Process in getting a job with USIC?

[noodle360]

I applied for a job with USIC about a week ago, filled out a questionnaire thing, sent them my resume, did a phone interview, they mentioned something about a one-on-one interview, and there sending me a test through e-mail that I have to pass or complete to move on, but I wont get it till next week sometime...

My question is what else is in this process? This seems like an awful lot to go through, and at best they told me they wont have a class ready for training until February.

This is in Wisconsin. Iv heard USIC isnt the best company to work for, but is it really that bad? anything can be better then what Im doing now.

Any tips? Whats my actual chance of getting this job? I have a solid work history, perfect driving record, younger age, Never done anything like this before.

Also how many on here work in the Wisconsin area? Team work is a major part of any job, and as an unofficial current manager (basically I get manager duties, with out the pay), I know this, as well as how to work with people, and on my own quite well.

Look forward to getting this job and becoming more involved on here and with anyone in my area.

[locator00566]

Run while you have the chance!!! USIC is the seventh circle if hell. They wil draw you in and then bend you over and..... well you know the rest. Take it from someone who has worked for several locating firms. USIC is the worst locating firm to work for.

[ProfessionalLocator]

I find the hiring process at most locate firms is a mess. At most you have to be persistent or your paperwork just gets put aside and forgotten. Most foremen are too overburdened with work to remember those experienced locators that have been recommended to them by their own locators.

USIC has a very poor reputation among most locators. My suggestion is to consider that you really need the job and will put up with whatever crap goes with it, prepare to be micro micromanaged.

Team work is essential in locating but each locator must also be independent and a self starter. Teamwork comes in when things get tough for some specific job, workload or field problem and the other locators help out. If you need help constantly you will wear out your welcome, the others have work to do as well.

Go in with the attitude that you will learn a trade and if you like the trade but not the firm you will move on in your own good time. Among those in the trade the phrase is "locating is not for everyone" and this is true. Many people just do not like the work or do not catch on to the knowledge and attitudes needed to be successful.

[noodle360]

where abouts do you work locator00566? And I dont mean for you to answer by saying in the pits of hell either

Iv learned that with ANY nationwide company, there are good markets and bad markets, people treat people differently. I would stay where I am at if I could get transferred to the next market over, maybe 10 miles away, but fact is they wont let me. Where I am now is hell, and the next market over is much better, only difference is managment.

Im pretty good at putting up with crap, and I can hold it in pretty good, so I dont think this will be to bad (Only exception is where I work now has pushed me WAY too far, to the tune of me saving the company over $10,000 last year in just my store, then them telling me Im worthless to them)

I always go into a new job or class with a positive attitude, and its gotten me to where I am today, which is pretty good. Iv learned many new trades the good old fashion way, and look forward to learning another. (By the time I finish Ill be able to survey the land, locate utilities, draw up blue prints, then build a damned house )


Only question I have is how do the hours thing works? I know you get tickets from the laptop, and yadda yadda yadda, but do you HAVE to start at a specific time or is it a when ever you decide to start, so long as its by Noon kinda thing, or is every one different? I work third shift now, so switching back to days might take me a few days to get into the swing of things.

[noodle360]

And I ment to say $10,000 in machine repairs alone, total savings is quite a bit more simply based on the fact that Im doing management work at base level pay. Couldnt figure out how to edit my last post.

[locator00566]

USIC sucks , plain and simple as that. You can only clock in when you arrive on your first job, meaning you have to write down where you next job is the day before. You must clock out at your last job. If you even think about moving your truck 10 feet from your last job before you clock out USIC will raise hell. They pay people to sit in the office and monitor gps.They bitch at you when you idle for to long. They tell you to sit in your truck with no AC or Heat during your luch break. They will not pay you to drive somewhere to eat lunch. They piss on you every chance they get. You think you are disrespected now, come work for USIC. If you want to work for a dead end job, with pay and benifits being stripped away from you each year and more work added to your dailey routine then come work for USIC.

