Air Conditioning Contractors Take Educational Initiative

 

            Recruiting new, trained employees is one of the most pressing problems facing heating and air conditioning contractors. This shortage is not unique to upstate New York; it is a national problem, which each region is addressing in its own way.

            In the Rochester area, members of the regional chapter of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) are actively supporting secondary and post secondary schools that offer HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) courses. These include Monroe BOCES #1 and #2, Wayne Finger Lakes BOCES and Monroe Community College.

            ACCA and its members support educational programs by:

• Serving on the HVAC curriculum advisory board at MCC;

• Serving as guest lecturers at MCC and BOCES;

• Presenting an annual scholarship to a second year HVAC student at MCC;

• Donating equipment for use in labs;

• Sponsoring an ACCA student chapter at MCC;

• Providing internships for students from both programs;

• Employing graduates of the various programs.

            “We are fortunate,” explains Jim Lytle, “to have as many HVAC training resources as we have in this area. But, they need more people enrolling in the courses.” Lytle, who lives in Penfield, is past chairperson of the local ACCA chapter and is a member of the MCC HVAC curriculum advisory board.

            Phelps resident Hal Smith, another ACCA chapter director and MCC HVAC curriculum advisory board member, also serves on the board of the Ontario County workforce development agency. He notes that most people entering the field through educational institutions and apprenticeship programs are changing careers.”

            “We are seeing people who are displaced and downsized entering the HVAC field,” he says, “and we are seeing people who want to get out of a job that has four walls and into a field in which they can get outside, travel around the area, and be challenged by each job.”

            Paul Maier, current ACCA chapter chair, notes that today’s service technician needs a much broader base of knowledge. He/she needs to know electricity and electronics as well as the mechanics of a furnace or air conditioner. These days, the mechanical systems are electronically controlled, and some of those controls are very sophisticated.

            “We want people to know,” Maier concludes, “that HVAC is an exciting, challenging, rewarding career with limitless educational opportunities at every level of their career development.”

            One ACCA chapter member, who is also on the national board of directors, conducted a 10 year comparison study between two theoretical high school graduates. One went to college, got an office job and rose to a middle management position in that decade. The other went through an HVAC apprentice program and was a service technician at the end of the decade. When all pay and benefits were included, the service tech was making about twice that of the office worker.

ACCA is the national non-profit trade association representing the educational, policy and technical interests of the small businesses that design, install and maintain indoor environmental systems. The Upstate New York chapter serves contractors and suppliers in the Rochester, Finger Lakes, Syracuse and Southern Tier areas.

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For further information, contact:

Duane Pancoast, APR

The Pancoast Concern, Ltd.

27 Maple Avenue

Victor, NY 14564

T: 585.924.4570

F: 585.924.2929

E-Mail: duane@thepancoastconcern.com