Power Line Workers Needed

If you are interested in starting a career in the utilities industry, as we reported a couple weeks ago, the power line technician field is hiring and desperately needing workers in most states. In my previous blog, I looked at some of the needs that North Carolina had reported, and now similar reports were recently made in Ohio. It seems as a whole, the power line field is expecting such a large amount of people to retire over the next 5-10 years, that they are seeking new employees today. Some reports are saying that it could be as many as 200,000 openings over the next ten years, mainly due to the retirement of the baby-boomers who are coming upon retirement age.

On average, they report that line workers can make around $75K annually, which is way more than I currently make. Maybe I should change careers. There are training schools available and it does not require a college degree to enter this field. One such school, the Warren County Career Center in Ohio, offers a ten month Electrical Power Line Mechanic Program, and is expecting to expand their current plan later this fall in an effort to accommodate the rush to fill in the demand in the field.

Ben Brigham of the Warren County Career Center said, "We re-train them for a new occupation, a new start in life. We're looking for opportunities to expand because of the demand for these workers, we're trying to increase our capacity to 90 to 100 new technicians produced per year."

With the demand so high, most students leave the school, with CDL certification in hand, and walk right into a job. The positions do require a lot of outside work and physical exertion type of work of course, but with power always in need and growing in need, the field seems to be quite a stable investment to consider.



Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, mail order book store manager, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Utilities Jobsite blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.