Workshop offers clues to landing a job at Boeing

For the past six months, Robert Misner has been trying to land a job with the county's largest employer, the Boeing Co.

On Friday, the Lynnwood resident joined roughly 260 people who all have the same goal at a workshop on navigating Boeing's hiring process. In the month of April, nearly 900 people in the county have attended similar workshops, hosted by WorkSource Snohomish County.

Misner, 34, has put in for work at Boeing as often as three times weekly for six months. With military and factory experience, Misner seems like a shoo-in for a job on one of Boeing's production lines. Yet, he hasn't heard anything from the aerospace giant.

Out of every 100 job applications, Boeing screens out about 75, noted Paul Trause, commissioner for the Employment Security Department, who spoke at the event in Everett on Friday. Many good job candidates simply don't know how to describe their skills in a way that will appeal to Boeing.

The workshops are designed to give people insight on how to do so and how to get through Boeing's online hiring process. WorkSource already has seen results, helping more than 250 people get jobs with the jet maker after they previously had applied at Boeing with no positive results.

Misner said he has updated his resume based on feedback from his father, who attended one of the earlier workshops. But Misner wanted to get WorkSource's help in person.

Boeing has announced rate increases across its airplane production lines. The jet maker added more than 700 jobs in Washington state in March and has added more than 1,300 positions since the beginning of the year, offering one of the bright spots in the region's employment picture.

"After three years of deep recession, all of us are impatient to see the economy turn around," Trause said.

Trause noted that not everyone at the event would end up with a job with Boeing. However, the many of the county's 200 other aerospace companies are hiring as well.

"Aerospace jobs are usually well paying and highly desired," Trause said.



See WorkSource's presentation on Boeing's hiring process at: www.worksourceonline.com.