Working Part Time

[GLSA]

I want to eventually get out of the trade and I am thinking about going back to school. I would like to work part time in the trade while I go to school since its what I know.

However, I have never seen a job listing for a part time journeyman electrician and my current employer already told me to pound sand on the part time idea.

So my questions for all contractors out there is:

1. Would you ever consider hiring part time?

2. Would you expect to pay an hourly rate lower than full time?

 

[GoldDigger]

My son worked part time as a software developer and floor sweeper at a custom pump company.
The boss paid part time employees a higher hourly rate because they had no benefits and were more likely to need the money.
Not at all typical.

 

[Saturn_Europa]

What do you want to study when you go back to school? Have you looked at night classes/ doing it online?

If you do look into online programs. Stay away from for profit university s and look for a state where you live that offers distance education.

Online programs can be hit and miss. I've had some that were just as good as seated classes and some that were a complete joke.

Regardless......I would work full time, take online classes for humanity s English.... Etc, then transfer into the program for the core classes.

I'd recommend automation and controls. It'll complement your electrical background.

 

[Saturn_Europa]

*state university

 

[growler]

However, I have never seen a job listing for a part time journeyman electrician and my current employer already told me to pound sand on the part time idea.

If you want to work part time you may look into maintenance type work (still electrical).

 

[chris1971]

I would hire a part time worker if they have a good work ethic, punctual.

 

[Coppersmith]

The only employer who would be likely to hire you for part-time work would be someone with a big multi-man gangbox job. On that kind of job, you would not be causing too much disruption if you left after a few hours. Forget about working on any kind of small or service job. The disruption of losing one man out of two or three would be insurmountable. Even on the big job, the foreman is going to have to put in additional planning to work around your schedule. Most employers won't be interested.

 

[eds]

When you say part time, are you talking a couple hours every day or 2 or 3, 8 hour days per week, in my eyes that would make a big difference. I would like the idea of having a part time Journeyman that I could schedule for 2 or 3 days a week, not so much for 2 or 3 hours a day.

 

[chris1971]

When you say part time, are you talking a couple hours every day or 2 or 3, 8 hour days per week, in my eyes that would make a big difference. I would like the idea of having a part time Journeyman that I could schedule for 2 or 3 days a week, not so much for 2 or 3 hours a day.

Good point.

 

[GLSA]

What advice can you guys give about the reason I want to go to part time to the contractor? I do want to go back to school but the main reason I am leaving the trade is for health reasons. I can perform in the trade now but I fear if my health gets any worse that I will become useless and just get fired or a laid off constantly.

I would like to be upfront but at the same time I feel if I am then a contractor would definitely pass me up.

As far as the schedule goes I would take less money to have more flexibility on my end but I wouldn't mind working out somewhat of a set schedule each semester so the contractor could count on me being there.

 

[Coppersmith]

Hmm, I didn't think about part-time being 2 or 3 full days. Not sure why. I think that increases your chances of getting work. Some small employers would be interested in a j-man with that schedule.

What advice can you guys give about the reason I want to go to part time to the contractor?

"I want to go back to school" should be enough. Don't volunteer any health related info unless it's a legitimate question on an employment app.

I would take less money to have more flexibility

Don't take less money. If you have J-man skills, you should get J-man pay regardless of scheduling.

 

[ActionDave]

Hmm, I didn't think about part-time being 2 or 3 full days. Not sure why. I think that increases your chances of getting work. Some small employers would be interested in a j-man with that schedule.



"I want to go back to school" should be enough. Don't volunteer any health related info unless it's a legitimate question on an employment app.



Don't take less money. If you have J-man skills, you should get J-man pay regardless of scheduling.

I agree with all of this. I work for a small shop and we would gladly take a competent journeyman on part time.

 

[MNSparky]

I'd definitely be interested in taking someone on part time, but I'd have a hard time giving them a van full of tools and parts that I'm paying for full time. I've had part time apprentices, but I see some logistical problems with a part time J-man. I'd probably look at them being more of a "super apprentice" where I'd send them out to help on a job where there would already be another full time J-man with a van on site.

For that reason, I'd have to consider the wage I'd pay. Do I pay what I would pay a FT J-man looking at the lack of benefits being the cut for the PT status? Or do I actually pay them less than that, but more than an apprentice? I guess it would depend on how useful they would be to me at the time.

 

[JFletcher]

I've worked for quite a few outfits where a part-time or job-specific extra labor would be a huge plus. I've worked as such for a few. The problem on my end is getting no regular work nor much/any heads-up for upcoming work. If you could find a large enough shop where they need help in house a few days a week because someone full time has a medical problem or is partially retiring and wants to go from full to part time, that seems to me your best bet.

