Pros
If you like independence, this job has plenty of it. As an Outside Plant Damage Investigator, you're largely left alone to manage your own schedule, plan your day, and work your claims without someone looking over your shoulder every five minutes. My supervisor and I officially spoke about once every two weeks, though sometimes it felt less like a management strategy and more like a witness protection program.
The work itself is genuinely interesting. Every claim is different, and much of the job involves investigating incidents, tracking down contractors, piecing together what actually happened, and recovering damages for utility companies. If you've ever thought, "I wish Sherlock Holmes collected invoices instead of solving murders," this may be your dream job.
Cons
My immediate supervisor worked remotely from Iowa and was extremely difficult to reach. It was obvious she had a lot on her plate with her children, and I certainly sympathize with that. Unfortunately, when you finally did get her on the phone, it often sounded like you had accidentally called Chuck E. Cheese during a fire drill. Getting a clear answer was...challenging.
Her supervisor, who I believe was based in Indiana, was easier to contact but not necessarily more helpful. Our clients generally disliked him, and the feeling appeared to be mutual. On one occasion, I spent considerable time rebuilding a damaged relationship with a client only to watch management bulldoze all that goodwill in record time. Imagine spending hours building a sandcastle only for your own teammate to immediately cannonball into it—that was the general experience.
The guidance from management also depended on which manager answered the phone. Ask one manager how to handle a claim and you'd get one answer. Ask the other and you'd get the exact opposite. If you asked them both together, I suspect reality itself might have collapsed.
The Vice President of Outside Plant Damage also made quite an impression. The first and only time I met him, he made comments I considered sexually inappropriate and discussed getting hammered and going to strip clubs—in front of one of our clients. It was certainly a bold client relations strategy. I can't say I'd recommend it.
To make matters worse, many client contracts seemed to be written without much thought as to how claims would actually be investigated. Investigators were often expected to perform miracles with limited authority, incomplete information, and clients who had never been told what documentation they needed to provide.