Welcome to the third and final installment of our ‘how to become a tower climber’ series. This final article offers tips on building a great resume and where to look for a tower climber job across the Web. To read information about the necessary experience, certifications, training, and equipment, click here. To learn about a tower climber’s work schedule, pay, and benefits, click here.
Once again, we spoke to sources at Global Recruiters of Blackhawk, Verticom, TelForce Group, and working tower climbers to gain these insights.
Put it in writing
Now you know the work schedule of a tower climber and what is expected — and you’re still in. Great! Next you would be inclined to look for a job, but not so fast. Before even looking for a job you need a great resume. Can you believe we’ve actually heard that some climbers don’t even have a resume? Seems strange, but it’s true. Recruiters and tower foremen agree, having a resume is essential to landing a climber position and puts you miles ahead of someone who doesn’t have one. But not just any resume. Make sure of all the following when creating your resume:
- Checked for correct spelling and grammar
- Updated as recently as possible
- List all relevant work, skills, and leadership roles (volunteer, military or job)
- Include references
References are critical. Potential employers want to see that a former employer thinks highly enough of you to put it in writing. References from former co-workers are far less desirable, but better than nothing. If you can get a letter of reference from someone already in the industry this can go a long way toward at least getting that first interview. Consider it your “foot in the door.”
Pro Tip: Word processors display documents very different depending on a person’s settings. To avoid someone seeing your resume in a strange way that makes him or her think you can’t format properly, save your resume in .PDF format. It will look the same on every computer and device.
Where to find a job
Now that you’ve got a polished resume, it’s time to start the job search. In this digital age, there are plenty of places to search for jobs. Fortunately there are several tower climber specific job boards to consider. TelecomCareers is a sister site of RCR Wireless News and has dozens of tower climber jobs across the country with the nation’s top infrastructure services companies, such as MasTec. Other tower job boards include Wireless Estimator, TowerClimber, and Inside Towers.
LinkedIn has made a name for itself as a place for professionals to connect to others in their industry, as well as find great jobs. Companies do sometimes post tower climber jobs on LinkedIn, but in this writer’s experience it’s mostly the more “director” and office type jobs that get posted on LinkedIn. Your mileage may vary of course, but definitely set up an account and upload your resume if you have the time. It’s definitely worth considering if you want to connect with a certain company or a person at a company to gain more information on a job or the industry in general. There are some great tower industry groups too.
General purpose job boards such as Indeed, Monster, and Craigslist are another option, but searching through these can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. Not to say that you couldn’t find good jobs here, but it’s going to take a lot of time wading through other stuff to get to what you want to see. It’s probably best to stick to tower industry-specific boards.
There’s also the old-fashioned approach: word of mouth. There are several tower climber Facebook groups including this one and this one where people post about jobs that they hear about while working on sites, or post positions at the company they’re currently working for. It’s also a good place to read real slice of life experiences from people already in the position and great for connecting with fellow climbers if you indeed choose this as your profession.
Last Bits of Advice
Become very familiar with OSHA. Know the statistics and death rates, and be sure to research the companies you’re looking to apply to.- Remember to be flexible. In telecom things can change due to delays in equipment, changing needs in specific markets, and zoning issues. Sometimes you just have to go where the work is.
- This is a very physical occupation. When you climb, there might be 50lbs of equipment at least that you’re hauling to the top of the tower.
- When you start, be patient with experienced tower dogs. They may not climb as fast as you, but they have years of experience that you would be wise to learn from as much as possible.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s the advice a relatively new tower climber wanted to share:
“I’ve been climbing for about two months. I would consider myself to still be green. I would say a lot of the job is being able to think on the fly and as a green you really have to learn fast. The old heads in this industry usually don’t enjoy babysitting. That being said if you can work hard, have a thick skin, and think climbing a big jungle gym to work every day sounds awesome then I say go for it. I’ve learned a lot about the industry in my time working already and it moves fast, most people are safe, and everything seems to involve troubleshooting.”
Featured Image Copyright: stuartphoto / 123RF Stock Photo
Resume Image Copyright: andreypopov / 123RF Stock Photo
