SELCAT lineman apprenticeship

The interview is the whole game here

SELCAT’s process page lists three things: the application, the interview, the ranked list. Each committee member gives you a score from 0 to 100, and your name stays on the list for two years. You can reapply after one year.

We could not find an entrance test anywhere on SELCAT’s apply or process pages. Of the programs that describe their steps, SELCAT is the only one with no aptitude test listed (MSLCAT’s standards say it may give the test after selection). So either SELCAT really doesn’t test, or its pages leave it out. Call the office before you plan around it.

If there’s no test, your score is your interview. Know why you want line work, what you’ve done that proves you can handle weather, travel and physical work, and how you’ve handled being told you were wrong. Read how the 0–100 interview works.

What you need in hand before you apply

• Proof you live in one of SELCAT’s nine states. It accepts residents only.
• A Class A CDL with the air brakes endorsement for overhead or underground. Permits are not accepted for any program. Substation takes a Class D.
• A valid DOT physical (medical) card.
• High school diploma or GED, plus one full credit of high school algebra with a passing grade, or a post-high-school algebra course, or ETA’s Online Tech Math course.
• The $25 application fee, and any line school certificates or transcripts you want considered.

Overhead is closed right now

When we checked, SELCAT’s apply page said overhead applications are closed and that it is still taking substation and underground applications. No reopening date was posted. Underground is a 4,000-hour, two-year program; overhead is 7,000 hours, about three and a half years.