Plant Careers

At our power generating plants, there are two main paths that can be pursued:

Plant operations: includes the start-up, continuous running and shutdown of systems and components within the plant.

Plant maintenance: preventative and corrective maintenance on equipment is performed, ensuring everything is working as it should.

Whichever path you choose, your journey would begin with learning the nuts and bolts of plant operations or maintenance and could advance into apprentice level positions in a trade such as mechanic, electrician or operator. As your skills develop, you may decide to pursue a journeyman level position in your area of expertise, or you might consider a supervisory role. Other growth opportunities may exist depending on your interests and sometimes your education.

Some day-to-day responsibilities at a glance:

• Inspect, monitor, and operate fuel systems, fuel oil transfer and supply lines, and associated equipment
• Operate condensate and feedwater systems, circulating and cooling water systems and condensate and makeup systems
• Collect and prepare fuel samples
• Perform preventative maintenance ("checkups") on generation equipment and repair, if necessary

Customer Service Careers

What we look for:

• "Customer comes first" and "my pleasure to serve you" attitude
• Enjoy working in a high-volume/fast-paced environment
• Ability to accurately count and balance money
• Strong decision-making abilities and ability to work with little supervision

Whether you work at one of our local offices, 24/7 call centers or another location, customers will rely on you to fulfill their request in a courteous and speedy manner. Exceptional customer service helps maintain high customer satisfaction and strengthens customer confidence in the dependability of Southern Company and the services we provide.

Entry-level Customer Service titles vary by location. When searching jobs, look for these titles:

• Customer Service Representative
• Service and Sales Representative
• Service Consultants

Some day-to-day responsibilities at a glance:

• Manage and resolve high volume of customer calls (call centers)
• Handle large volume of payments and balance money accurately each day (local offices)
• Process all types of service orders (connect/disconnect, etc.)
• Handle customer service questions related to billing, collections, deposits, and outages
• Identify customer needs and promote products and services offered

Possible Customer Service Career Paths:

Starting in Customer Service can open many doors. As you master your skills, you might choose to work towards a specialty area like customer accounting, business specialist or training. If you have bilingual skills, there may be an opportunity for you to earn more money. Some people aspire to supervisory roles while others decide to pursue administrative support opportunities or other paths of advancement.

Line Careers

It is the Line workers’ job to keep our systems in good repair. They work on or around the high voltage wires and equipment that carry electricity from the plant to your home or business. They also perform the task of restoring power after severe storms. Line workers are the lifeblood of the utility business.

A career as a line worker offers many options. Opportunities in distribution are generally in a local region; regions can be reassigned. These crews climb poles and maintain or construct power lines. Opportunities in transmission are on roving crews that travel the state to complete their work. Transmission crews work on either:

• The line team, which climbs poles and maintains or constructs power lines
• The substation team, which maintains or constructs substations.

Some day-to-day responsibilities at a glance:

• Adhering to the safety standards of the company
• Assisting in the daily construction and maintenance of the distribution and transmission systems in order to provide service in a safe, timely and economical manner
• Responding to and correcting problems with the electrical distribution system during normal working hours, after hours, nights and weekends and in extreme weather conditions
• Inspecting and testing power lines and other equipment using special reading and testing devices
• Building lines, setting poles, hanging transformers and connecting service
• Working with customers while in the field

Engineering Careers

Engineering opportunities at Southern Company exist at our power generating plants, distribution and transmission units, and our corporate offices.

• Our generating plant engineers are involved in the maintenance, operation and design of energy plants. These plants meet constant demand with a portfolio of renewable energy sources like hydro, solar, biomass and wind along with fossil-fuel combustion and nuclear to balance sustainability, affordability, reliability and security.
• Distribution and transmission units cover all power lines and substations between the power generating plant and your home or business. They study and design the expansion of our line and substation system to meet future demand. They also consult with customers on our products and services and propose solutions that best serve them.
• Our corporate engineers work at corporate offices, in the field and/or at construction sites, and support projects at any of our business units depending on need. Some examples are retrofitting plants with modern environmental controls and planning and design for the construction of new nuclear plants.

Southern Company hires experienced and new grad engineers including the following disciplines: Electrical, Mechanical, Civil, Environmental, Chemical, Industrial, and Nuclear. Engineering students can learn more about student programs here.

Possible Engineer Career Path:

There are two common growth paths for engineers at Southern Company. Some become technical experts and reach principlal, lead project engineer or consulting engineer positions. Others follow a managerial path leading to supervisor or manager and sometimes beyond.