[locatingblows]

You hit the nail on the head locator00566. No truer words have ever been spoken about USIC. My advice to you, noodle360 is to run away from any ideas you have about working at USIC, especially in WI. Stay where you are at, because the grass isn't always greener on the other side. I served my sentence (USIC) for a couple years and thankfully got out. STAY AWAY!

P.S. The training is a traveshamockery as well, majority is classroom work with very little outside (real world) schooling

[noodle360]

Well, I cant stay where I am now, so its either USIC or Walmart, lol

If I like the job, but not USIC Ill try and find another firm, If I dont like locating then Ill find another job. I can see how the job would suck, but I also know that when someone hates a job so much, they will tell others to stay as far away as possible, I wouldnt tell people to do what I do for a living, but if you talk to some of my co-workers, they would tell you differently, I think ill just take a shot and give this a try. Im only 20 so if this isnt what I want to do, its no big blow.

[Wingfoot]

Well, I cant stay where I am now, so its either USIC or Walmart, lol

If I like the job, but not USIC Ill try and find another firm, If I dont like locating then Ill find another job. I can see how the job would suck, but I also know that when someone hates a job so much, they will tell others to stay as far away as possible, I wouldnt tell people to do what I do for a living, but if you talk to some of my co-workers, they would tell you differently, I think ill just take a shot and give this a try. Im only 20 so if this isnt what I want to do, its no big blow.

Hey you guys - USIC doesn't blow............ USIC doesn't suck either.

It made me laugh when I read locatingblows shout out, "STAY AWAY!"

I remember back in 1997 when my wife and I were eating a late night dinner at a cheap steak house with my buddy, Paul and his wife. Paul was a guy who changed jobs as often as I change my linen (underwear). I asked him, "So Paul, what are you doing these days for work?"

Paul didn't answer but stared at me all the while sticking another piece of meat in his pie hole. So, I asked him the same question again. While Paul was chewing that steak I figured he must be between jobs again. Then he spoke, "I paint dirt."

Paul's wife said Paul was working so much overtime that this night was the first time the two of them have gone anywhere together in weeks. Then she blurted out that Paul was making over a $1,000 bucks a week! I knew Paul wasn't the brightest guy in the world and anything he can do, I felt confident I could do it too.

Paul's wife was explaining, as best as she could, what Paul did at SM&P. I had a white-collar, commission-only sales job with no guarantee at that time and had to pay all my own expenses. I was into the 5th month of a sales slump with no bright spot in the near future. I said to Paul's wife, "Where's their office? I want to apply tomorrow!"

I distinctly remember Paul's eyes getting real wide while choking down another piece of steak and then shouting to me, "STAY AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Now, over 13 years later, Paul & I are both still working for SM&P/USIC and enjoying it.

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[ProfessionalLocator]

For many people the stay away from locating is not bad advice, this job is just not for everybody. There are some people I cannot recommend even trying this work, they seem so unsuited.

As for USIC.....
This is a very hostile workplace where it is evident management has a very poor opinion of the people they hire to do this work.
For most people to survive this type of work place they have to;

One - Not care in the least about the job and have no personnel feelings about how others treat them.

Two - Be able to turn of their emotions so that they could not care less about how they are treated. For most people doing this means they will never do the job to their best ability.

It is that second reason the locators here do not recommend USIC and have a poor opinion of it. These locators WANT to do the best job they are capable of and for them a workplace like USIC does not allow this.

Any workplace that does not allow their employees to idle the truck to keep warm in freezing weather has no care about the health of the employee and willingly risk it. they also are so bad at their jobs that they do not recognize the increase in productivity offsets the cost of running the AC or heater.

It's not that you are able to emotionally deal with such a hostile environment where your bosses despise and distrust you, it is that most people cannot.

Perhaps USIC has become the devil you know.

Hey you guys - USIC doesn't blow............ USIC doesn't suck either.

It made me laugh when I read locatingblows shout out, "STAY AWAY!"

I remember back in 1997 when my wife and I were eating a late night dinner at a cheap steak house with my buddy, Paul and his wife. Paul was a guy who changed jobs as often as I change my linen (underwear). I asked him, "So Paul, what are you doing these days for work?"

