Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Creating Pathways for New Talent in the Elevator Industry: Panel Discussion with Loannie Reyes, Veronica Querales, and Bill McGrath

Transcript

Creating Pathways for New Talent in the Elevator Industry: Panel Discussion with Loannie Reyes, Veronica Querales, and Bill McGrath · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_04: I would say um if you're willing to use your hands and get you can use your brain and your hand.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_04: So definitely this is a great industry to be in.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_04: Um I know uh a lot of people that has come close to us and looking to learn, I would say like try to learn some kind of trade like electrical trade or a a trade that is related to mechanical and electrical.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_04: If you are not finding or you don't have anybody that can teach you elevators itself.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_04: And we we have other people that have said, like, can I hit can can I go and volunteer to learn the industry?
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_04: We have helped people like that too.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_04: And it it's interesting because honestly, they are open, they try it.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_04: Some say the first day I'm like, nah, this is not for me.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_04: And some of them say, I can do this, this is not that complicated.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_04: And once they try, it they fall in love with the industry and they start trying to develop themselves and learn more and more.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: I am your host, Matt Allred.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: In this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry to inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before to inspire the next generation of elevator careers.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: When talent is mission critical, call the All-Red Group.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: With industry expertise, top talent, and acceptable customer service, you need the All-Red Group on your side.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Your priority is their priority.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Call now 404-890-0445.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: In this conversation, I talked with Bill McGrath, Moani Reyes, and Veronica Carale about the staffing challenges in the elevator industry.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: We explored the need for language skills, the importance of training and development, and the creation of career paths for new talent.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: We also discussed cultural perspectives and work and the value of trade skills versus traditional education.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Matt Alred, and today we're joined by Bill McGrath, Loani Reyes, and Veronica Corrales.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: And uh this what brought this whole conversation about was a conversation Bill and I had just a couple weeks ago.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he was talking about teaching his whole company Spanish or the whole company needing to learn Spanish because of the need to get the right talent to tap into new labor markets.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so each uh each of you has been invited to to talk about this question uh with me, whether that's the the answer or not, you know, let's just dive into it.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: But I I want to know from each of you and and Lawney, maybe you can start us off.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: What are some of the biggest uh challenges you and your company are facing with with staffing?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, I a lot of people in the industry are facing uh hiring is being very challenging because uh is a lot of people interested to join the industry, but there's not a lot of people skilled or already capable to fulfill the roles that we need them to do.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_04: And that's pretty much the most challenging.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_04: And yes, we do uh have the idea of developing people inside the organization, however, um that takes time as they progress and they learn, but uh we also have to hire uh staff that is already trained, so that's that's one of the challenges that may it's getting more scarce as time passes.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_04: A lot of the old timers are retiring, and a lot is not a lot of demand of young people, however, with mining people from other industries and teaching them, and it's been working out for us.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: Very good, very good.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Veronica, what are you seeing on your end?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_03: And my end is a little bit different because I'm in the manufacturing area, so my people don't need those technical skills, but I need people that have been in the field because we assembling everything, we need to know how they work and how everything.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: Even that it's hard to find people because now we have another problem with the new generation.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: It is they don't want to take uh work in technical things.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, it won't want to be uh have an influencer or different careers, more technical, more computer related, and we need people, we need welders, we need um people that had to paint.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_03: And we all those kind of works are hard to find right now.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: So in our way, we are teaching them a career.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: That's our mindset.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_03: We want to build a career for you guys.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: Now you start over here, you're gonna learn about elevators, how the elevator works.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_03: We have a training center that we ensemble all the caps, all the entrances, and show them how to work how they work.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: So that way they get in love with the industry.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: We take it to different events and activities, and we even go to the jobs directly and show them how that works.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: So they can get in love and they see up that they can work.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: But it's a little bit hard to find people, even uh in our industry that is manufacturing that works.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, I'm not hearing you.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Bill, I'm curious, what was it that led you and your team to say, hey, let's learn Spanish?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_01: Where where were you at when you like, hey, this is this is where we need to go?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it kind of started, you know, I live on the Jersey Coast and a lot of home building going on.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it seems like the Jersey Coast is going through a um new transformation, right?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of the uh trades are Spanish speaking people.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, and it it got me thinking, but my me, uh it's hard to communicate because I don't know how to speak Spanish, right?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm trying my best.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: But um then we just brought on an employee, um, and when I took him out to dinner, he has broken English, but I told him, I said, you know what?
