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Job seekers usually go to the employer for an interview. However, the reverse is happening for pipefitting and welding students at TCAT locations in Elizabethton, Greeneville and Surgoinsville.
National Boiler Service of Trenton, Ga., is testing candidates for employment as a Tube Welder and Pipefitter-Boilermaker Aug. 19-22 on the TCAT Elizabethton Main Campus.
Human Resource Director Larry Brown said he has been satisfied to date with the quality of student skills taught by TCAT instructors. Brown outlined the test dates:
The pipefitting tests are on Aug. 19 and 20. August 19 is a seven hour test that demonstrates ability to read, create and comprehend field drawings and to physically construct piping structures. August 20 is four hours of additional testing including a written test and structural welding test.
Welding candidates will be tested Aug. 19-21. The first day is a prep day to review the process and work on techniques with candidates. The second day is seven hours of welding. It includes heavy wall tube test, in a restrictor that simulates a water wall in a boiler and a stainless steel overlay of a carbon tube.
“The American Welding Society says the pass rate, nationally, on a heavy wall tube test in a restrictor is about 29 percent. We have a 100 pass rate with our TCAT schools,” Brown said.
The third day of testing is six hours of MIG (Gas Metal Arc) and Flux Core (Constant Welding Supply) testing in the vertical and overhead positions.
“We value our partnership with our TCAT consortium of schools. We have been impressed with the character, work ethic and skill sets of the TCAT candidates we have hired to date. We have a very busy fall season coming up and look forward to adding more folks of the quality level we have been able to experience from our TCAT consortium,” Brown said.