diff --git a/src/worker.js b/src/worker.js
index 0484929..9f02ccc 100644
--- a/src/worker.js
+++ b/src/worker.js
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 import events from 'events';
 import Puid from 'puid';
+import moment from 'moment';
+import Bluebird from 'bluebird';
+import logger from './helpers/logger';
 import { jobStatuses } from './helpers/constants';
 
 const puid = new Puid();
+const debug = logger('worker');
 
 export default class Job extends events.EventEmitter {
   constructor(queue, type, workerFn, opts = {}) {
@@ -18,48 +22,175 @@ export default class Job extends events.EventEmitter {
     this.workerFn = workerFn;
     this.checkInterval = opts.interval || 1500;
 
-    this._processJobs();
-    this._checker = setInterval(this._processJobs, this.checkInterval);
+    this.debug = (...msg) => debug(...msg, `id: ${this.id}`);
+
+    // this._pollForPendingJobs();
+    this._checker = setInterval(() => this._pollForPendingJobs(), this.checkInterval);
   }
 
   destroy() {
     clearInterval(this._checker);
   }
 
-  _processJobs() {
+  _claimJob(job) {
+    this.debug(`Attempting to claim job ${job._id}`);
+    const m = moment();
+    const startTime = m.toISOString();
+    const expirationTime = m.add(job._source.timeout).toISOString();
+    const attempts = job._source.attempts + 1;
+
+    if (attempts > job._source.max_attempts) {
+      return this._failJob(job, `Max attempts reached (${job._source.max_attempts})`)
+      .then(() => false);
+    }
+
+    const doc = {
+      attempts: attempts,
+      started_at: startTime,
+      process_expiration: expirationTime,
+      status: jobStatuses.JOB_STATUS_PROCESSING,
+    };
+
+    return this.client.update({
+      index: job._index,
+      type: job._type,
+      id: job._id,
+      version: job._version,
+      body: { doc }
+    })
+    .then((response) => {
+      const updatedJob = Object.assign({}, job, response);
+      updatedJob._source = Object.assign({}, job._source, doc);
+      return updatedJob;
+    })
+    .catch((err) => {
+      if (err.statusCode === 409) return false;
+      throw err;
+    });
+  }
+
+  _failJob(job, msg) {
+    this.debug(`Failing job ${job._id}`);
+    const doc = {
+      status: jobStatuses.JOB_STATUS_FAILED,
+      output: {
+        content_type: 'text/plain',
+        content: msg
+      }
+    };
+
+    return this.client.update({
+      index: job._index,
+      type: job._type,
+      id: job._id,
+      version: job._version,
+      body: { doc }
+    })
+    .catch((err) => {
+      if (err.statusCode === 409) {
+        return this.client.get({
+          index: job._index,
+          type: job._type,
+          id: job._id
+        })
+        .then((jobDoc) => {
+          if (jobDoc._source.status === jobStatuses.JOB_STATUS_FAILED) return false;
+          throw err;
+        });
+      }
+
+      throw err;
+    });
+  }
+
+  _performJob(job) {
+    this.debug(`Performing job ${job._id}`);
+    return Promise.reject('mock es failure');
+  }
+
+  _pollForPendingJobs() {
+    this._getPendingJobs().then((jobs) => this._claimPendingJobs(jobs));
+  }
+
+  _claimPendingJobs(jobs) {
+    let claimed = false;
+    Bluebird.mapSeries(jobs, (job) => {
+      if (claimed) return false;
+
+      return this._claimJob(job)
+      .then((claimedJob) => {
+        if (claimedJob !== false) {
+          claimed = true;
+          return claimedJob;
+        }
+      })
+      .catch((err) => {
+        this.debug('Failed to claim outstanding jobs', err);
+        this.emit('error', err);
+        this.queue.emit('worker_error', {
+          id: this.id,
+          type: this.type,
+          err
+        });
+        throw err;
+      });
+    })
+    .then((mappedJobs) => mappedJobs.filter(Boolean))
+    .then((claimedJobs) => {
+      if (claimedJobs.length !== 1) return;
+      const job = claimedJobs[0];
+      this.debug(`Beginning work on ${job._id}`);
+      return this._performJob(job);
+    });
+  }
+
+  _getPendingJobs() {
+    const nowTime = moment().toISOString();
+    const dateFilter = {
+      range: {
+        process_expiration: {
+          lte: nowTime
+        }
+      }
+    };
     const query = {
       query: {
         bool: {
-          must: [{ term: { _type: 'example' } }],
           should: [
-            { bool: {
-              must: [{ term: { status: 'pending'} }]
-            }},
-            { bool: {
-              must: [
-                { term: { status: 'processing'}}
-              ],
-              filter: {
-                range: {
-                  process_expiration: {
-                    lte: '2016-04-26T23:40:47.820Z'
-                  }
-                }
-              }
-            }}
+            { bool: { must: [{ term: { status: 'pending'} }] }},
+            { bool: { must: [{ term: { status: 'processing'}} ], filter: dateFilter } }
           ]
         }
       },
       sort: [
         { priority: { order: 'asc' }},
         { created_at: { order: 'asc' }}
-      ]
+      ],
+      size: 10
     };
 
+    this.debug('querying for outstanding jobs');
+
     return this.client.search({
-      body: {
-        query: query
-      }
+      index: `${this.queue.index}-*`,
+      type: this.type,
+      version: true,
+      body: query
+    })
+    .then((results) => {
+      const jobs = results.hits.hits;
+      this.debug(`${jobs.length} outstanding jobs returned`);
+      return jobs;
+    })
+    .catch((err) => {
+      this.debug('job querying failed', err);
+      this.emit('error', err);
+      this.queue.emit('worker_error', {
+        id: this.id,
+        type: this.type,
+        err
+      });
+      throw err;
     });
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file