I heard about my current job through the Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW). I was looking for something within the electrical engineering field since that's what I'm studying in college.I went to the Workforce 1 Career Center to inquire about jobs, and that's when I learned about NEW. After graduating from NEW’s pre-apprenticeship program, I started working at Con Edison as a Meter Reader, which is also known as the Customer Field Representative.
Recently, I was promoted to Electric Meter Technician B position that I'm in now. I like that my job currently incorporates electrical engineering because I'm learning about energy and how it works. I'm still in the bachelor's degree program. Since I work full time, I have to take one or two classes at a time because I don't want to over exert myself.
I have 100% tuition reimbursement. Con Edison itself really has taken a load off of its employees as far as the day-to-day expenses that we may have. Whether it's health insurance, auto insurance, home insurance, you name it. These are things that you have to deal with, especially when you have a child. We even have a childcare service. They put emphasis on making sure that we're safe.
Safety is a key aspect. As far as doing your job, it's always safety first and everything else follows upon working safely.
I feel that unions are really big on that, whereas if you weren't in a union their main focus is on the bottom line -- how much revenue is going to be produced. At Con Edison, I know that my managers and coworkers are looking out for my safety.
The first thing I would tell a young woman about as far as getting a job is, learn who you are as a person. Think about things that you would like to be doing. I would also tell the same female not to rush into college because there's a misconception that you have to go to college to have a good career. We have seen a lot of times that that's not true. A lot of people have surmounting student loan debt that they can't pay, and a lot of people are working in fields that are not even what they went to school for. I would advise young women to find out who they are, find the different things they like and see what satisfies them the most.
You don't have to go after the highest paying job, because that job, even though it's high paying, could be stressful. You don't know what else is behind it. I would advise them to do research, find out what different things they enjoy, and to try to look for that in a career, because you want to be doing something that you're comfortable with doing and that you can see yourself doing for a while.
I started off as a customer field representative going into different places like people’s homes or businesses. That job was a provisional job, but I foresaw something more. Even though there were some people who told me that I would not make it out of the title, I was determined to see how far I could go. I didn't let anybody deter me from what I had planned to do, especially when I found out that the company provided tuition reimbursement. At the time, I was just starting to go back to school, and it was a huge help that the company was going to pay for it. I made sure to do the best that I could do within my job. I always completed the tasks I was assigned to and always treated the customers with respect. We should always give each other respect because we’re all human beings. When it came to jobs being posted on the company’s website, I would look to see what job was being offered, think about the qualifications that I had and whether they were in line with the job, and I would fill out the application. I’m here because I persevered and didn't let anybody tell me what I could or could not do. I also networked with different people in different departments that I could see myself in. I inquired about specific jobs to find out more information than what was written on the website. A job posting can tell you in so many words what a job entails, but you still want to talk to somebody that's working in the job so you can learn about what else goes into the job that isn’t specifically mentioned. That's what I did, so here I am.
One stereotype about union members I would like to dispel is that we work less and get paid more.
What I love about unions is that we maintain strict safety guidelines, whereas other people who are not in unions are just there to get the job done. If someone gets hurt, that person is easily replaceable. So yes, union labor might cost more, but it’s because they want to do things safely. When you do things safely, whether it's constructing or demolishing, it may cost more because you're doing it in a manner where lives are not going to be lost and there aren’t going to be any injuries. As a member of Con Edison’s Environmental Health and Safety Committee would say, they want us to go home the same way that we came in. I would like to dispel that we're basically doing the same job as someone that isn’t in a union is and getting paid more. We're here to do a job that doesn’t involve loss of life or loss of limbs. We want to make sure that everyone goes home safely.
– Candace Henderson, Con Edison, UWUA Local 1-2 (Utility Workers of America)
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A photography project of Workforce Development Institute - Shining a spotlight on women emerging in the union workforce.