Working in the trade already? Start here.
This page has three parts: what the training center offers working electricians, where an electrical career can go, and how to reach the union hall. New to the trade? Go to How to apply instead.
Two different places
The training center (this website) — classes, certifications, the apprenticeship. New Castle. 724-775-6920.
The union hall — IBEW Local 712: membership, hiring and work assignments, wages and contracts. Beaver. 724-775-0969.
Training for working electricians
This is the training center's part. The apprenticeship is for people starting out; these are for electricians who have finished it or trained elsewhere.
Classes
Code updates, new systems, safety, and specialty courses, taught at the training center in New Castle. The current list and sign-up are in the same online system apprentices use.
confirm: is there a public class list to link, or is it login-only?
Instrumentation certification
Electricians who work on instrumentation — the sensors, transmitters and controls in plants — hold a national certification that has to be renewed. Check yours, or send in a renewal; the training center processes it.
Questions about training
Call the training center at 724-775-6920 or email [email protected] confirm. For anything about membership or work, see the union hall below.
Where the career goes
Finishing an apprenticeship makes you a fully qualified electrician — the trade's word is journeyman. From there the work, and the career, branch out.
The kinds of work
Commercial and industrial
Conduit and wiring, lighting and power, motors and controls, fire alarm, data and communication systems, troubleshooting and maintenance. This is the work our apprenticeship trains for.
Low-voltage systems
Data networks, security and access control, sound and video, building automation.
More about this work confirm link
Residential
Wiring and service work in houses and apartment buildings.
More about this work confirm link
Moving up
Field experience plus training opens the doors that lead off the tools:
- Foreman — runs a crew
- General foreman — runs several crews
- Superintendent — runs the job
- Estimator — prices the work
- Project manager — runs the contract
- Instructor — teaches at the training center
- Training Director — runs the program
College credit and degrees
Credit for the apprenticeship
The American Council on Education recommends up to 60 college credits for the apprenticeship. Colleges that accept the recommendation count that time toward a degree, so you are not starting from zero.
Associate degree — CCBC
The Community College of Beaver County combines apprenticeship training with general-education courses for an associate degree.
link to the CCBC program page
Bachelor's degree — Rowan University
Through the electrical training ALLIANCE's partnership with Rowan, graduates can earn a Bachelor of Arts in Construction Management, or certificates in construction management, project management and leadership, mostly online.
Rowan partnership details confirm best link
The union hall
IBEW Local 712 is the electricians' union for Beaver, Lawrence, Mercer and Crawford Counties. It is a separate organization from the training center, with its own office in Beaver. These are the things it handles — not us.
Joining the union
If you learned the trade outside a union apprenticeship — on the job, in the military, through another program — contact the hall. confirm: does the hall assess experience and place people, and is a hands-on test at the training center part of it?
Work and hiring
Work assignments, hiring, wages and the contract with the contractors are all through the hall. Contractors who want to hire union electricians start there too.
Contact the hall
IBEW Local 712
Beaver, Pennsylvania street address
724-775-0969
ibew712.org
Contact the training center
- Address
- 3891 Wilmington Road
Neshannock Township, PA 16105 - Phone
- 724-775-6920
- [email protected] confirm
- Office hours
- Monday–Friday, hours to confirm
