This whole Not Working thing sucks...

mikey, try calling the places back and checking up on the application, just tell them you wanted to make sure they got it and you were wondering if they had a chance to look it over yet. many places wait to see which of their applicants will show the most interest, i.e calling and harassing them.
its worth a try!!!
good luck man

trust me,if i could have,I would. Just about every one that I applied to was jobs listed in the newspaper and they were just fax numbers and the company name isn't listed,so I can't track down the company number to call and see.

I don't care if I get a $10/hr job or a $20/hr job...all I want is some steady work so I can get some cash flow going again and start paying off debts and loans.

The unfortunate part right now,is that Ontario has such a huge manufacturing industry. There are car factories and supplier plants galore here. We have Ford,GM,Chrysler,Honda and Toyota plants all within 2 hours of each other in the Toronto area. I've worked for several of the suppliers, applied at 2 of the main plants, but with the automotive industry in a slump right now, much of the rest of Ontario's manufacturing industry is suffering too.

We have more people than jobs here. Ontario is only a place to be if you're already well established in something. I've been trying since I finished high school 5 years ago to get ahead. Every job I ever had was either a dead end job,or I got into jobs I liked but was later layed off due to cutbacks.

The most recent job I had before I went to school was my best one. I worked at a company that made light steel framing for residential and commercial buildings. Within 3 months,I was a shift supervisor and was making almost $20/hr. I had all sorts of money. I had full benefits with this company,and I was making enough money that I was able to have some savings and start a good retirement fund,yet at the same time I could still buy toys and all the good stuff and have enough left over to pay all my bills.

I loved the job,even if it was an hour and 20 min drive every day,but 2 weeks before my birthday in January this year we had a meeting one day before our shift and the plant manager came in and said our entire shift had been indefinetly cancelled and we were all now layed off.

Going to work in the HVAC trade won't get me much money.My parents are expecting I'll be making well over $20/hr,but the reality is that many of the HVAC jobs are $10-15/hr even if you're fully licenced. You only make the decent money if you get into the large corporate unionized companies. To be honest, I don't enjoy the work enough to bother to go do it for $10-12/hr. I'd rather work in a factory for that.

I would gladly take you up on the green card offer

so heres my question (not trying to be a smartass) why didn't you goto school for what you wanted to do.... your parents aren't living your life..... so do what you want to do not what someone else wants you to.... go back to school if possible and get YOUR career started.... best of luck bro....

Move down to Oregon I can start ya working Monday!

They may not be the ones living my life,but they were the one PAYING for it. At the same time,when I finished high school,I never really had any plans to go to college or anything...I always figured I'd end up doing an apprenticeship or trade of somesort. Automotive work is where my heart lies,and automotive work is what my heart desires. Unfortunately, if I want to do that,I have to pay for that myself and find my own way through it.

I was pretty much given a freeride through this course by my grandparents who ponied up the $5000 and sent me to this course. Ontop of that,I had no income and you're ineligible for unemployment as a fulltime student. Due to this,I tried to back out of the course a week after I had started and tried to get my grandparents their money back. They insisted I stick it out and told me to make a budget of my minimum monthly expenses and they would send me a cheque each month to live off of. All in all,they spent roughly $10 000 on me in 5 months. They are currently putting my 16 yr old cousin through a private school in Toronto at a cost of $20 000/year for the next 3 years.

However,shortly into the course,I really realized that I was making a mistake by taking the course because I was having trouble understanding stuff,and even with extra help and on the job training,I was still lost. I had a hard time paying attention in class because the lessons were so dry and boring where the instructor literally read word for word out of the book and just put you to sleep,and it didn't help that I didn't have much of an interest in the subject at hand. In the weeks where I was on the job, I was more of a shadow or a go-fer. I didn't get to do much work, but I asked lots of questions trying to get a better understanding, but it wasn't helping because I'm a hands on and do it kind of learner. You can give me an instruction manual and then tell me to do something and I'll probably mess it up because I can't think and learn by reading instructions. I need to see it and do it and have it explained while doing it.

So really,I went through that course coming out not much more knowledgable than I was before I started. I don't have the confidence to go out to a service call and go work on stuff by myself,because honestly,I don't know what I'm doing. Pull me out of someone's furnace room and throw me into a garage with their truck,and I'll service that better than I would any furance.

so have you taken the time to sit and explain to your parents and grand parents all this that you are saying?

I'm not the border patrol or emmigration office, but if you really want to entertain the thought, there is mucho work in the states that will keep you busy long time!

Atleast the outlook is like that...

I almost forgot you are doing HVAC. Theres work up in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Las Vegas that I know of so far that are hurting for people. Moses Lake, a city in Washington is building a HUGE plant to develop waferboards or something I think and they need plumbers and hvac technicians.

Ya, lol. That nice little line is what seperates you though. All these jobs are union and you make $20/hr minimum.

My grandparents are pretty cool with it. They just want me to be happy and do the right thing. Now that school is done and over with,I got to sit down with them and tell them what it was really like and how disappointed I was by it. I told them for the amount of money they spent,the course itself was worth atleast half of that. It was almost $5000 and 5 months...basically $1000 a month and you're only in class for 2 weeks a month. You spend $1000/mo to sit at a table and have a book read to you and then answer a couple pages of questions at the end. Our practical exams consisted of wiring up a complete furance circuit on a wooden board.

While I was in school, I was also having to drive 65 miles each way Monday to Friday. It was costing me atleast $100 a week on gas.

Basically,what I'm getting at,is that I told my grandparents straight up how I felt afterwards. I thanked them and all for being as generous as they were to pay for my tuition and everything,but I said that after going through it,it's really not what I want to do. They understand where I'm coming from and they said whatever I do is my choice,but they're just there to help me out along the way.

My mom on the other hand...as much as I love her...everything comes down to money with her. She expects me to become some overnight millionaire now that I'm a licenced tradesperson. She 100% DOES NOT support my automotive hobby of customizing and stuff...she frowned upon me every time I spent a single penny on Kermit if it wasn't towards maintenance. Like yesterday, I swapped out the stock radio in my truck and popped my old cd player I had in Kermit into it and she freaked out on me. "That's still your dad's truck,you're not allowed to modify it BLAH BLAH BLAH..." Yet,he gave me the truck because he bought a new one,so now it's technically mine,just the papers are in his name...


Anyways,earlier tonight,my mom was watching tv and I sat down with her to eat dinner and she was watchimg some decorating show and they were flippinga house in South Carolina and I jokingly said "See,now that's where we should move" and she just looked at me and goes "psssht,yeah right. You can go all you want."

So a little comment like that pretty much made me realize she probably doesn't care if I was to move anywhere. Ever since I went out west when I was 16 I always wanted to go back. I've thought about Alberta several times. Seriously,if I had some money to my name,all my belongings would be in the back of my truck right now and I'd be on the road.

So educate me Mike (cause I honestly don't know). What all is involved in a green card?