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna get my company and my staff to start learning this, and I'm gonna put it as one of my rocks as the CEO here.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: And what I mean by rocks, my company runs off the EOS system, so that's how we talk.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and I showed him an example in the garage.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: We've I figured it out, and uh, he was blown away.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe that's an untapped market, right?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of people, if we can't communicate both ends, because some people are like, you know, and this is my belief, they're like English is the American language, okay.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: But and we talked about this, Matt, right?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I believe Spanish is also the language, you know.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it's an intermix, right?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And probably 20 years we'll have half English, half Spanish all interlingled in, right?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll in whatever that language will be called then, right?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: The new American language, right?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: We call it Spanglish, it's already here.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: Spanglish.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So, and that's where and my team's having fun with it.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: They are they're uh they have to do five to fifteen minutes per day.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: I've been trying to do it in my car because I had the way I have it set up, because it talks back and forth to you.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And everybody's on the same program.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, and it's really cool.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's and plus I think too, as talking to Edwin, it's a sign of respect too, right?
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because they're forced to to learn English, right?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And we should, especially when it comes to the safety aspects of our industry, that we need to be able to communicate each way.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: It's interesting as we as we kind of get got into this topic.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: I was doing a little bit of research and and came across obviously, I think we all know that baby boomers are retiring faster than we can replace them.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: They're a huge generation.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: And so not only do we need to pull from new generations, but they're there's a there's smaller generations too.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, there's uh there's also something I came across, which is like we're we're not having children fast enough to like replace our population overall.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: So we kind of need to import some people because you know, otherwise we we won't have a country.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: We'll just all kind of vanish or something like that.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: So um there's a lot of factors kind of playing into this.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: And and so I I think it's important to to think creatively.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I I love your idea of hey, let's let's learn some different languages.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one one thing that uh I think Luana, you you had mentioned, you know, bringing people in-house, but is there very much support?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, you know, there used to be a lot of uh like technical colleges around here.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like a lot of those have kind of gone away, even and even high schools, right?
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: When I was in high school, there were shops and there were you know industrial arts programs, a lot of those have kind of gone away.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have do you feel like there's any support for um you know for this type of work, or do you feel like you have to do it all in-house?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_04: Um I would say yes.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_04: And it the reason is basically like I mentioned before to you, it was um before we have the DNB open a school here in New York City.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_04: You mentioned to me that I think that they close probably because um they don't have enough people enrolling.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: I was told I don't know why.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_04: I was just told that probably it was that because uh the idea was uh to develop more mechanics.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_04: And and that's uh you see the schools uh they're not focusing in creating more blue-collar jobs.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_04: Like it's only a couple of schools uh uh doing trades like electricity, or um, they're doing um HVAC or things like that, but they are not there's non-school focus 100% in elevators, or they do mechanics for automobiles, they do make electromechanics, so they're college and schools that they're doing that kind of training, but focus 100% in elevators, not the only organization that is is the union, and the union is limited to the amount of people that they can hire every year, so they are not producing enough mechanics ready for the industry, so the non-union companies have to start developing internally their own kind of like training and schools, which is great.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, I love it.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, we we start teaching our mechanics, uh we have internally the trainings for the electrical trainings, we teach them elevators, mechanical stuff, and so we are doing our own training in-house, uh, which basically developing internal mechanics, and that's why the demand out there is not much.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_04: Uh if we were having kind of like a some kind of maybe these schools or or school can be exposed mostly outside to high schoolers or people in in so they can see this as an alternative, that would be amazing.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_04: But at this moment, there's not much support uh other than the trainings in the union and developing mechanics in-house while you are uh basically training them, teaching them as the helpers or apprentices.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of kind of bringing them up from the from the ground up, right?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_04: You gotta ignore and reality is that not all mechanics or all helpers are willing to learn.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_04: Some of them want to stay as helpers.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_04: And some of them want to grow.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_04: And but that's the reality of the industry, and we need to deal with it.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Veronica, you mentioned something interesting about creating careers, not just you're not just a machine operator, you're not just doing this one skill, but we want to really develop you as a person.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: Is that is that what I'm kind of taking away from that?
