I have been working as a maintenance manager for a pretty large automotive supplier for a year and a half. The stress is getting to be too much, mostly due to conditions outside my control, the job would be great without certain aspects.

I am considering a complete change of direction but don't know where to begin and I fear I have degreed myself into the tough to hire zone.

I have over 20 years industrial maintenance experience on nuclear power, steel fabrication, and stamping plants.

I am an experienced trainer with a masters in teaching.

I am an expert at SAP PM.

I am a proficient buyer and handled consumables for 11 fab shops in the past.

I am open to moving but my wife has some advancement opportunities and my daughter really wants to go to the high school here so I feel like I should try to stay local.

I don't care about the money, I would rather be happy but employers seem to overlook folks that make good money and have degrees because they think you will bolt on them.

I'm a smart guy and I'm confident I could do anything well, I just don't know how to get that across as I never get even a phone interview with things outside my realm.

You can only worry about things that are within your control, you can't stress about things you cannot change...... take a few weeks vacation time decompress and go back to your current job fresh and see how it is after a few weeks......I say this because you sound pretty anchored where you live with your wife and kid......

Maybe dumb down your resume for each job you apply to. But honestly, I think it's the job market and each position has 1000 people applying to it.

I can't even do that, I have been without a supervisor for 5 months. He is finally starting next week but will need time before he's capable of handling things on his own.

I've had to start taking blood pressure meds, which I didn't want to do but gave up when I read 161/120 after a particularly nasty day.

I refuse to die for this place.

Too bad you are not in the Houston area, plenty of jobs here that you could easily move into. I know how you feel, I've had similar job experiences. Fortunately I'm in a position now that allows me to do my job without letting all the bs bother me but I really don't like my job. It pays well and I'm trying to stick it out for 7 years so I can retire.

My goal is to try to make it longer than the gm and hope for a better future but even that is getting hard.

I had a similar situation, wound up quitting and taking a job for half the pay. Have never been happier. I miss the money but that is it. Seemed like a piss poor reason to live in misery.

quote:

Originally posted by jezsuiz:
I had a similar situation, wound up quitting and taking a job for half the pay. Have never been happier. I miss the money but that is it. Seemed like a piss poor reason to live in misery.

^^Wisdom ^^

You live in an area with lots of employment opportunities in a wide variety of fields.

Have you considered talking to a headhunter to see whats out there? Show them what you have for experience and credentials.

You don't pay, the employer does. Also try temp agencies. The employer gets to try you out without a commitment but you get to try out them too.

That may beat working for a year or two in a job you hate but feel you can't leave because it took so long to find. That way you have a better chance to find the right fit.

How much money do you need?

What's it look like in the area as far as consulting work? Companies that won't pay a good employee to straighten out a shop and point out inefficiencies will pay outside consultants ridiculous money. You work for you and decide which jobs to take.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
How much money do you need?

Wife covers the bills so 500 a week wouldn't change our lifestyle much.

"I refuse to die for this place."

Most excellent choice.

I was taught in such employment circumstances, there are 3 levels producing stress:

chicken shit/bull shit/elephant shit

If none of those are within the ability to control/adapt to/ignore/overcome, there is always taking a walk. I've walked more than once and never regretted it.

youve got mail

quote:

I am an expert at SAP PM.

Have you considered working in a data center? I've tried twice to get in with Amazon Web Services, but not gotten hired I believe because I don't have the experience with CMMS even though I destroy all other requirements. For me it was an Engineering Operations Technician, baby sit the servers. Call in people for repairs as needed, log stuff, and first line troubleshooting/maintenance.

VA is home to a crap ton of server farms.

I'm in the same boat as you. Burnt out and ready for change. Don't know how to start and can't take more than $10k pay cut.

There are a couple of technical colleges in your area. We partner with one over near Athens and one down here to develope technical courses that target the skill sets we need in or engineering technicians.

You have the perfect background to teach technical courses. Real work expirence is important when you are teaching technical skill sets to older students that are already working in the field.

If you could teach SAP you'd be gold.

I am on the hunt for help. Do you have people skills? Good money, easy work with the right mind set. In Loganville

I know nothing about your field but how would or could it translate into your own business?
The only true way is to control your own destiny in you own business if that is even feasible.
Good Luck.

If your degree is not related to your work, leave it off your resume.

Companies hire people to do work for them that they've had success doing for other companies. It's rare without an internal referral for a company to hire someone to do something they haven't done for another company before.

Never really understood when people say they have too much education or "I have degreed myself into the tough to hire zone".

It is not a requirement that you list every piece of experience or education on a resume. List what you want. If you feel the Masters degree will be viewed as a negative then list your undergrad degree and call it good. I would not lie about it if asked but you don't need to list experience or education if you feel it isn't needed for a position.

I applied for a couple middle manager positions that did not require my Masters Degree so I left it off and just listed my undergrad. I only listed 10 years of my 30 year work history. Luckily I was eventually able to find a position that wanted all my education and experience.

In other words, I matched my resume to the position I was applying for. Everyone should do this when job hunting.

Best of luck in the search for a new gig.

As others have suggested, match your resume to the job requirements + a bit more. 1) You're only looking to get an interview & 2) you're interviewing THEM as much as the reverse.

No 2 applications should have the same resume anyway.