Training a new welder

I have been advertising and searching for a welder for the company I work for,for the last couple of months to no avail. We are willing to pay 18 and hour for a non ticketed welder,but no one will bite for less than 35 hr. This morning I decided to train our burner to weld. He is a college grad and knows the theory inside out so I gave him a try. I started him out on 3/4 inch test plate in vertical position and with about a half hour of instruction/training he can weld with the best of them. I pushed things a step further and went on to train him on the thermic lance. I started him out on a two ton chunk of mangenese just to learn how to push slag. He had that cut in about a half hour. I then taught him how to lance stainless. In about five minutes he was slicing up 12 inch heavy wall stainless pipe like he was slicing baloney. I dont find guys like this very often so he is definitely a keeper. I will have to go into the office tonight and see about a pay raise for him. I have tried training guys for the last three years and none can ever seem to grasp how to burn fast and not beat up the equipment. I guess I will have to train this guy next on operating the car bailer since I let the last one go for having no education/brains

all in all a good day i would say

Work with what ya got, I'd rather train someone than try to find someone that can lie about what they can do