If you could do work that doesnt require immediate/precise scheduling, like generator semi-annual PMs/checks, that may be your way to part time that works for the employer as well.

 

[ptonsparky]

Set hours every day is okay if you can provide your own transportation to anywhere in a 4 county area, otherwise full days would be best for us. Yes, I would hire part time, knowledgeable, experienced help.

 

[kwired]

I'd hire a part time person also. Preferably one that wants to work most/all of a day but only a couple days or so a week versus someone that wants just 2 or 3 hours a day. Hourly rate would likely be higher then for same person working full time with benefits.

I did exactly that when I was in college with my first EC employer. I went to a two year school, worked for an EC the summer between, that second year I worked every Friday (had no classes on Friday's) and most any other days when there was no classes scheduled, spring break - was a full week of work instead of going to some beach in Florida. Semester break also was spent working nearly full time.

 

[__dan]

What advice can you guys give about the reason I want to go to part time to the contractor? I do want to go back to school but the main reason I am leaving the trade is for health reasons. I can perform in the trade now but I fear if my health gets any worse that I will become useless and just get fired or a laid off constantly.

I would like to be upfront but at the same time I feel if I am then a contractor would definitely pass me up.

As far as the schedule goes I would take less money to have more flexibility on my end but I wouldn't mind working out somewhat of a set schedule each semester so the contractor could count on me being there.

The high in demand, hard to fill job is electrician with PLC and automation experience. That's the reason you would want to give for making the move. Look at any plant in the area doing production output and they're running some kind of automation. That's where your target employer would be. There is a race to the top to compete. Stunning improvements in the underlying technology makes automation possible that was not possible 20 or so years ago. It is just going to keep growing.

Regular electrical, the opposite may be true, there is a race to the bottom. Labor is in surplus relative to demand, and the surplus labor is being marshalled by the temp companies, rather than EC's as it would have been 20 years ago.

So, instead of working for an EC, someone who knows electrical at a high level, you may be working for some idiot temp agency scheduler who could not pick a fuse out of a box of copper pipe fittings if his life depended on it.

Look for some in house job with the employer, usually maintenance or facilities management, who has, and especially is, making a great investment in automation. Then they will want someone to just become familiar with the programming in order to diagnose and repair the process. Some of those are Homer Simpson jobs, sit in front of the big red button and wait for the nuke plant to start melting, and some are ... the employers run short staffed and electrician is also mechanic, general labor, operator, all at a lower than professional level.

Electrician only, no bargaining power. Electrician with PLC, you would have the option of quitting and taking another open spot, your prior spot would be hard to fill. They usually run those first and second shift equally.

For school, imo programming is where the demand and the money is.

 

[kwired]

The high in demand, hard to fill job is electrician with PLC and automation experience. That's the reason you would want to give for making the move. Look at any plant in the area doing production output and they're running some kind of automation. That's where your target employer would be. There is a race to the top to compete. Stunning improvements in the underlying technology makes automation possible that was not possible 20 or so years ago. It is just going to keep growing.

Regular electrical, the opposite may be true, there is a race to the bottom. Labor is in surplus relative to demand, and the surplus labor is being marshalled by the temp companies, rather than EC's as it would have been 20 years ago.

So, instead of working for an EC, someone who knows electrical at a high level, you may be working for some idiot temp agency scheduler who could not pick a fuse out of a box of copper pipe fittings if his life depended on it.

Look for some in house job with the employer, usually maintenance or facilities management, who has, and especially is, making a great investment in automation. Then they will want someone to just become familiar with the programming in order to diagnose and repair the process. Some of those are Homer Simpson jobs, sit in front of the big red button and wait for the nuke plant to start melting, and some are ... the employers run short staffed and electrician is also mechanic, general labor, operator, all at a lower than professional level.

Electrician only, no bargaining power. Electrician with PLC, you would have the option of quitting and taking another open spot, your prior spot would be hard to fill. They usually run those first and second shift equally.

For school, imo programming is where the demand and the money is.

I agree but will add that some of what you mentioned is also outsourced to the manufacturers/vendors of the equipment involved, especially while it is still new and under warranty. It is the second hand equipment that gets purchased by a little smaller plant that may need someone that knows how to work on it, which will also be when it is getting worn out enough that you will need a good troubleshooter to work on it. That warranty period probably only has a period of getting the bugs worked out and an occasional component failure that wasn't all that expected, past that everything becomes a bigger possibility of contributing to problems.