I'm looking to go out west to work and just wondered if anyone has any contacts or any advice.
I'm an electrician by the way.

Pretty sure your best bet would be to speak to Ron Korolak. He deals with cranes I believe but he'd probably know best. Can't think of any other AB members on here.

I'm just getting my foot in the door with camps, so I probably will not be much help.

Basic certificates you need are: First aid/CPR, H2S Alive, and PST/CSTS (petroleum/construction safety).

I believe most companies will help you get these, but it helps speed things up if you have them already. Other certificates like TDG/WHIMS etc the company will help you get (from my experience anyway). http://www.acsa-safety.org/ and Enform.ca are one of the many sites where you can do some online if you want to get some on your resume.

Like most jobs, knowing someone or applying in person, will yield quicker/better results then emailing/faxing your resume.

Drug and alcohol testing and a fitness test are pretty common. My fitness test wasn't anything special: blood pressure/ heart rate, lung capacity, hearing test, bend and twist a bunch of different ways, eye sight, bit of medical history questions, 10 push ups and sit ups.

Any specific questions you wanted answered?

Are you looking to move to Alberta or do the Alberta shuffle (fly back and forth)?

I have done my csts and will be doing the shuffle

Mainly looking for a way in and people with contacts.
10 whole push ups???????

Yep, 10 whole push ups. The guy watched me do one, then started doing more paper work. I was expecting it to be a little more tougher then it was.

It may be worth a shot asking in the "Alberta" post on tuners, in the Canadian subforum. Ron or Sven Hebbard may have something that could help?

Cheers ill look it up, what trade are you btw?

I'm a red seal chef, but I haven't had any luck finding a job in my field that pays (in Alberta) what I feel it should/what I'm worth.

So complete career change and right now I'm just a swamper/driver assistant until learn more and get to move up.

Lance,

two words buds

Tor onto

Yah, that was one of the possible locations when me and the g/f decided to move. However she didn't get many replies to her job applications, so we decided to go for one of the first ones that she heard back from.

No!!!

I know a few Red Seal that are now "cooking" into Camps. Unless you have a hell of a name you ain't gonna be mak'n more money cook'n in T.O.

Ghislain

Get into a building trade union!

Most money and safest job sites.

Cobtrades.com

Im with clac at the moment so I am using that to my advantage.

Clac, eh?!

I won't hold it against you lol

Not sure if I agree with unions, this is only based on my experience though.

I'm actually looking to do the same as you Kirk as I was just handed a lay off this week. I'm sick of residential construction so this is the push I need to get into Commercial.

Are you a JP or apprentice?

Do you really need all these certifications or will they train you?

At the end of the day unions are a business im not loyal to any, I just want to work, pay my bills and put food in my families stomachs.
I'm a journeyman electrician 309A.
I also got the call to sit at home and wait on friday.

I feel the exact same way Kirk.

I don't want to leave home (especially to leave my 8 month old daughter) but I too need to look after my family. Gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.

It seem your in the exact same boat my girl is 2 the irony is if I work 12 on 7 off I'll see more of her due to the hours I work here.

Except I'm a lowly 3rd year.
I like being home every night but like I said..

I could go on forever about the flaws in the apprenticeship programs over here lol. I started mine(in England) when I was 16 and I was qualified at 20, never paid a dime my company did. Infact I got paid for going to college!!

Dont yoi guys that live in big citys have pizza places? when I was in between work... I dilivered pizza for a place called new orleans pizza in kitchener. I made an average of 100 a night... Just in tips and all I had to do is drive around in my hot rod! which was an 84 tbird with big fat rear tires! When we moved to belleville i tried.. But there was no money in dilivery business hear. After Sandras done school we are probably chasing her carreer back to the city and I will prolly go back to dillivering pizza in my talon while I go to school and get edjamicated!

I pay in to E.I I may as well use it until I find something in my field, and not to sound big headed but im way over qualified for anything like that, nobody in there right mind would hire me knowing full well I would jump ship as soon as a electrician job came up.

Thats the thing aboit pizza places... They dont care. its all under the table aswell. They just pay you a small.flaot and you make the rest your self. I was hired under the assumtion that I was looking for better work. At the time I was a wood crafter making 5000+ dollar grandfother clocks. The other driver at the time owned his own stereo shop.

I can agree.
I however took my sweet ass time and making up my mind what I wanted to do with my life. Hence why I'm almost 30 and don't have my JP.

That not that uncommon over here. I may have got my in, its not the big big money but its a start ill keep you up to date.

My sister and her fiance are both working on the camps in Alberta.

I know it was pretty tough for my sister to get into, so if I can help, let me know.

Im still looking for any info I can get.

Last I checked Flint Energy was hiring electricians.

flint jobs

Or just google the name for the main page.

Allready applied.

Sounds good.
I might have found something local, either way I am 100% done with residential electrical for a bit.

Do you NEED to have those certifications before going up there?

Some will put you through the course but the csts is the main one. Took me about 6hrs online and cost 70bucks

For those who do it how do you go about taking tools with you?

It's not uncommon to see guys taking tool boxes and checking them on a plane. Not sure how many tools you have, but I just bought some cheap bags and loaded tools in to them. On the plane it was $20 for a second checked bag, $30 for your third, and $50 for your fourth. If you go over the 50lb weight limit it is like $80. Then hope your work has storage where you can leave them locked up while you are gone.


Just depends on the company or how desperate they are for workers. The new company I'm with has a week of just training courses, but since I had all of the course that I needed I'm able to start work right away instead of having to wait until the next time they have a training week.

I fly on Tuesday I tell ya getting all my tools and stuff within a 50lb aint easy.

I should have clarified its 50lb/ per bag. Congrats on the new job.

Congrats Kirk.

I'm still looking.

they are called wallbros and they are still hiring.

I'll have to look em up.
I'm applying for more today, pretty much anything I find online looking for 3rd years I'm applying to.

EDIT: Couldn't find a Wallbros, found Willbros but nothing about hiring Electricians on there website.
Think I've applied to about 20 jobs out west in the past week.

It is willbros and look on kijiji alberta and indeed.ca

Thanks Kirk!