Paul didn't answer but stared at me all the while sticking another piece of meat in his pie hole. So, I asked him the same question again. While Paul was chewing that steak I figured he must be between jobs again. Then he spoke, "I paint dirt."

Paul's wife said Paul was working so much overtime that this night was the first time the two of them have gone anywhere together in weeks. Then she blurted out that Paul was making over a $1,000 bucks a week! I knew Paul wasn't the brightest guy in the world and anything he can do, I felt confident I could do it too.

Paul's wife was explaining, as best as she could, what Paul did at SM&P. I had a white-collar, commission-only sales job with no guarantee at that time and had to pay all my own expenses. I was into the 5th month of a sales slump with no bright spot in the near future. I said to Paul's wife, "Where's their office? I want to apply tomorrow!"

I distinctly remember Paul's eyes getting real wide while choking down another piece of steak and then shouting to me, "STAY AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Now, over 13 years later, Paul & I are both still working for SM&P/USIC and enjoying it.

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[locator00566]

For many people the stay away from locating is not bad advice, this job is just not for everybody. There are some people I cannot recommend even trying this work, they seem so unsuited.

As for USIC.....
This is a very hostile workplace where it is evident management has a very poor opinion of the people they hire to do this work.
For most people to survive this type of work place they have to;

One - Not care in the least about the job and have no personnel feelings about how others treat them.

Two - Be able to turn of their emotions so that they could not care less about how they are treated. For most people doing this means they will never do the job to their best ability.

It is that second reason the locators here do not recommend USIC and have a poor opinion of it. These locators WANT to do the best job they are capable of and for them a workplace like USIC does not allow this.

Any workplace that does not allow their employees to idle the truck to keep warm in freezing weather has no care about the health of the employee and willingly risk it. they also are so bad at their jobs that they do not recognize the increase in productivity offsets the cost of running the AC or heater.

It's not that you are able to emotionally deal with such a hostile environment where your bosses despise and distrust you, it is that most people cannot.

Perhaps USIC has become the devil you know.

You said it PRO. USIC has become a money grab for the owners. They treat employees as slaves. They are micro managing so much that any corner they can cut to fatten their pockets they will do regardless what it does to the employee. Coming this spring 2011 they will be implementing another BS policy by routing your work load for the day as well as which roads you have to turn down to get to the next ticket. Which means if you deviate from the chosen path, USIC will be in your a$$ about that as well. LETs just hope for $5 gal gas soon so USIC will be forced to close up shop and finally get punished for all the BS they put their employees through.

USIC=USUK

[ProfessionalLocator]

You said it PRO. USIC has become a money grab for the owners. They treat employees as slaves. They are micro managing so much that any corner they can cut to fatten their pockets they will do regardless what it does to the employee. Coming this spring 2011 they will be implementing another BS policy by routing your work load for the day as well as which roads you have to turn down to get to the next ticket. Which means if you deviate from the chosen path, USIC will be in your a$$ about that as well. LETs just hope for $5 gal gas soon so USIC will be forced to close up shop and finally get punished for all the BS they put their employees through.

USIC=USUK

Yup, more attempts to replace good management, the foreman level in locating, and well trained and motivated employees with technology that will not work.

They are going to use a mapquest type of software that will route the tickets. This software cannot take into account time constraints and local conditions. It cannot tell that it just routed a ticket in an area where rush hour traffic prohibits getting the job done quickly, that job is better performed another time. Things like the weekend is approaching and ot is unavoidable so you do residential property on Friday and the commercial sites on Saturday. Residential takes more time on the weekends when the homeowners are home and they come out to take up your time.

For those of you considering USIC consider this, you are eventually paid based on your average number of tickets performed an hour. As long as the company does things like route your tickets for you resulting in lower productivity and then paying you less money blaming you for the lowered production it is not a desirable place to work.


If you can't get any other job then work at such a company until you can get out.

[ProfessionalLocator]

For anybody considering any firm, in any industry, evaluating it as a desirable workplace also takes a search of the hiring ads.

