The AHR Expo in Orlando this past February did not disappoint. In addition to an extensive trade show brimming with new products and services, this year’s event featured hundreds of educational sessions, dozens of podcasts, and several great panel discussions.

HVAC DOES offer kids careers today.

I had the honor to participate once again in a State of the Industry panel, and was asked to moderate two other panels.

The first had four amazing HVAC contractors on recruiting, training, and retaining people. The second was with a group of around 100 students from a local trade school who were brought in to tour the show and participate in the panel discussion.

While the other panels were great, in all honesty, I enjoyed the student panel the most. Having a chance to get in front of tomorrow’s promise for our industry was priceless! Their curiosity and thirst for information was very heartening.

Kids Can Have Careers in HVAC

The unified message from the panelists was also amazing. Each of us shared our stories of where we started, many in the same place those students are today. We talked about the careers that we built from those humble beginnings.

I personally was one of those trade school kids 50 years ago (sounds crazy out loud). With initiative and hard work I built careers in several industries, from consumer electronics, to medical equipment, to HVAC.

With almost 40 years in the HVAC industry, my background includes being a magazine editor and publisher, comfort advisor, installation manager, and finally co-founder of NCI in 1994.

The panel was united in advising the students to not let anyone tell them that being a service tech or installer is something to be ashamed of, or to feel less than someone with a college degree or fancy letters after their name.

Several students asked about career paths they might expect in our industry. We unanimously shared how the possibilities are limitless, ranging from becoming a top tech earning six figures, to sales, management, working for a distributor or manufacturer, even starting their own business.

Our Future Leaders

It was interesting to watch the group dynamic – with most of the kids in the first and second rows bright eyed and listening intently.

As I looked back beyond those rows I saw a mix of some students paying close attention, some looking at their phones – even a few nodding off. It was clear the first two rows were the future movers and shakers in our industry.

We covered a myriad of topics, too many to share in this editorial. A few really stood out, and should be a bellwether of what makes your future employees tick.

For example, there was a great deal of interest in what technologies they would work with as they entered the industry. The discussion ranged from state-of-the-art inverter systems, to controls, to the instruments and software that continue to evolve to provide them with the best diagnostic and design tools ever available.

Overall, it was an amazing experience. If you really want to know what your future team members will be like, I highly recommend you visit some of your local trade schools.

Maybe work with the school to do a Q&A hour with their students on what to expect once they graduate. If you do this be sure to look for the bright-eyed kids in the first two rows. These are the ones you’ll want to recruit before they even graduate!