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, that's my mission.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: Is I only I'm not only manufacture products, I want to build people too.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_03: So that's one of my main missions in my in my life.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_03: I take it personally.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: And if I can go back to Bill's comment about the uh the barrier language, in our case, it's a little bit different because we are in Miami.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_03: Almost all the population over here speaks Spanish.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: And for me, practicing English is hard, it's really hard.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: So, and find people that speak English harder.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_03: So we implement vice versa.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_03: We are bringing people that spoke both languages, maybe the uh younger generation that is just graduated from Hask High School, that they know both languages perfectly fine and they switch with no accent.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_03: They're speaking and we are practicing the meetings in English, and we are trying to even the emails and everything, we are making sure that people have a couple people there that we do everything in English, so we can integrate to the culture of the United States because we feel like it's right here in Miami, it's not like the United States.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_03: We are Latinos over here and and we Spanish speak Spanish all the time.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: So that's one of the how we can integrate us to the culture of the United States, how we can be better serving our people of the United States as a community.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: And for me, have been a for us has been a challenge, like, okay, let's pick, let's do the all the meetings.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_03: Every single meeting we need to everyone speaks Spanish, but we need to practice the classes and the meetings in English all the time.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: And emails, the internal emails, we do it all in English too.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_03: All in English, it's the only way that we can practice the language.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_03: So and all the names would they have we have other names in Spanish for the parts.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: No, we say all the parts names in English.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_03: No, I don't want to hear nothing over here in Spanish, but for the parts, the name of the part.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll talk in all the same language.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_03: That's a little things that we are being doing in our company to integrate.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_03: But yes, that's one of the things.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_03: And I, of course, I want to build people too.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's my passion.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_03: And how I can the way that I can do it is uh like uh a guy that graduated from high school and I offer him, I have kids, and they are in high school, and they say, I start talking about our career.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_03: What do you do?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_03: Elevators, and what do your parents do?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_03: Elevators, and they see as an option.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_03: I say, come, it's this is a great career.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_03: You can have a future.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: We talk about my parents and they see the kind of life that we live, and and we start preaching because we are being a successful family as uh we are for generations.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: We have been in the elevators industry, and we are being successful, as I I understand for me successful, but um they see and they copy the path and then can I join you?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: Even the friends they can join you, yes, and we start like building that and see it as a career.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe some of them are now that start working with them now in TCEN and other companies in the Connie in big positions, and I'm so happy because I see that they we build the people, we we give it an option, no more anymore, not anymore at like a singular career.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_03: We build people.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: And what I'm hearing is you know that the old saying, you know, you can give a person a fish and feed them for a day, or you can teach them how to fish.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it's that that's what I'm hearing is teach them how to fish in that they can see a bigger vision, right?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: This isn't again when it's a career, it it may go beyond your company, right?
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: But once you've given them tools, well, they can go work for just about anybody, right?
