Rural Missouri - March 2021 - 4

R M | C O O P E R AT I O N

Consider a
co-op career

Electric co-ops are looking for the best and brightest employees to replace those who are retiring.

Electric co-ops are great places to work

lectric cooperative employees tend to be a
happy group of people. There's a good reason
why. It's their job to provide affordable, reliable electric service. But in doing that they
also make a difference in the lives of their members. They do this by being a part of the community. They may also work closely with members to
help ensure their electric bills are affordable.
Small wonder that electric co-op employees
tend to stay on the job a long time. For example,
at Ozark Border Electric Cooperative Joyce Goodrum retired after 54 years with the cooperative's
accounting team. Farmers' Electric recently celebrated the retirement of three long-term employees
who together had a total of 93 years of experience.
Across the nation, an increasing number of veteran employees are retiring at electric co-ops. And
while that has caused headaches for those tasked
with ﬁnding their replacements, it's created great
opportunities for those who will ﬁll their shoes.
In February, the Touchstone Energy job center listed 284 job openings at 134 of the nation's
900 electric cooperatives. In Missouri, those jobs
included lineman, ﬁber construction coordinator,
manager of operations, apprentice telecommunications technician, storeroom assistant and general
manager to name just a few.
What's it like to work for an electric cooperative?
Ask Kevin Little, a lineman for Osage Valley Electric Cooperative, who celebrated New Year's Eve

photo by Jim McCarty

RURAL MISSOURI | MARCH 2021

outdoors in the cold repairing damage from an ice
storm. Despite the experience, he who wrote this
tribute to the job he's held for 36 years:
" I didn't realize how an employer could almost
become a second home. I never realized just how
much a job could incorporate itself into your life.
I never dreamed that down the road just the mention of a member's name would trigger a memory of
work done at that location, sometime years earlier!
Ice, tornadoes, rain, snow, hot days and freezing
nights ... it doesn't matter, the show must go on. If
you're not cut out for this work, you won't stay. If
you're careless, you might not live. But if the hours
and weather don't bother you, and your body
doesn't give out, the co-op will become a way of life.
A way of life that has been good to me. "
Kevin and others like him appreciate the fact
that they work for a business that puts service
above proﬁts. They know the work can be difﬁcult
and challenging. But in the end they are making
the world - or at least their small corner of it - a
better place in which to live.
Linemen are the most visible co-op employees. However electric co-ops require accountants,
mechanics, customer service reps, engineers, communicators and more to get the job done.
If you think a cooperative career might be in your
future, check out the job listings online at careers.
electric.coop.

http://careers.electric.coop http://careers.electric.coop

Rural Missouri - March 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - March 2021