diesel mechanic

automotive mechanic

truck driver

laborer

repair technician

CalPortland

I was hired as a temp in the last minute, Friday afternoon to start work as a temp on Monday.  The agency sent me at CalPortland to start work in the corporate accounting department- six months have passed by and still a temp no offer to start perm. I don’t get any benefits to speak of, you only get paid for what you work  to the exact minute - they literally count pennies.… no sick time, no paid vacation.  Another company who claims they are not ready to commit to hiring full-time employees in the accounting field.  Top managers are very private and have longevity all to themselves, but they do nothing for the temp people they hire as just temp support lots of temps here. These top managers want to use you and then let you go for their own profits only.  Just imagine trying to raise a family but continue to work as a temp at this place.  For one thing, it’s cheaper for the Managers and their own sake to protect their own pockets. Using temporary labor lets these managers avoid the cost of any type of any additional cents or providing any type of benefits like health insurance, workers’ comp, paid sick leave, holiday pay and the like. There are way too much perverse incentives for top managers and execs to use temps- maybe it's to protect their bonus pays at year-end.

Being a temp does not allow us to have less pressure.  Expectations are high, but initial company orientation of new temp hire is limited to vague expectations that change on a daily basis, while the business setting offers a new temp nothing but daily hard work with no rewards to temps.  By the time the company pays a third party these extra fees, they have nothing else to offer the temps who are hard working people with lots of knowledge and skills.

. Generally looking forward to go to work everyday

. I've learned to deal professionally with all types employees and gained their respect, I've learned all the aspects of the business and was able to deliver what was expected in me with above average performance and efficiency. I became multi-task person and done all assignments accurately.

. I gained the confidence of the management that in few months time I was given the position of Plant accountant. I was able to work efficiently hand and hand with the plant management and corporate and was able to handle the needs of the accounting office without additional personnel thus avoiding the hiring of temps. When we switched to SAP, most of the other plants hired additional temps but our plant never employed one. I was able to handle it all. With the approval of our manager, I was able to train non-accounting and other production supervisor with receivables, payables, purchase orders, requisitions, and production reports.

. I worked well and go along with all my co-workers,

. Beating all deadlines was hard but I did not consider it the hardest one. It gives me a challenge and discover new ways and manage them.

. I consider being an employee doing accounting, management and going well with all workers in the plant as well as in the corporate was what i believe to be the most enjoyable part.

I have worked for CPC in both union and non union setting. I would NEVER work non union again. It is our strong local union that makes this place a good place to work. non union pay is half of union pay, you pay for health insurance and you have to constantly be worried someone in management might not like you and therefore, worry about getting fired on a whim. Non union has more "clicks" , benefits free, if management is abusive union steps in. you have job security with union. High rate if burn out but drivers stay because they can retire at such an early age . The way drivers are scheduled needs MUCH improvement. Sometimes you don't find out when you have to work until 90 mins before you have to be there. during the busy season dispatch will over schedule deliveries so you're working 60 hrs a week every week instead of the normal 50 or so hours. That can wear on you. Although drivers are compensated well for Overtime hours.

No rational org structure in place. Too many bosses pull employees in different directions with opposing goals. Inadequate processes and unwillingness to implement change at the operational level.
No workplace/personal life balance. Rather than adjust the way they conduct business, or address the root cause, they expect employees to sacrifice their personal life and work tireless hours with minimal to no recognition for their efforts.
Inter management battles pull employees in separate directions. Backstabbing and networking against team members is tolerated and rampant from inter departmental support functions to general managers.
lack of strong role responsibilities and expectations create vagueness and ambiguity between departments and their employees. Some roles are held responsible and/or accountable for the performance of other team members, who don't report to them. Some roles are not given the authority, support, or tools, to implement or enforce positive change.
Cumbersome and irrational finance and supply process causes the company to delay or not pay their vendors on time creating bottlenecks.

