How to Hire a Lineman: License, Pay, Where to Recruit, and How to Screen

The job on your crews is the grid itself. BLS lists the core duties of electrical power-line installers and repairers: installing, maintaining, or repairing the power lines that move electricity; stringing cable between poles, towers, and buildings; identifying defective devices; inspecting and testing lines; climbing poles and towers or working from bucket trucks; and operating power equipment.

State the physical demands plainly, because they are essential functions of the role rather than preferences. BLS describes power-line work as physically demanding: workers must be comfortable at great heights and in confined spaces, and able to climb and balance on poles and towers. Under the ADA, a written job description prepared before you advertise or interview is evidence of which functions are essential — so put those functions in the posting.

The role also carries a training clock. Power-line installers typically come up through apprenticeships or employer programs that may last up to 3 years, combining on-the-job training with technical instruction, so a ground-level hire is a multi-year investment before they carry journeyman-level work. That shapes the central crew-planning decision: recruit journeyman linemen now, or develop apprentices and wait.

The worker-side view of this trade — what the work is like, how people enter it, and how it differs from inside wireman work — lives on what a lineman does; this page stays on the hiring side.

Start with the credential that attaches to the truck. BLS says line workers who drive heavy vehicles usually need a state-issued commercial driver's license (CDL), and workers who drive crews that cross state lines need an interstate CDL subject to FMCSA rules. The federal trigger is concrete: FMCSA's definition of a commercial motor vehicle requiring a CDL includes a straight truck with a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 lb or more — or a combination rated at 26,001 lb or more towing over 10,000 lb.

The trade license itself is a state-by-state question, and the shapes differ. Texas licenses linemen through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR): a Journeyman Lineman license covers the maintenance and operation of equipment associated with transmitting and distributing electricity from its original source to a substation for further distribution. Eligibility runs through 7,000 hours in a USDOL-approved apprenticeship, or 3.5 years of experience as a journeyman lineman for a Texas utility, co-op, municipal utility or electrical contractor, plus an exam; the license is valid one year and renews annually. Minnesota issues a state lineman license as well — it lets the holder install, maintain, and repair utility transmission and distribution systems — and asks for at least 48 months of experience in wiring for, installing, and repairing electrical wiring, apparatus, or equipment for an electrical utility.

One wording detail matters to employers who staff both trades: TDLR describes the Journeyman Lineman license as a limited license and not the equivalent of a Journeyman Electrician license. In Texas, then, a lineman license does not stand in for a Journeyman Electrician license. Because license classes and eligibility rules are set state by state and change, confirm the class your jurisdiction requires with your state licensing board before you write the posting or make the offer.

The national benchmark is BLS's Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey for May 2025. For Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers (SOC 49-9051), national, all industries, it reports a median of $45.83 per hour ($95,320 per year). The middle half of the distribution runs from $32.34 per hour at the 25th percentile to $52.76 at the 75th; the 10th percentile is $24.74 and the 90th is $61.87. OEWS estimates employment in the occupation at 131,070.

Three cautions keep the number honest. OEWS covers the occupation, not the tier: it does not split apprentice pay from journeyman pay, so the 10th percentile is not an apprentice wage. It does not split union from non-union pay either — if a collective bargaining agreement covers your crews, the negotiated scale in that agreement is the figure that governs, so look there rather than to a national median. And it is a national, all-industry number: benchmark the offer against your own service territory.

If you send crews to storm or travel assignments, reimbursements carry their own rule. Under the FLSA, travel reimbursements — including per diem — are excluded from the regular rate used to compute overtime only when they reasonably approximate the expense; amounts at or below the federal travel or IRS rates are treated as reasonable.

The competition is measurable. BLS projects employment of electrical power-line installers and repairers to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,900 openings per year on average over the decade. Plan on running more than one channel at once.

List the role on the board: your lineman jobs listing is the job-seeker side of this page. If your crews work under a collective bargaining agreement, ask the local how its referral and dispatch procedure works before you post; if you hire merit shop, your own applications and referrals are the pipeline. Either way, the hiring process guide walks the full sequence, and hiring electricians: the employer guide is the employer-side starting point.

