Telephone and PBX Installers and Repairers

Employers

Approximately 215,700 telecommunications equipment installers and repairers are employed in the United States. Telephone installers work for telecommunications companies. They also work for companies that provide phone equipment and services for hotels. Companies that install and service security systems for homes and businesses also employ installers.

Starting Out

Job seekers in this field should contact the employment offices of local telephone companies. Pre-employment tests may be given to determine your knowledge and aptitude for the work.

Newly hired workers learn their skills in programs that last several months. The programs may combine on-the-job work experience with formal classroom instruction and self-instruction using materials such as videos and training manuals. Trainees practice such tasks as connecting telephones to service wires in classrooms that simulate real working conditions. They also accompany experienced workers to job sites and observe them as they work. After they have learned how to install telephone equipment, workers need additional training to become telephone repairers, PBX installers, or PBX repairers.

If there are no openings in the training program at the time they are hired, new workers are assigned instead to some other type of job until openings develop. It is common for openings for installer and repairer positions to be filled by workers who are already employed in other jobs with the same company. In the future, it probably will be even more difficult for workers coming in from outside to get these jobs.