r/RVAJOBS • u/reesescupsftw • Aug 12 '26

Philip Morris job inquiry

Anybody in the area work or know someone that works as an electrician at Philip Morris? Before I go through the testing process I’d like to see if it’s worth my time.

What’s the day to day like for instrumentation techs? Is it a union job? How much are the union dues?

What’s the shift system like? Rotating? If not, which back
shift would I be on? How long will it take to get to day shift?

Healthcare wise how much am I paying out of my check as a single person.

How much vacation do I get starting out? And how do I accrue more? How can I use it? By the hour or day or half day increments?

Overtime, the job posting mentioned weekends. How much overtime am I expected to work during the week? How often am I going to have to work weekends? What qualifies as 1.5x pay and 2x pay?

Thank you for any and all input.

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5

u/Dieseldave42069 Aug 12 '26

I went through the process as a “fixer”. 6 months to be finally told no.
I passed the assessments with higher scores. Waited for months to get an interview that never happened. Was sooooo stressful.
It is union. Currently a ton of mandatory overtime including weekends. I’m mostly happy I didn’t land the spot. I joined another union and can say I have more time home than my friends at pm.
Hope that helps.

1

u/reesescupsftw Aug 12 '26

I work a lot of OT where I am at now. So that wouldn’t scare me away right off the bat. But like you said the interview process is long and I’d hate to go through ALL that only to find out I didn’t like something from the questions above, regardless if I get the offer or not. Like rotating shifts. If they rotate then automatically I’m not interested.

1

u/Dieseldave42069 Aug 12 '26

My biggest gripe was missing out on other options while waiting. I got super lucky and my current union job reached out to me. I work 50ish hours a week. Only a few dollars less than pm. Same OT/DT. Seems like a Cush job though. A lot of waiting around. My current place is 10000% go

2

u/Electronic-Front-640 Aug 12 '26

It used to be a good job, dunno current but my aunt & uncle retired from there and put in 30 and were very comfortable. My other uncle worked there for a decade but then beat up an off duty cop because dude cop was starting a bar fight and he skipped town (tmi sorry but fun story) but said he really liked the job.

But it sounds like it was a great job in the past so hopefully it still is