Northwest Lineman College Reviews

Pros

Some great coworkers and departments You get lots of PTO if you can find time to take it

Cons

Poor pay unless you are an in the right group (instructors or executives). The rest are often below average some departments more than others. They push their "like a family" moto as if it's a good thing but have you even been in a dysfunctional family that always fights and back stabs... That is this the type of "family" you see here. They will try to constantly have you do work way outside tour job description starting "other duties" or "team player". They always hire their family for positions even if internal employees are better qualified. If you aren't their peon they will try to force you out. This is worst in ID at the corporate level. The executives do not care about their employees just their friends. They like to put on shows (literally it's called the KOSA show) and big company events (The Gathering) and claim it's for the employees but only really want to show off themselves and how important they believe they are. They have no care about the actual people.

Pros

The people you work with here are the best! The company commits to only hiring and retaining A players, and they normally do a great job at it. There are a few people that come off as elitist, but they're the exception, not the rule. Another big plus is the amount of growth this company is going though has created tons of opportunity.

Cons

The amount of growth in the last 10 years has created a ton of opportunities, but it's also created an environment of constant change, and at times, uncertainty. This can be very difficult for people that need a constant routine to function.

Pros

I got lucky and had an incredible supervisor during my time at NLC. She genuinely cared about my success and did her best to help me manage my workload. My team was full of wickedly smart people who were passionate about the work they produced, and they were all kind and fun to work with.

Cons

However... the culture at NLC is the most toxic culture I have ever been in. There is so much change happening all at once that nobody really knows what's going on. Timelines and expectations move so quickly that burnout is expected - but you have to keep going. Top-level leadership isn't listening to staff. During one KOSA call, I remember the CEO taking questions from staff. One question was, "Do you foresee the pace slowing down anytime soon? It's been a difficult past year and it's been hard to keep up" (not the exact wording, but the jist of it). And the CEO laughed. She LAUGHED. The question was very obviously focused on how employees were having a hard time keeping up with the change and massive workload. I had coworkers sending me emails at 11:30pm, 1am, and Saturdays and Sundays. Once I heard the CEO laugh and say that the pace would not be slowing down, I knew I had to get out of there. I've never experienced burnout like I did at NLC. I'm not afraid of hard work and I enjoy being busy, but this workload was insane. My supervisor tried her best to help manage the work, but there's only so much you can do when everybody is under the same (or more) pressure. After I left, I heard that a big portion of my team also left NLC for similar reasons.

Pros

Good pay and benefits compared to any other similar position in the valley.

Cons

Never seen so much nepotism before, unless you are related to someone in the company, you won't ever grow. Toxic work environment that provides no room for growth. Constantly just giving leadership different titles and promotions but 95% of employees stay where they have always been. They act as if they listen but nothing ever changes. You won't ever do your job for the students, it's all for leadership, which wasn't the original goal. Culture used to be awesome, now it's totally gone and everything is profit-focused.

Pros

Good pay and benefits You'll like your peers Flexible work location Nice facilities

Cons

Priorities change daily - immature leadership is reactive Leadership issues that leadership ironically tries to fix with constant restructuring and role changes for the rest of the staff Unhappy staff stays for pay and benefits and keep their complaints to trusted peers to avoid consequences. The result is a silent, toxic culture in some areas. The cycle continues.

Pros

Benefits are pretty good actually

Cons

Coworkers are so very toxic