By Dean Johnson, Lead Instructor, Johnson Controls

A silver lining emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic is a newfound appreciation and demand for healthy buildings. As people return to indoor spaces, building administrators are looking to enhance the health of indoor spaces with clean air, touchless access controls, sustainable practices, and more efficient, data-centric operations. With this shift in mindset, building owners and facility managers will be looking for guidance from technical experts now more than ever.

Despite the economic toll of the pandemic, there is actually a surplus of open positions for skilled workers, especially in facility operation and maintenance. Recruiters look to fill these open roles with trade school graduates, as these are often the individuals most qualified and specialized for the job.

So, how do you know a vocational education is right for you? If you pride yourself on improvisation, love working with your hands and delight in fixing problems in your house and your car, a skilled trade would likely be a wonderful fit. Not only that, but a trade career also involves cutting-edge technology as much as any job in Silicon Valley, with building systems more frequently incorporating AI and advanced analytics.

In celebration of National Skilled Trades Day, here are four perks for those considering a trade education:

1. Financial stability: While a four-year degree can be time-consuming and expensive, students in trade schools can train for a fulfilling profession while working, allowing you to simultaneously earn a wage and avoid student debt, paving the way for financial security and comfort. Additionally, facilities operations and maintenance occupations are essential, guaranteeing job stability far into the future.
2. Professional connections: In trade school, students are not only building their own circle of friends and support system; you are also networking professionally. In fact, many graduates tend to stay in one specific field and end up working directly with peers and alumni, knowing they’re the best in the biz. In trade school, pair up with the smartest of the group – it’s who you’ll be working with for the next 40 years.
3. Motivation and fulfillment: Technical careers are important and rewarding; you will be the boots on the ground in keeping your community safe from hazards and dangers. On top of that, these hands-on jobs combine stability and excitement, with puzzles to solve and a new environment every day.
4. Community empowerment: Analysts often look to the construction industry to determine the state of the economy nationwide, as filled trade positions indicate prosperity and development potential. With a larger pool of qualified workers, civic leaders can pursue more ambitious, sustainable and efficient construction projects and can also invest in proactive maintenance and refreshes for existing infrastructure. This in turn leads to stronger, more energy-efficient buildings that promote occupant health and support community wellness.

How Johnson Controls supports trade school graduates
The foundation of our mission is around creating healthy spaces for healthy people – and that starts within Johnson Controls. We work closely with many trade schools, including Lincoln Tech, as well as local and national unions in order to maintain the gold standard of employment conditions and benefits.

This starts with ensuring an income path with ample upward mobility, to support our employees’ quality of life and wellbeing. From there, we offer competitive perks such as 401k matching programs as well as tuition reimbursement for our talent coming out of vocational schools, in order to alleviate even more of the financial burden of training.

On top of that, we have multiple in-house training programs to support trade school hires, most notably in HVAC, building maintenance and building management, to ensure that employees are continually learning and up to date on the latest practices. In accordance with our Zero Harm initiative, we have also implemented an array of initiatives aimed at employee safety, health and wellness. This goes hand-in-hand with our employee mentorship programs, which aim to support workers throughout and after training. It is important to feel part of a community, and our program ensures employees have a support system in the company.

We are especially proud of our Green HVACR Career Development Partnership Program, which provides training and opportunities to citizens looking for a life change. This includes programming for college and high school students, who are offered an opportunity for a more direct path to a fulfilling career, as well as for inmates and former inmates as they look to successfully reenter society. Our goal is to empower these individuals with stable and fulfilling jobs in the HVACR industry, as well as provide ample mentorship and support.

Johnson Controls is hiring for all types of skilled work at all levels. Check out our job listings to learn more about where you might fit in within our growing team.