FSE

Midwest
US Navy, E-6

While in the Navy, I achieved the rank of Machinist Mate First Class (E-6) and served my entire career in the submarine community. During my career, I also served as a Navy Instructor and qualified as Master Training Specialist. I retired from active duty in July 2007.

After my retirement, I immediately took a job as a Technical Trainer and Instructional Designer with a company in Michigan. In December 2008, I was laid-off the Friday before Christmas. The following Monday, I began putting resumes out to search for a job.

During that first week of unemployment, I was speaking with my brother-in-law. He made the recommendation to contact Orion International. I found the website and left my contact information. The following morning, I was contacted by Robyn Hays.

My recruiter was Ernest Burson. He, along with all of the other representatives at Orion, treated me with respect and concern. They always gave me the feeling that they understood my concerns about being unemployed. (This was my first time without a job in over 20 years.) They never gave me the feeling that I was asking for too much salary or that I needed to lower my expectations.

Ernest set me up to attend a job conference in Chicago. He helped me mold my resume to meet the needs of the possible employers. Robyn, knowing that being unemployed made money tight, made the extra effort to help me find affordable accommodations for the conference. At the conference, I ran into Dan Young. I showed up ready for any possible interview with copies of my resume in hand.

Dan worked me into an interview. This interview went well, and within a week an offer was pending. However, another company that Dan had set me up with was also interested. Dan made the arrangements for an interview in Chicago one week later. That interview was with United Conveyor Corporation. My interview and tour of the main office started at 9am and ended at 1pm. I had a firm offer in hand an hour later.

I will be starting on February 16 as a Field Service Engineer. When I started looking for employment, I left my options very open. I wanted a job in a field that would use my instructional background or my mechanical background. But most importantly, I wanted the job to be in a field that was secure. I did not want to be looking for employment again in 18 months.

Orion more than met my needs. Orion helped me find a career that has a higher starting salary than where I ended with my previous employer. I was back to work in two months, a much shorter time than I had anticipated.

Orion far exceeded anything that online resume databases did for me. Online recruiting websites do not have that personal touch to ensure a candidate is shown to the right employers. Some of the jobs that were sent to me from these sites ranged from sales to web page designer—not exactly the jobs for someone with 20 years of engineering plant experience.

Ernest, Robyn, and Dan were very instrumental in helping me land this job. Once things started to get moving fast with United Conveyor Corporation, Dan was always available to provide any help I needed. I have already recommended Orion International to my friends in the Navy and to a friend in the Coast Guard.