Talked with the folks back in Norcross today. SCC is looking to hire 25-30 people. Right now they have more jobs than people. So if you are looking for fulltime or partime work, or know someone that is give Gene Booth a call At 972-529-7679.

Bob Arnold

Jan,

I would like your input on the training for this job? Did it prepare you well enough for your work out in the field?

As a future solo woman fulltimer, how do you like the job? Any pro's and con's compared to any workamping jobs you have done.

This sounds like a really great job to have on the road, make some decent money and get to travel also.

Thanks in advance for your time,

Tina
Antioch, Ca

Tina,

Email me privately and I will happily try to answer any specific questions you have there.

janree at aol.com
(of course take out the "at". trying to keep the trolling spammers away :-)

Hey Bob,
We have been reading this thread, thanks to everyone who is posting information on this line of work.
We are going to call Gene, but I would like to know if there are any couples out there working for SCC, and how you like it, we will need to be full time year round or at least most of the year.
I guess the question is, can both of us be working year round? And what exactly would the job be as a couple.
Okay thanks in advance, Have a great Day!

There are several couples that work for SCC. On this thread Jwalker and spouse I think are working in Tennessee. Yes you can work fulltime, you just have to be flexible. Let me know how it went.

If jwalker is monitoring they may give you some advice.

Bob



mailto:rearnold@escapees.com

Jim and Lois,

I'm sure Bob will answer your question too but we are a couple working for SCC. We have not completed a full year yet, but from what I understand, you would be able to work as a couple if you wanted to. This would all depend on the work locations SCC has available, but you can request to work as a couple only. Then they can match you up with the jobs they have that require more than one person.

So far we like it fine. Chuck liked the work from the start. It had to grow on me a bit. He tends to like repetitive work, whereas I like more variety. I came to like it because I love being outside and I really like walking all day. It's like getting paid to hike. (which is one of my favorite things to do)

The general way you find leaks tends to be the same at each location BUT the paperwork you have to fill out and the way you report leaks seems to change depending on what the gas company your working with wants. This can be a bit frustrating but it just takes a little patience to learn the way they want it done at each location.

Currently, we are working in the Birmingham area. I think there are about 10-12 techs here working on this job. Up until last week, we were working separate routes, which means we were going out each day in saparate cars. We finished that project and now we are on another one where we ride together in the same car.

Riding in the same car is more convenient, separtate cars is more money. (you get an hourly vehicle allowance for each vehicle you drive if it is your own)

I guess you could use one car and work on routes in the same area. We didn't try that, but it seems doable to me.

We don't live very far from Birmingham, (only 4 hours away) so we just drove both down when we came. If they sent us out west or some place farther away, we'd have to only take one.

SCC does have transmission line work that is suitable for couples. One verson is one person walks the line while the other person moves the vehicle. The person moving the vehicle gets about $6 an hour I think. The person walking the line gets full pay.

The other version of this is what they call "leap-frogging". Both techs walk the line. As each is dropped off, the other one moves the vehicle to the next spot and begins their walk. When the original tech gets to the vehicle that was dropped off, he/she moves it on down the line so the other one can get to it, and so on.

Both techs get full pay for the "leap-frogging" verson.

As a female, It doesn't bother me to work by myself. I was used to it from my career before, so it is not an issue with me at all. I hike many times, by myself, so the tranmission line work does not bother me either.

If you do get hired on, just tell them you prefer to work as a couple and year round. They will try to accomodate you as best as possible. They want to keep you happy and the way to do that is to try to put you in situations where you are content.

Open line of communication is very important in this type of work. Just make sure to clearly communicate what you need and you will go a long way to being satified with the work and the company.

Thank you both for such a great and quick reply.
We are in South Dakota now comitted until Oct 16th, we will call Gene and see what we can work out.
We will let you know, thanks again.
Sincerely,
Jim and Lois

jwalker,

Thanks again for the last post. A question came up and we were wondering if you could tell us, we understand the hourly pay, and how the vehicle pay is according to the number of personal vehicles you are using. I have read about the per diem of around $200 a week and the .64 a mile travel pay, if you are both working as technicians, (either leap frogging or walking different sections), do you both receive the per diem and travel pay between jobs?

Jim and Lois...

Yes, that is correct. As long as you are both coming from a job where you were both working as full techs.

Bob,

Where are you working right now?

We need info on where to stay in DFW area (cheap)

:-)

Currently I'm in Salt City. Give Gene a call, he can tell you who is working there and give you a contact number. Thats the best way to find where in Dallas you are going to work and those people are are usually at the best and cheapest RV park.


www.texascampgrounds.com
Bob

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bob Arnold,

Hey Bob and Jwalker,

Talked to Gene this morning, he is sending out packets to both of us, we are to call him when we are ready to leave SD, he said he would get us to a training spot at that time.
After talking to him though I have to admit, some of the answers were a little vague, like being able to stay south in the winter? That is real important to us, also on being able to have a choice on locations and jobs sounded like not as much flexibility as I thought any thoughts would be appreciated.
We are pretty flexible just don't want to be freezing in the winter somewhere up north!

I would not worry about working this winter. Gene can't tell you about jobs that may or may not exist. There are always jobs available during the winter. They won't be in Key West, thats for sure. That beings said. There are year round jobs in Houston, Birmingham, nashvile, mobile, Alanta, dallas and small jobs that come open. Usually those of us that want t work during the winter have no problems.

Remember If they offer you a job, someplace you don't want to be, just tell them NO. You don't go to some kind of black list or the bottum of a list. They just go to someone else. Then when something else opens up they call you.

BOB

Bob,

We just talked to Gene and he will be sending our packets but I am not clear about perdium.
He says there is no perdium. He said there was travel expense. He said only one of the couple would be paid travel expense of 180.00 per week but i have read it was paid to both people. We really need to know the exact figures in order to be able to to accept the job. Could you please let us know?

Jim and Lois...

I can concur with what Bob said. Gene would not know about all the jobs that might be coming up in the future. He is only one of the supervisors SCC has through out the US. But he is a very good person to talk to in the interim as he can get you the forms you need and get the ball rolling for you. In fact, if you get hired on, depending on where you are needed most, you may not even be working for him. Each SCC field supervisor handles a different geograghical area.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing you need to do if you decide to come on board is to CLEARLY COMMUNICATE your wants and needs and make sure everyone understands each other.

SCC wants to keep good workers. If you do a good job for them, they will do their best to accommodate you.

As a general rule of thumb, surveys are not done up north in the winter months because the you can not survey effectively in frozen ground. I have heard of a few jobs they have up north that have been done during the winter but they are few and far between.