Working at Consumers Energy in Muskegon, MI: 1 Employee Job Reviews by Real Employee working in Muskegon, MI Area

"The truth ... the WHOLE TRUTH ... and nothing but the truth!"

What do you like about working at Consumers Energy?

"I enjoyed not being tied to a desk. The position offers a great opportunity to have a healthy balance of working indoors and outdoors. I also liked most to the people I had to work with. The linemen were hard working and honest. They offered constructive criticism a majority of the time. My peers were also very helpful and would often offer advice or assistance. Several peers helped to mentor since the training and Job Coaches left a lot to be desired."

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Be aware that there is a lot of politics involved in the position. You are subject to the incompetence of management, their whims, the pressure to not make upgrades if it will cost the company money and being held responsible if something bad happens after you have done what you have been told to do. Management will direct you to charge exorbitant fees for questionable designs, then make you deal with the irate customer. You will probably be penalized if the customer threatens to file a complaint with the MPSC. I would really suggest that if you could find another place to work for, you consider it."

What don't you like about working at Consumers Energy?

"Management seem to consist of those who were failures at being CES's and were promoted so they would not kill themselves or someone else. There was a constant pressure to ignore voltage problems and overloaded transformers if it meant that it would cost the company money to effect improvements. Real training was non existent, everything is self taught with trainers overseeing a self passed reading course. Job Coaches pride themselves on testing for material not presented or taught. You are constantly caught in gotcha questions on tests provided by Coaches, with tests being a Go / No Go situation. Coaches are given great latitudes to consider how a test is scored and there is very little if any supervision of Coaches."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Fire everyone and start over from scratch. Not only have they mismanaged the finances of the company, there are several other mismanaged areas in the corporation. I have no confidence in most if not all the management starting with the head of Muskegon / Lakeshore headquarters and going right up the chain to Corporate in Jackson. Each headquarters is its own little kingdom run in whatever way the manager deems fit. There is very little continuity from one headquarters to another. The business is run by self serving and pathological liars who are more worried about themselves than they are about their employees or their customers."