While computers and machines now perform many kinds of work, the ability to accomplish a job using your own hands and strength has a value and reward all its own. Laboring with your hands takes coordination and stamina, but it also takes customer service skills and the ability to follow through on instructions. Several jobs require these qualities: Most hand laborers and freight, stock, and material movers work as pickers in warehouses… retrieving items from storage to be loaded and shipped. They may need to pack and wrap items, or load and unload them from a truck. Packers and packagers pack groceries for customers, or pack shipping materials for transport. They often label packages and keep records of what they’ve packed. Vehicle and equipment cleaners wash vehicles, storage tanks, and industrial machinery. Most clean cars for an auto dealership, car rental agency, or car wash. Machine feeders work in manufacturing or warehouses… they insert materials into equipment, while offbearers remove materials from equipment after processing. Refuse and recyclable material collectors pick up garbage and recyclables from homes and businesses to transport to a landfill or recycling center. Most work either in waste collection or for local government. Most hand laborers and material movers work full time, though part-time hours are not uncommon. Warehouse and shipping positions may require overnight shifts. It’s typical for employers to require that workers have the ability to lift a certain weight to qualify for the job, but there are no formal education requirements. Jobs often include repetitive movement and heavy lifting.
What they do:
Feed materials into or remove materials from machines or equipment that is automatic or tended by other workers.
On the job, you would:
Inspect materials and products for defects, and to ensure conformance to specifications.
Record production and operational data, such as amount of materials processed.
Push dual control buttons and move controls to start, stop, or adjust machinery and equipment.
Manufactured or Agricultural Goods
manufacture and distribution of products
Engineering and Technology
mechanical
Math and Science
arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics
Basic Skills
keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements
Social
changing what is done based on other people's actions
Hand and Finger Use
keep your arm or hand steady
hold or move items with your hands
Controlled Movement
quickly change the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat
change when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving
People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.
They do well at jobs that need:
Dependability
Attention to Detail
Cooperation
Concern for Others
Independence
Integrity
You might use software like this on the job:
Time accounting software
Work time tracking software
Industrial control software
Machine operation software
high school diploma/GED or no high school diploma/GED usually needed
In the military:
see titles from the Army or Marine Corps.
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