If a firm is hiring every 2 to 3 months but is not expanding it's business that means they have a high turnover rate, people are either quitting or being fired. Consider also the economy, right now we are in a recession and people need to hang onto jobs. If pople are bailing during a recession it indicates a problem with that firm.

USIC is one firm that is constantly hiring.

Take Utiliquest in Northern Virginia again advertising to hire on locators. They lost the phone contract for the entire state and the water and sewer contracts they had in that area. It is Winter and the work load is down when most firms are considering laying people off or going to a reduced hours workweek.

I must point out that in this industry it is smart to hire on noobies at this time. This way they are both trained and given some field experience by the time the Spring workload hits. Thing is that this is seldom done in this industry. The bean counters look at the Winter production numbers and quash any efforts for hiring and training at this time. The result is the noobies are put into the filed with little production capability at the time it is needed most. You make more money by hiring and training noobies now because they make up for the loss with much higher productivity, reduced overtime and reduced damages when it is needed most the coming Spring.

[Mke]

I'm with Wing on this one, with a different twist.

I look at it this way...

I don't want to work. If I had my choice, I would gladly stay at home doing what ever I want to do. Since that is not an option, I have to work. I have resigned my self to the fact that I will ALWAYS work, Flippin burgers or painting dirt, I need a paycheck. The Goal is to get the most money, for the littlest effort. The Trick is you have to weigh the pro's and con's of the daily headaches you will have to face. If work wasn't a headache it wouldn't be called work. You will always work for a supervisor or owner that wants you to do more with less. You will also get an Ass chewing from time to time for something that may or may not be your fault. You will also be asked to preform a tasks that you will think is a waste of time, but for some reason, people above your paygrade thinks its the best thing since sliced bread.

Know that. Know that you will deal with that in any profession. If you are someone who needs constant pats on the back, you will need to find an industry or company that does that. If you are someone who needs no micro-management, good luck.

My final thought is this...... All Work Sucks. Telling someone who is looking to get on with a locating company, to Run is a bit harsh. What if the place he is working now is worse than utiliquest?

mke

[ProfessionalLocator]

I'm with Wing on this one, with a different twist.

I look at it this way...

I don't want to work. If I had my choice, I would gladly stay at home doing what ever I want to do. Since that is not an option, I have to work. I have resigned my self to the fact that I will ALWAYS work, Flippin burgers or painting dirt, I need a paycheck. The Goal is to get the most money, for the littlest effort. The Trick is you have to weigh the pro's and con's of the daily headaches you will have to face. If work wasn't a headache it wouldn't be called work. You will always work for a supervisor or owner that wants you to do more with less. You will also get an Ass chewing from time to time for something that may or may not be your fault. You will also be asked to preform a tasks that you will think is a waste of time, but for some reason, people above your paygrade thinks its the best thing since sliced bread.

Know that. Know that you will deal with that in any profession. If you are someone who needs constant pats on the back, you will need to find an industry or company that does that. If you are someone who needs no micro-management, good luck.

My final thought is this...... All Work Sucks. Telling someone who is looking to get on with a locating company, to Run is a bit harsh. What if the place he is working now is worse than utiliquest?

mke

Well in this thread the question is about USIC which from what I hear IS worse than Utiliquest. Considering how bad Utiliquest is that is pretty bad.

True what you said about work and about sometimes getting reamed for things that are not your fault. But in a work place where this is the norm, well that is not a desirable place to work. Working where no matter what you do you will get chewed out is a demoralizing and degrading place. Stayin there too long lessens one as a person. Get beat down so long and you get too used to it and accept the abnormal as the norm, a type of institutionalization.

There was advice to run and to a point I have to agree. The point where I disagree is where someone really needs a job and has to get one asap. Then hire on at USIC, or Utiliquest, and if found as bad as people say it is then use their training and experience to get you a job someplace better.

I also do not want to work, rather live on a beach somewhere. Won't get that locating and that megamillions ticket ($290,000,000.00 payoff) is also not going to make me rich. But I give effort to both and do my best at locating. I just work at a firm that treats me decent rather than a firm that will not. I did get some feelers from Utiliquest and would make more money per hour but I would rather slam by dick in the truck door than work there.