During the sweltering summer months it’s hard to imagine a workday that isn’t 14 hours long, let alone not thinking about hiring another technician to help meet the needs of customers. Many hvacr business owners turn to vocational schools to fill positions. Unfortunately, some vocational schools are hard pressed to keep hvacr courses on the curriculum due to poor-placement statistics.
For example, a recent article in The Republican, Westfield, Mass., notes that the local vocational-technical high school will cut its heating, ventilation and air conditioning program. The program, which has been offered since 1994, isn’t meeting placement requirements.
According to the article, "The HVAC program has, for the past several years, failed to meet Chapter 74 (state vocational education) requirements of placing at least 70% of its graduating students in jobs directly related to the program," Director Hilary M. Weisgerber said.
Weisgerber went on to say the HVAC program graduated seven seniors on June 8 and only two graduates have been placed in their vocation.
Is the placement issue an issue of place? According to the National Weather Service, Boston’s average high temperature in July is 79.5 degrees. The average low temperature in January is 21 degrees.
Go west and cities like Phoenix soar not only in temperature (average high temperatures in July reach 105 degrees) but also in vocational placement.
Indeed, The Refrigeration School Inc. (RSI), Phoenix, Ariz., boasts a 94% job placement for its recent HVAC program graduates.
According to the RSI website, “Rapidly expanding services and new, sophisticated technology in all areas of climate control are creating new opportunities. Job prospects for highly skilled heating, air conditioning and refrigeration mechanics and installers are expected to be very good, particularly for those with technical HVAC training.”
How do you ensure that your area vocational schools continue to offer programs that help your business grow?
“Partner with those that are providing the training,” says L. Scott Cook of Day & Zimmermann, a Philadelphia-based provider of craft labor to the power industry.
“If every industry will only accept the most experienced, at what point do we enter new people into the workforce and provide them with that training?”
Cook advises companies to be willing to take less-experienced folks in order to train them for long-term results.
Adds Melanie Holmes, vice president of corporate affairs for Milwaukee-based Manpower Inc., a staffing services provider, employers need to reach out to the schools via paid internships and summer jobs for the kids.
“I would be surprised if a high school or technical college wasn’t interested in partnering with an employer,” Holmes says.
And to ensure that you will have enough candidates to choose from in the future, Holmes suggests starting with the job and not the person.
“If kids know there is a real job at the end, they will be more likely to take it seriously.”