Widen the funnel deliberately. EEOC guidance warns that relying on word-of-mouth recruiting from a mostly homogeneous workforce may violate the law if it results in a homogeneous pool of new hires, and job ads may not show a preference for, or discourage, applicants based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (40+), disability or genetic information. Women were 3.8% of electrical power-line installers and repairers in 2025 (BLS Current Population Survey) — a referrals-only funnel starts from a narrow base.

Developing your own is the other channel. Apprenticeships and employer programs combine on-the-job training with technical instruction and may last up to 3 years (BLS); entry rules belong to the program that sets them. One named example: the California-Nevada JATC's outside lineman apprenticeship runs 7,000 hours over nearly four years in seven steps, with minimum requirements of age 18, a high school diploma or GED, and a valid unrestricted commercial driver's license.

Screen in the order the rules attach: driving and license credentials first, then background checks, then anything touching medical or physical capability.

Driving and DOT compliance. If the role operates a commercial motor vehicle and needs a CDL, FMCSA's drug-and-alcohol testing rules (49 CFR part 382) apply to you as the employer. A CDL driver must have a verified negative pre-employment drug test before first performing safety-sensitive functions, and you must run a pre-employment query of the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse before the driver performs safety-sensitive work.

Background checks. Before ordering a background report, the Fair Credit Reporting Act requires a clear written disclosure in a document that consists solely of that disclosure — it cannot sit inside the employment application — plus the applicant's written authorization. Before taking adverse action based on a report, give the person a copy of the report and a written description of their rights under the FCRA.

Physical capability. You may ask whether and how a candidate can perform the job's functions — working at heights, confined spaces, climbing and balancing — but the ADA bars questions about disability and medical exams before a job offer. Keep the wording on the job's essential functions, which is another reason the written description from the first section matters. And if you run a hands-on field trial at the yard or a training field, FLSA rules treat work the employer suffers or permits as work time: a working trial is generally paid time.

Cards are not credentials. An OSHA 10 or OSHA 30 completion card is neither a license nor a substitute for training under the standards that govern line work — OSHA says Outreach classes do not fulfil an employer's training duties under specific standards, and calls the 30-hour class more appropriate for supervisors or workers with some safety responsibility. Screen for the license class the jurisdiction requires and documented training for the work itself, and confirm both with your state licensing board.

Set the safety frame on day one, and name the standards. OSHA's construction rules for electric power transmission and distribution lines live in 29 CFR part 1926 Subpart V (1926.950 onward); line maintenance work falls under 29 CFR 1910.269. Construction employers must instruct each employee in recognizing and avoiding unsafe conditions, and must provide frequent and regular inspections of job sites, materials, and equipment by competent persons the employer designates. If you take travelers through a staffing agency, OSHA treats the staffing agency and the host employer as jointly responsible for the temporary worker's safety, and recommends putting each side's compliance responsibilities in the contract.

The administrative steps have fixed clocks. On Form I-9, the employee completes Section 1 at the time of hire and the employer completes Section 2 within three business days of hire; report the new hire to the state where they work within 20 days, sooner in some states.

Retention in this trade tracks what you screened for. The training pipeline is long — BLS says apprenticeship and employer programs may last up to 3 years, and the California-Nevada JATC's lineman apprenticeship runs nearly four years — so a journeyman lineman who leaves is not replaced from the street in a season. Be explicit while hiring about storm availability, travel, and call-out expectations; a lineman surprised by the storm rotation is avoidable turnover. Pair that with the development ladder: linemen who can see the next rung on your crews — lead, crew chief, a substation or relay specialization — have a reason to build their hours with you rather than with the next outfit.

Employer information, not licensing, legal, code, or safety advice. License classes, CDL requirements, and DOT and OSHA duties vary by state and by contract — confirm with your state licensing board, and with the FMCSA, OSHA, or employment counsel for your own situation.