Laborer 

(Male, Age 40) from East Haven, CT

This is a REAL-LIFE job profile written by a Male aged 40 who works as a Laborer in East Haven, CT. We have removed all names and personal information in order to protect privacy. This professional kindly spent a bit of their time to complete one of our job profile surveys so that prospective job seekers like you could read their insights. Please excuse any punctuation or grammatical errors in this profile.

At a Glance

Current Job

Basic data on your current job

Job Title Laborer
Salary $55,000
Other Compensation None Set
Hours/Week 40
Company Size (not answered)
Location East Haven, CT
Years Experience 19 years

Career Ratings

Opinions on your CAREER overall (i.e. not just your current job)

Years in Career 0
Education (not answered)
Income Rating 0 / 10
Interest Rating 0 / 10
Work-Life Rating 0 / 10
Fulfilment Rating 0 / 10

Current job Q&A

Describe the type of organization you work for.
I currently am employed by a municipality in the Public Works Dept. there are approximately 40-45 employees. We provide services to the taxpayers such as snow plowing, pothole repair, tree pruning/removal, garbage and bulk trash pick up, and many other services that are required to maintain the infrastructure.

Describe your job role and responsibilities.
My responsibilities include, driving a snowplow during storms, repair and replacement of sidewalks and road surfaces, maintanance of all town owned buildings and grounds, maintance and repair of storm drainage system, trimming and removal of all town owned trees and landscaping.

Please list an additional benefits (beyond compensation) that you receive.
I receive 1 1/2 days a month sick time. 4 weeks a year vacation, 3 personal days a year, most holidays off with pay, a matching retirement fund, and medical and dental insurance.

Do you feel you are under/over or well/fairly compensated at your current position?
I feel I am adequately compensated.

Does your job entail you working with others on a daily basis? Is this something you like/dislike about your job? Please explain.
I work with either a crew or partner about 97% of the time. I enjoy the chance to work with other peaplo because I am always looking for the oppertunity to lean from others. At my job we have a saying, ” it’s not what your doing, but who you are doing it with.

Do you work collaboratively with supervisors/managers?
Yes

Do you work collaboratively with your co-workers?
Yes

Describe your work location (e.g., office, home, theatre, in the field) and what you like/dislike about working in it.
My work location is in the field. I am assigned a variety of tasks through out the town and I enjoy the freedom that comes with that. Sometimes it’s nice to work without a supervisor looking over my shoulder.

Please rate each of the following aspects of your current job on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest/best):
Income: 4
Benefits: 1
Hours: 6
Co-Workers: 3
Supervisors: 5
Job Title: 8
Level of Responsibility: 7
The Actual Work: 2

A day in the life of…

Please describe a typical workday for you in your current job:

5am to 6am
6am to 7am
7am to 8am
8am to 9am Punch in 8:00am. Get settled and receive daily work order from supervisor. Today my partner and I will be patching pot holes on town streets and repairing damage to a driveway apron caused by a plow during a snow storm. Gather tools and depart town garage for Tilcon in North Branford.
9am to 10am Arrived at Tilcon at approx. 9:10 am. Obtained a light weight (the weight of the truck and passengers before getting loaded) proceed to area of quarry where cold patch is stockpiled to get loaded with approx. 1 ton of material. Get loaded weight at scale and sign for load. Leave quarry to head back to town and begin repair of apron.
10am to 11am 10:00am 15 minute coffee break then begin repair.

1. Clean all broken asphalt and debris from damaged portion of driveway.

2. Place cold patch material into holes in driveway and grade.

3. Compact patch with gas powered tamper.

11am to 12pm Completed repair of driveway. Clean and swept work area. Loaded tools back onto truck and left jobsite for lunch.
12pm to 1pm 12:0 pm took 40 minute lunch at town garage.

12:40- departed town garage and resumed filling potholes in southern end of town. Patching involves locating a hole removing broken asphalt and debri from hole and filling with patch. Then tamping material even with road surface.

1pm to 2pm Continued to patch potholes until material is depleted. We then went to landfill to remove all debris that was accumulated throughout the day and clean out body of truck.
2pm to 3pm Recieved orders to deliver 2 loads of process stone to storage bin at our garage. Received load from landfill stockpile and delivered to bin at town garage.

3pm to 4pm Returned to landfill to pick-up second load. Delivered load to town garage.

3:40- cleaned up truck. Turned in completed work order to supervisor. Washed up in locker room and punched out at 3:59pm to complete day and go home

4pm to 5pm
5pm to 6pm
6pm to 7pm
7pm to 8pm
8pm to 9pm
9pm to 10pm
10pm to 11pm
11pm to 12am

Table of Contents

How you got your job

How did you get your current job?
I was hired through refferral.

What was the application process?
My hiring process was a paper application.

Did you have to interview for your current job? If yes, what did the interview process entail?
There was no interview process.

If you can remember, what questions were you asked during the interview?
n/a

Do you feel your employer properly prepared you for your job? Explain.
My job really didn’t require preparation. It requires a willing to perform a variety of tasks and pride in what you do.

Was there training for your current position? If yes, what did it entail?
There was no training required for my job. All that is required is a high school diploma and a drivers license.

Do you feel your educational background prepared you for your job? Explain.
Somewhat. The math classes I took helped with estimating materials needed for a job, but other then that I really don’t believe that it helped.

If applicable, do you feel your internship experience helped you prepare for your job?
n/a

If someone wanted to go about getting a job similar to yours, what would you recommend for him or her to do?
Unfortunately it seems municipal jobs are more about who you know not what you know. It pays to have connections. Other than that one needs to fill out an application and hope.

What skills do you think a person should have if they want to pursue a position like yours?
Past experience is helpful because education is not a prerequisite for a laborers position. A commercial drivers license is helpful and any certification related to operating heavy equiptment.

Do you feel that you need a certain level of education or training to be successful in your job?
Experience is key. On the job training is how things are learned and seniority allows for advancement.

What advice would you give to someone who was about to start work in your position/ line of work?
Try to stay in good shape as it is a very physical job that will require a lot of bending, lifting, walking, etc. Also never give up on a problem 99% of the time there is a solution and you just need to work through the problem with the help of your coworkers.

Long-term career plans

Is your current employment part of your overall career plan? Why or why not?
Yes my current employment is part of my career plan because I’ve already invested almost 20 years of my life in this job and I truly live what I do.

What are your current career goals?
My goals are to hopefully move into a supervisory role as a foreman. I only have five or six more tears until retirement and pension is based on the highest salary years.

Is there anything else you would like to share about your career?

Prior work history

Please list your most recent jobs prior to this current job:

Title Length Salary Description
Prior Job 1 Process server 2 yrs. 25000 Self employed serving legal papers to parties involved in civil actions.
Prior Job 2

Educational background

Please list your educational background:

High School GPA:2.8

GPA School Degree
College (Undergraduate)
or Technical/Vocational
Graduate or Professional
(Masters or Doctorate)

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