Preparing HVACR Students for Careers

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The role of every HVACR instructor should be to help their students graduate and connect them with employers that offer a living wage, benefits, and opportunities for career advancement and continued learning.

Although technical skills play a major role in this process, there are other factors that must be addressed. To help aspiring students reach the top of our industry, we need to arm them with the technical elements that form the foundation for future employment and advancement, validate these skills through third-party national exams, and prepare them to meet the non-technical requirements for employment.

Soft Skills
A national study of HVACR employers showed dissatisfaction in the soft skills of many technicians. These employers stated that while technical skills are a requirement of the job, the ability to professional interact with their clientele was equally important.

Technicians who have received proper customer service and soft skills training, make more money, boost customer retention, and maximize customer satisfaction. Technicians who possess these skills are more valuable to employers, and their likelihood of retention and advancement substantially increases.

Credentials
It is essential that HVACR educational programs cover the skills, content, and competencies required for employment in the HVACR industry.

When an applicant submits a resume, it is often difficult to assess one’s readiness for employment. This stems from the challenges associated with creating uniformity from non-uniform, inconsistent grading, and instructional practices. To resolve this issue, many employers reply on third-party, nationally recognized credentials to document a person’s readiness for employment, regardless of their instructor, institution, or geographic location where they were taught.

Resume
Although resumes do not get people jobs, they sure do get people in the door for an interview. Well-prepared resumes will undoubtedly pave the way for job candidates to land interviews and sell themselves to prospective employers. At the interview, job candidates should be prepared to showcase what they have learned in school, what projects they have completed, and what credentials and certificates they have obtained. 

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