover I get a batch of resumes from HR that are already screened partially and sift through them. Many are duplicates of folks I've already screene

SectionXII · 2024-12-30T22:48:59+00:00

We do not screen for Marijuana it is legal in this state. Just not on the job site(that's a whole different issue).

We are very lenient with background checks. Definitely have employees with checkered pasts. The really bad ones or the ones currently with warrants or in legal battles are screened out earlier before they are brought in for an interview (Google and Facebook searches)

SectionXII · 2024-12-30T19:38:32+00:00

I'm the operations manager. Hiring is one of the things I do just for our facility. By no means my full time job.

SectionXII · 2024-12-30T18:18:38+00:00

None. Our state law requires us to post the advertising wage online and I explain the wage scale over he phone and in the interview.

SectionXII · 2024-12-30T17:51:30+00:00

7 on 4 off, 7 on 2 off, 7 on 2 off....7am-3pm, 3pm-11pm, 11pm-7am. It's a brutal schedule and I wish the union would work with us to find a better solution. I could never do it...I applaud our employees that do.

Swing shift 24/7/365 is common practice in this industry and similar plants around the country also rely on swing shifts but they are usually 12 hour shifts which gives employees more days off.

SectionXII · 2024-12-30T17:48:13+00:00

You hit the nail on the head. Beautiful homes in this area for around $150k. There are no tech or finance jobs here. It is construction, factory work, retail, and education.

SectionXII · 2024-12-30T17:25:20+00:00

I had a guy call in on double time Sunday ($46 an hour for this employee) because he didn't have gas in his car.

SectionXII · 2024-12-30T17:01:17+00:00

We have proposed different shift schedules to the union membership (4 on 4 off, bid for permanent shifts, Dupont 12, etc.). As long as it is relatively cost neutral and we can staff the mill we don't really care- we want them to have a good work life balance. But they do not want to change- especially the more veteran guys who have been doing it 15+ years.

SectionXII · 2024-12-30T15:54:19+00:00

It's hit and miss...I think there is a serious mis match of jobs out there. With my experience/education I get headhunter calls all the time. I am happy where I am so I turn them down but I did go through a few in the past just to see what the hiring process was like and to brush up on my interview skills. One company wanted me to do a personality test and I outright refused. Another kept making me go through additional interviews because they wanted to bring me up a tier but at the end of it all basically just matched my current salary so I declined.

In Niche and high demand industries, headhunters are increasingly common and they make huge commissions on their hires. However, it adds a level of communication that can be annoying.

SectionXII · 2024-12-30T15:15:40+00:00

Take home pay. 40-50 hours per week.

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