At the recent ACCA IE3 Convention, one of the most discussed topics, as seems to be the case at any contractor meeting, was the availability of qualified manpower. This shortage seems to be equally affecting installers and service technicians and was discussed in educational sessions, contractor roundtables, and in the halls of the convention center. Several of the solutions that have been frequently discussed were resurrected. One of those, the need to pursue and recruit junior college recruits, brought an interesting response from a contractor whose business is in a small town in California. He indicated there isn’t a junior college within 80-100 miles from his shop in any direction. Certainly, this is a concern that is shared by many other contractors.
That led to further discussion regarding the big picture and why young persons are not interested in going into the trades. What can we do to help correct the problem? That problem is that parents and educators today are only satisfied and happy when their youngsters go to college. If their children do anything else, they feel as if they have failed. Our industry, the sheet metal industry, has traditionally been family-oriented with a father being a sheet metal worker followed by his son into the trade. Now, however, with social pressure and the fact that sheet metal workers have wages large enough to send their children to college, a large number want their offspring to take that path. While these are worthwhile intentions, the fact is that many youngsters would be better off working with their hands. We have several friends whose children have attended and graduated from college and are back living at home because they were either unable to get jobs in their chosen fields or, after a year or two, decided they didn’t like being behind desks every day. Their current job, waiting on tables, was not what they nor their parents had in mind.