Pre-Apprentice Lineworker

At Seattle City Light, we power Seattle and as a municipally owned utility, public service is at the core of our mission. We are one of the nation's largest municipally owned utilities in terms of the number of customers served. Over the years, we have been dedicated to delivering customers affordable, reliable, and environmentally responsible electricity services. And to this day, City Light aspires to be the nation's greenest utility by fulfilling our mission in an environmentally and socially responsible manner.

Seattle City Light is now accepting applications for our Pre-Apprentice Lineworker (PAL) Program. This paid six-month training position prepares individuals for success in the Lineworker Apprenticeship by providing hands-on experience alongside skilled electrical Lineworkers on established work crews. Lineworkers play a vital role in delivering reliable electric service to more than 360,000 City Light customers, and Pre-Apprentices are an important part of developing that future workforce.

After the 1,040-hour training period, Pre-Apprentices must meet all final program requirements to advance into the Lineworker Apprenticeship. These include demonstrating physical capacity, obtaining a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), passing all working skills evaluations, and successfully completing climbing training. Individuals who do not meet these standards by the end of the program will be removed from the PAL Program and will not progress into the apprenticeship.

Apprenticeship is a system of education and training using a planned, closely supervised combination of hands-on, on-the-job training, and academic classroom-style education. Over the course of the paid training program, apprentices learn progressively more demanding components of their craft. This helps apprenticeship graduates to become qualified journey-level workers when they successfully complete their training program. Seattle City Light apprenticeship programs are approved, registered, and monitored by the State of Washington Labor and Industries Apprenticeship and Training Council.

Those who successfully complete the PAL Program will advance to the Lineworker Apprenticeship Program and serve the standard one-year probationary period as a Lineworker Apprentice. Apprentices then enter the 3.5-year/7,000-hour Lineworker Apprenticeship Program, where they learn to work with high-voltage electricity serving customers throughout the Seattle distribution area.

All Lineworker Apprentices are required to adhere to the Standards of Apprenticeship, the City of Seattle’s Personnel Rules, and all other applicable policies and procedures. Apprentices receive on-the-job training to perform progressively more difficult, physically demanding, and complex assignments. In addition to on-the-job training, apprentices must complete a minimum of 144 hours per year of evening academic coursework. Upon satisfactory completion of their apprenticeship and passing the journey-level examination, Lineworker Apprentices may advance to the position of Journey-level Lineworker.

Apprentice training standards are overseen by the Joint Apprenticeship Training Council, and the PAL Program is approved and accredited by the State of Washington.

To learn more about the Apprenticeship Program, visit: https://www.seattle.gov/city-light/about-us/careers/apprenticeships.

• Repairs or replaces defective high-voltage conductors, insulators, and related hardware.

• Repairs or replaces overhead and non-network underground transformers.

• Inspects and installs underground vaults, conduit, and duct runs; installs new cable and equipment.

• Installs streetlight standards, fixtures, and