TIPS FOR HIRING HVAC TECHS

It’s a Seller’s Market when Hiring HVAC techs. 

Excuse the real estate pun, but the seller’s market concept really does apply to finding and hiring qualified HVAC techs. Take a look at job ads on any of the job platforms. You’re buying. They’re selling. Here are some tips for hiring techs.

Monetary Hiring Incentives 

Competing on price is never a good thing. But… 

Here are some of the monetary incentives The Blue Collar Recruiter is seeing.

· Sign-on Bonuses: Offers vary depending on experience level and local market competition. Typical sign-on payments can range from $2,000 – $5,000, or more. Some employers go farther, offering additional bonuses after various periods of employment. 

· Pay: hourly and yearly compensation has gone up. Some employers start new hires at a base pay level and then switch them to a variety of performance pay scenarios to sweeten the pot. 

· Spiffs (immediate payouts for a sale) and Commissions – always a hiring factor – are much more prevalent and richer.

· Incentives for current employees who refer qualified friends and acquaintances to their employers. 

Examples of Company Benefits & Perks: 

· Health Care Benefits: Depending on the employer’s need or local market competition coverage for medical/dental/vision benefits is often fully paid for new hires and partially paid for their family members. 

· Retirement Plans: 401k programs with a variety of employer matching percentages.

· Career mentoring and opportunities for advancement.

· Matching skill level with more satisfying/challenging work.

· Paid training for career advancement.

· Paying for industry conference/event attendance and association memberships.

Work – Life Balance: Money Isn’t Everything – Qualified Trades People Want More

Employers who undervalue the impact their company rep has on potential new hires are making a huge mistake. The local labor pool is finite. Word gets around. Skilled workers who have had a bad employment experience will talk about it, forever. 

Even great recruiters can’t help you dig your way out of this one! Savvy home service employers emphasize intangibles such as company culture, family orientation, flexible work schedules in their job openings. Today’s workforce doesn’t think like prior generations did. Meaning that a job is a job is a job just doesn’t fly anymore. Okay, it’s true that Baby Boomers make up the majority of HVAC professionals today, but not for much longer.  

Food for Thought

There are some good models for ‘growing your own’ HVAC workforce. Instituting your own training school, partnering with local vocational schools and hiring for interpersonal skills are all great things to consider. Meanwhile, the number of jobs in the HVAC field continue to multiply. That skilled trade labor gap isn’t getting any smaller anytime soon.