5 Reasons Good Inspectors Don’t Get to Work

We’ve all seen it happen. The odds are that some of you reading this have actually had it happen to you…A good inspector who really needs to go to work – doesn’t. He or she sits at home wondering what’s going on. Other people are going to work, so what’s the problem?

Here are 5 reasons good inspectors don’t get to work:

1. Waiting too long to start looking

Deciding when to put ‘feelers’ out and try to find another job is not always easy. If you start looking too soon, you might not even have a day off. I’ve had that happen more than once and when you need a break, it doesn’t feel very good. Especially when you have been working long days for a long time. But when you wait too long, you can end up sitting home way longer than you wanted to. So, what’s the answer?

Start looking immediately!

In my opinion, the answer is simple, start looking immediately and tell people the date YOU DECIDE that you will be available. I put “YOU DECIDE” in capital letters for a reason. Some inspectors seem to think that as soon as their current project ends they have to say that they are available to whoever they happen to talk to. So, they end up trying to avoid talking to anyone who might want to hire them until about a week or two before they are ready to go to work. This is often a bad mistake.

Consider this instead – Pick a date that you will be ready to return to work and start asking what projects are coming up around that time. You might still have to adjust your date a little, but that beats sitting at home!

2. Having a bad resume

A bad resume is typically ignored, unless you already know someone on the project. It’s that simple. I’ve been in the hiring position more times than I can count and there are certain types of resumes that just get ignored. They are unclear, they don’t catch the eye, and they are too vague…to put it simply, they suck. (You can’t help it if your resume sucks because you don’t have a good work history, so don’t worry about that. Stay honest)

Here are a few things that you might want to consider:

Does your resume clearly show what position(s) that you are interested in?

I’ve seen a lot of resumes that just didn’t seem to have anything written clearly showing what position the person wanted. I imagine that they thought this would give them more options. Maybe, they imagined that the person doing the hiring would meticulously read their entire resume and then decide where they can use them…uh – wrong. Put the position or positions that you are interested in – clearly visible – on the first page.

Do your most recent jobs/projects highlight your skills?

Be sure that if possible your most recent jobs briefly mention the relevant skills that you possess. You might even want to put them in bold print. That way, the person looking at your resume can quickly see what you’re capable of.

3. Being lied to

“Oh yeah buddy, I gotcha covered.”…”I’ll be calling you in about 3 to 5 weeks.”…”This project has 3 more phases coming, so wait for me to call you.”…”Don’t take anything, because this job will last for over a year.”

True Story – I once had a guy tell me this…

“Now, you’re not going to take anything are you? I’m counting on you for this project. You don’t want to get a reputation for being undependable.”

I was a new inspector and I took him at his word…in the end, he hired someone else for the position (His friend that just got off of a job) after I had waited at home for 6 weeks longer than I had the budget for. A very hard-and expensive-lesson was learned.

My advice to you – don’t commit yourself to people who aren’t committed to you (That’s actually pretty good advice in general) and then take the first job that meets YOUR NEEDS.

4. Too few contacts or very poor contacts

This is a big problem for so many inspectors. They have 5-10 really good contacts, maybe 15-20 decent ones, if they are lucky. The problem is – that’s not enough! I explain more about that when I’m making a pitch for our Premier Membership site, but I still want to elaborate some here. Naturally, the more contacts that you have, the better your chances will be of getting a call to go to work. Even if you have a strong resume, there will be times that even 50 good contacts simply isn’t enough. And lists with half of the emails being duds, well, that just doesn’t cut it in today’s competitive job market.

What about waiting on chiefs you know? Depending on chiefs that you know is fine, until it isn’t. All it takes is for them to take a job where that can’t hire very many people…or they decide to take time off that you can’t afford to take…or they get mad at you…or they retire…or (fill in the blank).

My advice – start now making your own contact list and make it a very high priority. Then, you need to work to keep it up to date!

(Or, better yet, let us do it for you CLICK HERE)

5. No certifications

This is a fairly new problem, but it’s still a problem. More and more companies are favoring, and in many cases requiring, inspectors with certain certifications. It’s not fair, but it’s not going away. This is due, in part, to inspectors looking to get started who falsified their resumes. Certifications show that you at least have some training. As unfair as it might be, many good inspectors are sitting on the bench now.

Take a look HERE at some of the certifications that are available. If you’re not an Onboard Member yet, then sign up – It’s free for the regular membership and dirt cheap for the Premier Membership (which gives you access to our huge contact list).

*Start looking for your next project before you’re ready to go to work.

*Tweak your resume.

*Don’t fall for lies (that can be tough to do).

*Keep enough great contacts (or use ours).

*And have industry relevant certifications.

If you do these things, you shouldn’t be sitting on the bench for long.

Need the best job contacts list? Become a Premier Member now!