How to become an elevator mechanic: the IUEC apprenticeship

The apprenticeship at a glance

Checked on October 26, 2026. Your local's recruitment notice, standards and agreement come first.

The steps

1. Watch for a recruitment. Each local recruits on its own schedule, and NEIEP lists the openings. When locals recruit
2. Apply online. Have your diploma or GED ready, and expect a testing fee. Who can apply and how to apply
3. Pass the EIAT. A written aptitude test of reading, mechanical aptitude and math. The EIAT
4. Interview. A committee panel asks every applicant the same questions. The interview and your rank
5. Wait on the hiring list. Companies hire from it in rank order. The hiring list
6. Start as an apprentice. Safety training and a probation period come at the start. Your first months
7. Learn the trade. Work with a mechanic, go to class at night, then take the Mechanic's Exam. The program

When locals recruit

There is no national hiring date. NEIEP's FAQ says each local runs its own recruitments, after everyone on its list has been hired or when the list expires every two years.

NEIEP lists recruitments on the Apprenticeship Opportunities page of its website, and you select the one you want to apply for. Check NEIEP's Apprenticeship Opportunities page for your area.

NEIEP's FAQ adds that how long a recruitment stays open depends on how many positions are available in that area, and NEIEP posts the period with the announcement on its website. Likewise, application deadlines are given in each recruitment advertisement and vary by recruitment. A missed recruitment can mean a long wait for the next one, so check the page often.

Who can apply

NEIEP's FAQ sets these minimum requirements:

• Age. NEIEP's FAQ says you must be at least 17 to apply and 18 to be registered by the local Joint Apprenticeship Committee.
• School. The FAQ adds that you need a high school diploma or an equivalent such as a GED at the time of hire, and a copy of it with your application.
• Right to work. Under the same FAQ, applicants must be authorized to work in the United States.

NEIEP says no specific prior knowledge or training is required to become an apprentice. Nor is there a course to take beforehand: NEIEP says the IUEC does not currently offer a pre-apprenticeship program.

The work is physical. NEIEP's apprentice job description includes lifting up to 100 lbs, working at heights and in cramped conditions, and telling color-coded wires apart.

Some lines on this page come from NEIEP's model standards, certified by the U.S. Department of Labor in May 2015. The model is a pattern for local committees: each local Joint Apprenticeship Committee develops and registers its own standards, and NEIEP says it follows the national guidelines. So your local's own rules can differ.

The model adds these conditions for applicants:

• You must be physically able to do the essential work of the apprenticeship, with or without a reasonable accommodation.
• You must pass a screen for current illegal drug use when you are accepted and before you are employed.

How to apply

NEIEP's FAQ says the application and a copy of your diploma, GED certificate or equivalent are submitted online, as the recruitment advertisement says. NEIEP says applications that are missing documentation will not be accepted, so scan your diploma or GED before you start. There is a testing fee of $25 for each applicant who tests.

The FAQ then says that after you apply, two steps come before you can be considered for the apprenticeship: the EIAT and an interview.

The EIAT

NEIEP says the EIAT assesses the skills and knowledge needed to be a successful apprentice in the International Union of Elevator Constructors. It has 100 multiple-choice questions in three sections: reading comprehension, mechanical aptitude and mathematics. NEIEP scores the EIAT pass or fail, and 70% correct is the lowest passing grade.

NEIEP's FAQ is plain about a fail: an applicant who fails the EIAT is not interviewed and is removed from the pool, but may re-apply at the next or a later recruitment.

The elevator aptitude test (EIAT) page explains the format and scoring. The free practice test has every section, timed, and the study guide works through each one with an example.

The interview and your rank

Under NEIEP's FAQ, applicants who score 70% or higher on the aptitude test are scheduled for an interview. The FAQ says two members of the Joint Apprenticeship Committee run the interview, one from the IUEC and one from the employer side. It also says every applicant is asked the same series of questions and ranked with the same rubric, whatever recruitment they apply to, and interviews run 15 to 20 minutes on average.

Your interview score decides your place. The FAQ explains that the interview score is the average of the two interviewers' scores, and your rank on the hiring list is based on it. And an interview score of 70% is the minimum to receive a rank on the local's hiring list.

NEIEP's FAQ says to highlight any trade school experience, construction work or mechanical knowledge in your interview, and that an OSHA 10 or 30 certification helps but does not promise a better rank. If you have trade experience, raise it here: NEIEP says previous experience may be considered, must be discussed in the interview, and must be arranged before you sign an apprenticeship agreement.

