Pay. By far pay is the worst. Alright for a T1 (0-1 years experience), T2 status (2+yrs) or anything higher I wouldn't bother applying if you want better pay. The issue with the department is that they want people to take on a lot of responsibility with little pay. They aren't competitive at all. Even if you are promoted from within the pay isn't much. They hire fresh graduates as contractors paying them 55k-60k. Once they convert them to full time hires, salary increase is based on that 55k-60k. The guys I worked with get a increased percentage based on that 55k-60k after they are hired directly. Most of them saw an increase from 60k to 63k. Keep in mind this is after a year of being with the company. Other distribution companies have their starting salaries at 68k if not more. Every pay increase is based off of the number you start as a contractor even after you get converted to full time, it is based on the number you start, so aim high and negotiate to at least 66-68k. This is the same case for T2 and T3. They will try to keep you as much as they can at a T2 to avoid having a pay increase to T3. Only come here if you are starting. They will promote from the inside as they can't find anybody to take higher roles for less. This is due to the work being very easy and straight-forward. The job here is summarized to two words. Pole replacements. Work literally consists of replacing single poles like for like. It's just copy-pasting. The work is super easy which makes it the perfect place for people looking to get experience, but don't expect good pay for it. This is just to get your feet wet and leave. The more experienced folk, you will be underpaid. You will find no one here at a T3 level or higher because the pay isn't there, and there's reason for it, the pay is easy enough that a T1 can do it as effective. Department mentality is to hire unexperienced as they won't mind the pay and need the experience. Company always promises that they are growing 4x more. Bonuses only exists for T3s and higher which is why they try to keep everyone at T2 or lower. They take the labor of the fruit from all the T1's pumping jobs and don't compensate. If you start here you will expected to do more than just design. You will be expected to take on other tasks such as creating work orders, do HR statuses for others (like background checks - which by the way, surprises me as they have a designer doing this and don't pay for an hr assistant to do this), you will be typing documents on processes, automating/code, checking other peoples work, etc. You will be expected to take on these responsibilities without any compensation on pay. These tasks will be added on to you with the expectation that your work load, that you were hired to do, doesn't decline. Word of advice - Great for beginners, if your having a hard time finding something apply here, do your time and leave. For those that have experience, don't bother if you want more pay, if you want to have experience managing and doing other tasks apply here, but be prepared to not get paid for it.
