So you've interviewed 4 or 5 times? and they only have interviews once a year, so you've been trying to get in for 4-5 years? If you really want to get in, you're going to need to get a job non- union running equipment and get a lot more experience.
I worked a large powerhouse project around 10 years ago. We were sitting around at lunch (5 or 6 of us) and comparing work history. All of us were 40-55 years old, with most of us having 10 years or less in the union. We had gotten started as non union equipment operators, and gotten good at running equipment. Most of us had then been "hired" by a union contractor, and then joined the union. One of the 6 of in there had gone through apprenticeship. Of the rest- none of us started through the hall. I was a little less than clear about the being hired through the "hall", sorry about that.
We all knew someone working for, or owning a union company, that was looking for good operators, and then we became "union" operators. Of the 6 of us there, one had been a apprentice, and the rest of us had learned our trade one day at a time working non union. Most of us starting on a shovel.
Is it the way its supposed to work? No. But it happens a lot. And this is just my own personal experience, I'm sure its a lot different in chicago or east coast.
No one's going to hire you at 34 without a lot of experience and pay full union rate for you. There aren't enough openings for apprentices, because the employers don't have that much need for guys who don't know what they are doing. There's not enough "learning" positions out there. The union contractors mainly do the large prevailing wage projects, roads, schools, hospitals, powerhouses, etc. With the costs of today's equipment and the liability concerns, no ones turning over a $300,000 piece of equipment over to a 20 year old guy who has played around at the training center with one. Its got to be done right, and done fast.
Don't get me wrong, the best training centers I've seen are union ones, but there's no training that's going to be like 15 years of running a excavator, be it for a union or non- union company. That's why the union contractors bring on guys that are 40 years old with a bunch of experience, because they are actually worth the wages and benefits that they have to pay.
