Help!

treeman82 · Feb 16, 2003

Mike, all I have to do is send the Stockbridge office a little note saying who I will be working for. They don't approve them or anything... it's just "this is who I am working for" and that's it. The "internship" is a 4 credit assignment that is due in September. Full of reports, daily log, herbarium, and a few other things. I think the school calls it "cooperative work training" or something like that. The company knows I am doing an internship. The school sends us out for 5 months so that we can actually MAKE some money, and get a better idea of what's out there.

treeman82 · Feb 16, 2003

Well, it looks as though this decision is going to be put off a while longer. The weather guessers are calling for 12 - 20 inches of the white stuff this afternoon and all day tomorow. That of course means I get to head up to school today.

lync · Feb 16, 2003

Low wages

Matt,

I sent Alpine my resume a few months ago, spoke to the human resourses person, even w/cdl license they wouldn't go much higher then $12/hr for a climber with 5 yrs experience. Take the job learn what you can, do the side work on the weekends. Besides a few dollars in your pocket, i'm sure you will pick up some additional skills. You can just walk away if it doesn't work out!!
Corey

treeman82 · Feb 16, 2003

Corey,

You aren't thinking about leaving the force, are you? Good luck with the up coming storm. I hear its supposed to be worse to the south. HUD says 4 - 8 for tonight, mixing with sleet. Then 12 - 20 inches for Monday night.

FBerkel · Feb 16, 2003

Does anyone know what kind of employee culture C.O.T has? Do they hold on to their oldtimers, spend much on training, provide up-to-date tools, etc? These would be important considerations for me, if, say, my kid was looking to learn from them.

Matt--you may do well there, if they are interested in teaching you. If not, you may end up busting your *** for them, and feel like you wasted five months. Chances are, though, you can learn something valuable from them, though you take the chance that it may be more in the category of "life lessons" than that of arboriculture. It may help you to understand the type of character
(and characters) needed for life-long tree work.

Do you know anybody there who can answer these questions? Are there any good smaller companies willing to take you on?

On the "internship" question: how can a company in such a wealthy area get away with paying anybody, intern or not, such a ridiculously low wage for this difficult and dangerous work? Hopefully, they have a wage policy that rewards good work quickly.