NEIEP's FAQ also says correct responses on the tool assessment count toward the final score on the interview. NEIEP's study guide, FAQ and Apprenticeship Opportunities page give no number of questions, time, format or sample for the tool assessment. NEIEP does not say when you take the tool assessment, or whether its questions are part of the EIAT or a separate step. Ask your local, or check your test letter. To be safe, learn the basic tools as you study for the EIAT. The tool assessment page has what NEIEP and one local's notice say, the common tools by job and practice questions.

The hiring list

NEIEP says companies with open apprentice positions hire off the recruitment list in ranked order. The FAQ adds that your rank on the hiring list is valid for two years, or until the recruitment list is used up. How soon you are called depends on your rank and on how many openings come up in your area.

Your first months

NEIEP's FAQ says that once hired, you start with an online curriculum on safety and the history of the IUEC during your first six months. NEIEP's course list opens with NH001 new hire safety training and an 18-week mandatory course, NH002, for probationary apprentices.

You start on probation, a trial period. Under the model standards, that is 12 months of probation for a new apprentice without mechanical experience, which must fall within 18 months. During it, you can cancel the apprenticeship agreement in writing, and the JAC can cancel it without giving a reason. At the end, a satisfactory review gives you full credit for the probation time, and you stay in the program.

The program: work and school

The apprenticeship lasts four years, and most of it is work. NEIEP says that on the job, apprentices work with a mechanic, under the close supervision of a licensed Elevator Constructor Mechanic. The work comes to 2,000 hours a year.

The model standards split the work hours by kind of work:

• Construction and modernization: about 2,300 hours.
• Service, repair, modernization and construction: about 3,500 hours.
• General repair and modernization: about 1,000 hours.
• Maintenance, inspection and testing: about 1,200 hours.
• In all: 8,000 hours.

If you fall short of a segment's work hours, the model makes that segment run longer until you have them.

Class runs alongside the work. In NEIEP's program, classes meet in person one night a week for four hours. There are eight semesters, each of 72 hours over 18 weeks. That comes to 144 hours a year. In all, the model asks for at least 576 hours of class, called related instruction.

NEIEP says each semester includes lecture, discussion, lab work, unit exams, homework and a final exam. The model asks for a class grade of at least 70% to move up each level. NEIEP lists eight courses: Trade Skills, Hoistway Structures, Electrical Fundamentals, Electrical Theory and Application, Installation, Solid State, Power and Logic, and Advanced Topics in Elevators.

NEIEP says there is no out-of-pocket cost to attend school as an IUEC apprentice. NEIEP partners with several colleges and universities to give college credit for NEIEP classroom work and on-the-job learning hours.

The last step is the Mechanic's Exam. NEIEP's FAQ says that after all eight semesters and the on-the-job hours you can take the Mechanic's Exam, a capstone exam; apprentices who pass it become IUEC mechanics. In the model, you may sit the exam when the JAC recommends you. If you pass, you become a mechanic at no less than the mechanic rate. If you don't, you stay a fourth-year apprentice and repeat classes.

Licenses

Some states license elevator mechanics. O*NET OnLine finds no national license for elevator mechanics, but it lists state licenses, such as in Massachusetts and Washington. For example, in Washington, the Department of Labor and Industries licenses elevator mechanics, and someone who completed a national program such as NEIEP's and passed its mechanic exam takes no state exam.

Your state's labor or licensing office can tell you what it asks of mechanics and apprentices. O*NET's license list lets you pick a state.

Apprentice pay

NEIEP says apprentices make a percentage of the mechanic rate, based on how much of their apprenticeship they have completed. Each local sets its own scale, so ask your local for its wage sheet.

The model standards show a pattern: apprentices earn a share of the journeyworker rate, or what the local collective bargaining agreement sets, plus fringe benefits. The steps:

• Probation, months 0 to 6: 50% of the mechanic's rate.
• First year, months 7 to 12, through 2,000 hours: 55%.
• Second year, 2,000 to 4,000 hours: 65%.
• Third year, 4,000 to 6,000 hours: 70%.
• Fourth year, 6,000 to 8,000 hours: 80%.

What the trade pays

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports pay for the whole occupation, union and non-union. In its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), the national median wage for elevator and escalator installers and repairers was $109,910 a year in May 2025. Pay spreads widely: the 10th percentile wage was $59,270 a year and the 90th percentile wage was $158,890 a year in May 2025.

These figures cover every worker in the occupation, so they are not an IUEC mechanic's rate or an apprentice's pay.

O*NET, using Bureau of Labor Statistics projections, lists employment growth for 2025 to 2035 as faster than average, 5% to 6%.

Questions people ask