It’s been a while since I mentioned “Operation Windy City” so I thought I would post as to what is going on.  From what I can recall, I left off that a corporate engineer had called down to my plant and requested that I put my name in the hat for an upcoming position opening. 

I communicated with him via email about the position, what was involved and when the position would open.  He passed me onto his superior and I began speaking with him.  We had an official “teleconference” about a week ago about the position, my experience and what his group did for the company.  In the end he confessed that, due to the financial situation that the company is in, the position was not open and would probably not be open for some time as his groups whole point was to spend money, not save it.  He also said that although I am exactly what he would want in the position with my experience on the floor and with multiple product lines, he would like someone a bit more familiar with project and capital management.  He suggested that I try and get in to some projects with my plant engineers to start to get a taste of the line of work that I seem to want to do.  He also said he would keep me posted on the position when it finally did open, so that seemed positive. 

After that conversation I was pretty bummed that I wasn’t going anywhere, but excited that I was getting my foot in the door higher up.  The next day I ran into another corporate engineer in the plant and picked his brain, threw a few names out and tried to get him to know who I was for his return trip.  He hung around for a few days and I made it a point to hang out with him and converse business and casual with him.  He mentioned that he would be coming back in a few weeks to see the start up of a line and would probably be bringing some other engineers with him.

After the conversation with the senior corporate guy, I came into work to find an email from him stating that he enjoyed the conversation and CC’d a fellow corporate guy with a recommendation for this guy to check me out if he had a chance as he thought, with my experience, vigor and Clemson Mechanical Engineering degree, I would be a great fit in his group as well.The other corporate guy wrote back to the both of us and basically repeated the first guy in the whole “no positions open at this time”, but that he would like to get together via phone sometime and that getting another Tiger up the ranks is always tempting.  That immediately sent the bells off in my head, another Tiger!  I got a phone conversation with this guy and he was pretty cool.  We talked the job for about 10 minutes and then 20 more minutes on Clemson.  He got his masters from Clemson in ’79 and his family lives in Aiken.  Pretty crazy stuff!  He said that I was an ideal candidate for his group with my experience and interest in project design/management.  He encouraged me to get into some project work in my plant as well and also said that my name getting around was a good sign that people were interested and the more slates I was on, the better the chances of getting the next shot at positions.  He also mentioned possibly coming down to our plant for our next line installment and said that he would look out for me. 

So that was the end of the corporate discussions, all hype for nothing but potential.  The wife was pretty excited about the idea, but now we are stuck here for a bit more time.  We will make the most of it and I will definitely be hunting down project opportunities.

The final chapter of this post comes from today’s entrance to the plant to find the last corporate engineer had returned for the start up of the line and he had brought some other engineers.  After getting settled into my daily routine, one of the engineers came up to me and said that the second senior corporate engineer had told him to hunt me down and meet me.  Basically, he asked this guy to sniff me out.  I talked business with him and then tried to be myself in the office, making my rounds and joking with everyone.  I came back to the engineering group and joined project talk while answering questions they had about the machines and the surrounding area for their free time. 

Over all, this is going better than I had ever planned.  Two senior corporate engineers have my name on slate, I am becoming familiar with 3 corporate engineers and they are recommending me to others and asking others about me and to check me out.  I look forward to when the job freeze is lifted and the gates open for positions, because I think I am on a high track to go North.  *fingers are crossed*

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