Journeyman phone screen: questions that catch a laborer

A 15-minute phone screen catches most laborers calling themselves journeymen. Ask about the last job he ran, bending multipliers, the biggest pipe he's bent, the last gear he terminated and how he'd chase a dead circuit, then look up his card while he's still on the line. A real J-man answers in specifics without stopping to think. A helper answers in "we."

One national electrical contractor told us they kept getting "so-called journeymen that can't bend conduit... They're basically laborers," and said flatly: "We don't have the time nor the bandwidth to be able to deal with people like that." The screen below is built for that problem. It's step two of hiring a journeyman electrician, after the ad and before the interview.

01How to run the call

Same questions, same order, every applicant, which is the core of a structured interview per OPM. Write the answers down. It's 15 minutes, so keep it moving and don't teach on the call.

• Who calls: a foreman or someone who has run work. An office manager can read the questions, but can't hear a wrong answer.
• When: fast. A working journeyman is answering at lunch or after 3:30. Call back the same day he applies.
• What you're listening for: "I" and specifics (sizes, amps, brands of gear, the trade name of the job) versus "we" and "whatever they needed."

02The 10 questions

These are a starting bank, not an industry standard. Change the details to fit your work (service, commercial TI, industrial, data center).

1. What did you run on your last job, start to finish?

This is the one question to never skip. It sets up every other answer.

• J-man: "Three-story medical office, 14 months. I ran the second floor with an apprentice. EMT and MC to the devices, set and terminated two 225 amp panels, pulled the branch circuits, trimmed out." He names the job type, his piece of it and who worked under him.
• Helper: "Commercial. I did a little of everything. Pulled wire, helped the journeyman, whatever they needed."

2. What's the multiplier and shrink for a 30 degree offset? A 45?

A J-man who bends pipe every week knows these cold: 30 degrees is a multiplier of 2 with 1/4 inch of shrink per inch of offset; 45 degrees is about 1.4 with 3/8 inch per inch.

• J-man: gives both without a pause, may mention he uses 22s or 10s for small kicks.
• Helper: "I use the app," or "The journeyman marks it and I bend it."

A tip from a Mike Holt Forum thread on journeyman applicant quizzes: ask it plainly ("What is the bend multiplier for 30 degrees?"), not as a word problem about layout marks. You're testing what he does daily, not his reading speed.

3. What's the biggest pipe you've bent by hand, and the biggest on a machine?

• J-man: "Inch and a quarter EMT by hand. 2 inch on the electric bender. Ran a rack of six 1 inch across the mezzanine, all offsets lined up."
• Helper: "3/4, mostly. The big stuff the journeymen did."

Follow up on the rack. A hand who's run one can tell you how he laid out the offsets so they nest.

4. Last gear you terminated: what was it, and how did you torque it?

• J-man: names it ("800 amp switchboard, four sets of 350 aluminum"), says he torqued to the label with a torque wrench and marked the lugs. Current NEC editions require a calibrated torque tool when the label gives a value (110.14(D)).
• Helper: "Tightened them down good," or hasn't terminated anything bigger than a panel breaker.

5. Half the outlets on a 20 amp circuit are dead. Walk me through it.

• J-man: finds the last working device and the first dead one, checks hot to neutral and hot to ground at the dead one, looks for a burned backstab or a loose wire nut in between. If hot to ground reads and hot to neutral doesn't, he's looking for an open neutral.
• Helper: "Reset the breaker," then "swap the receptacle," then nothing.

6. Read me your card: name, number, class, state, expiration.

You look it up on the state board while he talks. See how to verify an electrician's license for the 5-minute check and the board link for each state. Watch for an apprentice or trainee class, a specialty class only, or an expired card.

7. Prints didn't match the field. Tell me the last time. What did you do?

• J-man: gives a real example, says who he told (foreman, GC's super) and how it got resolved.
• Helper: "I asked the journeyman." That's honest, and it tells you his level.

8. Who's worked under you, and what did you have them do?

• J-man: "One second-year. I had him pulling and making up devices while I laid out and bent." He sounds like he's run a two-man crew.
• Helper: never had anyone under him, or can't say what they did.

9. What made you pull the pin on your last job?

This is the leave question. Listen to the reason, then hold it against your job.

• Good sign: the phase ended, the rate was cut, the per diem stopped, he got short-termed, a bad foreman. Reasons that make sense and that your job doesn't repeat.
• Bad sign: three jobs in six months with three different stories, or blame for everyone but him.

10. How long are you good for, and what would make you leave before this job's done?

Tell him the job length and the whole check: rate, hours, per diem with its unit, how long it runs. Then ask. A hand who says "if somebody offers me $2 more" is telling you the truth. Better to hear it now.

03Look up the card while he's on the phone

It takes under 5 minutes and saves the foreman's morning. Ask for the number, open the state board's lookup, and read the class and expiration date back to him.

If the card is from another state, ask which state the job is in versus where his card is from, then check whether the job state takes it. If he's licensed in a state with no statewide card, ask which city issued it.

04What flags a hand who'll leave in a month

These don't disqualify anyone. They tell you what it'll take to keep him to the end.

• "What's your rate now, and what do you need to move?" If your number is under his current rate, he's taking it until something better calls.
• "Are you traveling or local? Where's home?" A traveler three states from home on a job with no per diem won't last.
• "What hours do you want?" If he wants 6-10s and you're running 5-8s, he'll leave for OT.
• "Have you ever left a job before it was done? Why?"
• "Who else are you talking to?" A man with two other offers is weighing yours on the whole check.

One national electrical contractor told us their job "doesn't pay enough to hold these guys down to where they can stay long term until the job's over." The screen is where you find that out, before day one instead of week three. For the full playbook, see how to keep a crew until the job's done.

05Red flags on the application or resume

These come before the call. None of them alone is a no. Two or more is a reason to ask hard questions.

• No card number, or "license pending" with no state named.
• Titles with no work in them: "Electrician, 2019 to 2024" and nothing about what he ran.
• Only staffing agency employers and no projects named. Agencies send good hands too, but ask what the jobs were.
• Every trade at once: journeyman electrician, HVAC tech and plumber on one page.
• Job changes every two or three months with no travel work to explain it.
• "Journeyman" with two years in the trade. Apprenticeships typically run 4 or 5 years, per the BLS. Check the card.

06How to score it

Keep it simple: four trade questions (2, 3, 4 and 5) decide whether he's a journeyman for your work.

Then a card that doesn't check out ends it, whatever the score. The screen gets you to a short list. The journeyman interview questions and a hands-on test (see the journeyman skills checklist) decide who starts.

If you'd rather not run these calls yourself, apply here and we'll see if we can put 5 licensed electricians in front of you in 14 days. Each one comes with his license checked and the work he's done on one page.

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