No two days are the same.  We know what the customer's needs are, but sometimes we have to re-prioritize in order to "fight fires."
Things I've learned are to provide the best customer service to my external customers to meet their needs as well as my internal customers and PDF more documents, heading towards less paperwork. 
Current management has no construction industry experience, yet micro manages experienced collection staff.
Office culture is "we all work hard, getting it done together."  
The most difficult part of the job is I am part of the busiest, growing division in the Pacific Northwest.  We have market share and numerous Sales associates but only 2, Credit Collectors for 2 states, 32,000.00 millions dollars and or 1400.00 customers. 
I love making my customers happy!  Whether it's taking a payment or providing a Lien Waiver, statement, invoice copy or an account reconciliation.

I enjoyed working at CalPortland, had an opportunity to use my knowledge and experience to enhance the company's AP Team.

Performed well, which allowed me to received  a $5,000. salary increase within the first 6 month.

ensure all the daily processing were done in a timely manner, 

reviewing the invoices by dates and making sure they were processed and paid promptly.

reviewed the Aging report to ensure old items were paid, after determined why they were not paid.

working on escalated issues with the vendors.

ensure the team was trained properly

Making sure the vendors issues were resolved and encouraged the vendors to give feed back.

reviewing the W9, preparing each for the 1099 process, which was the most challenging process, getting the vendors to provide current W9..
Creating and developing a successful cross training program, was so enjoyable.

Job was very stressful & overwhelming at times, Trucks are very old & outdated so you’re always going to be dealing with some maintenance or mechanical repairs. the shop is very short staffed so you will be waiting a lot, now if you have had years experience as ready mix driver than this can be place for you, but if you’re very new and have little experience than I really don’t recommend you coming to work for this company, & management will make you feel like you’re special to work for them, and so your work schedule will be all over place and you will be expected to work very long hours so you will never have set schedule/life outside of work so good luck with trying to get some rest or trying to plan things ahead,  some coworkers are good to get along with but watch what you say because they will turn around and report it to management so be very careful, So before you decide to get hired on from this company be very sure what your getting yourself into with them.

I was excited about working for CalPortland at first. They promised the moon and stars. They are kind of weird in the sense the have an adjustable pay scale that doesnt seem to be the same for everybody. They said I would be at $26/hr after 3 months. I had a minor incident and they said they were gunna restart the 3 months over again...ugh! I have talked to other drivers they do this to so I concluded they find things to hold your pay back. 

As far as the work life balance goes, forget about it. You never know when you are getting off and you don't know when you'll be in the next day until 6pm. So you can never plan anything in your life. Plus its so fast paced and stressfull, all you wanna do is plop down on the couch and go to sleep when you do finally get home. 

There are positives about the company, but I don't feel they outweigh the negatives. Maybe its just not my speed and it would work great for somebody else, but I need consistency and that is non existent at Cal Portland

What is the best part of working at the company?
It was a great place to work. I worked with a great team. Fun people and a challenging job. I would still be with them ....but the relocated their HQ to Nevada. I stayed in CA.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
You had a large portfolio and you just had to stay after your responsibilities  of collecting and preparing for your monthly credit meetings...I enjoyed the challenge.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment  was wonderful inside with  my co-workers ...it was a melting pot of different types of people...but all were focused on what was expected of them.
Along with diverse personalities  they brought  laugher and fun into the office.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Just come in and look at my list of things that I needed to do for the day....I always  prepared the night before for the next days tasks.

The job itself would be one I would recommend for someone while going to school or as a tempary job. Not for anyone who has any serious education and experience in the administration field.

Your mornings are very busy being the office gopher, sorting tickets and orders, making coffee, filling up candy bowls, ordering supply’s from Staples etc. After 12:00pm there is tons of idle time. You are basically sitting at the desk waiting until it is time to leave unless someone randomly asks you for help sorting or alphabetizing something... I would also like to mention 90% of calls received at the desk are  telemarketers or spam.  

If you are looking for a job where you come in for 8 hours each day and collect a paycheck this would be a great fit for you. Don’t expect anything else.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
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