Thank you to everyone who sent in resumes. I was VERY pleasantly surprised by the amount AND quality of applicants. Some people said posting this on NYSpeed wouldn’t return many, if any, applicants with solid training and/or experience. That was definitely not the case. You never know who’s on a board, lurking or not. 
At this time I believe we have our man. He has a combination of experience, mechanical, fabrication, and welding skills that sets him apart from the other applicants, most of whom had limited welding skills, if any. I will report back after the trial period is complete to close this thread out, but I was definitely impressed by some applicants whose contact info and resumes I’ve cataloged for the future.
Again thank you to everyone who applied and we may be contacting you in the future.
-Mike