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: They can go, you know, maybe they start their own company at some point, right?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's one of the beautiful things about this industry, is it really does give people the ability to to create their own thing, right?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_04: Correct.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_04: I I agree with uh Veronica what she said.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_04: We do the same thing.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_04: We teach our guys, even we have a couple of guys that came from Europe, from decent group, from Odis, but they don't speak English at all.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_04: So we were teaching them the parts, we were making sure, okay, you call this this way, but this is the way that we call it here.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_04: And so we were teaching them, although we speak with them in Spanish, we make them write their tickets in English, and we tell them, hey, write in Spanish, put it in Google Translate, right?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_04: And just copy-paste it in your ticket.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_04: That's not a problem.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_04: And another thing that we do also is uh we teach them like in the classes, like, okay, you call this part this, we call it this way.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_04: And we always emphasize on so they can learn.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_04: And at the beginning, they are a little bit not too receptive, but we explain to them, hey, you're gonna be with us, we want you forever, but if you wanna go to someplace else, you need to prepare yourself, you need to be ready for other opportunities.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_04: And it's important that we are not teaching you this just for us, it's for yourself.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_04: And it it we always encourage that with all our mechanics, our helpers, that there is they grow never stop.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_04: Technology is changing constantly, they need to constantly be growing and learning something new.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_04: And that's one of the things that we love about this industry.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_04: Before, many years ago, it was carbon, copper, contacts, now we're solid state, it's it's like everything changing constantly.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_04: Now probably eventually we're gonna be with AI and all these things integrated within the elevator programming.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_04: And and I'm excited about it because it's you're never stuck, you never get so bored because it's something always the same.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_04: No, you always have a new challenge, a new opportunity to grow.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_04: And it initially a lot of people are not receptive to that, but then once we make them understand, hey, there's opportunity to grow, so go ahead.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_04: They go for it and and they love it.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_04: They they embrace the career and then become, they see these as an opportunity as a career.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm seeing it as two things.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_01: One is you got to build the vision.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Some some may never want the vision, right?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: They may want to stay helpers or they may they may really embrace it.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: So um that's that's awesome.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now, Bill, you uh you and I talked a little bit about um I'm just gonna throw it out there.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_01: ABC was was uh bringing up some um apprenticeships, as I understand it, to to kind of help with with this whole staffing issue.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, can you tell us a little bit more about that?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um I don't know if you guys know this.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh ABC New Jersey, um I was the uh chair of that board for two years, and I was the past chair for two years.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: And once I was coming off that, they rolled me on to be the chair of the trust.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: And what that is, is the educational side of ABC.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: So in New Jersey, uh me and Samantha work hand in hand, close day to day, and um now we just purchased by October we should go to settlement.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: We just purchased a 150,000 square foot training center.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's gonna have Samantha is really excited because crazy high seons, we could fit full elevators in there, we're gonna have HVAC, electrical welding, we have CDL training, we have from every aspect, and this was always my dream, and me and Sam build it together, and uh, we're really excited about it.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Soucher is the elevator.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: We just hired a kid last week, well, Bill Jr.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: did, out of their reach out program, ABC's reach out program, and his name's uh Minaj.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: And he he was going through their electrical, and of course, who I am, I get the first phone call, right?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: You might want to look at this guy, right?
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, nepotism does run the world, right?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: But this kid is blown away, blown away, and the second day he showed up for work, he went to the hardware store or whatever, bought himself a broom and trash bags just to make sure with his own money.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: And Junior's like, dude, turn that receipt in.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to buy brooms and trash bags, but I love it.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that is you're gonna rock out.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: And he's working with Edwin, who's our uh, you know, Spanish-speaking guy who is a complete rock star.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it cost me uh Morton's dinner to get him over here, you know, and uh to pull him over, but he loves the culture.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: But saying that, that's where ABC um a high believer in the Marotchot philosophy.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was union at one time.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: I look at each of them.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, everybody has a choice of religion, right?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't judge what sides are ruined, it's all about the industry, right?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: But this is where we're opening it up across for everybody that have that spot to get, even from elevator training, even though NAC has the book training, right?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And the certification, ABC openly admitted, we don't care about any of that.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: Our thing is to make sure that they are state complied and uh they get their right hands-on training and the proctor center is correct, so there's no BS.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna be having a high caliber training center, and New Jersey's the first one to have an elevator training center in the country, and the other 68 chapters are watching to see how that goes.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Think about it 68 chapters, us as industry leaders looking for workforce, right?
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: This thing goes right, there's more chapters than there is states in our country.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: For sure, for sure.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and and just I mean, earlier today I spoke with the a gentleman who's on the residential side, and and they're having every bit as much trouble, if not more, you know, because residential is growing like crazy, but there's so much lag because they can't find people to to install them, can't find people to inspect them, they can't find you know, there's just that you can sell.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Them.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: You can sell them all day long.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of baby boomers that are retiring.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: And hey, I want to build my dream home and I want the elevator inside.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: And oh, yeah, you're gonna have to wait for years perhaps to get it installed because we're really struggling to build those you know to find installers.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I think what you're speaking about could really address that issue as well.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we also believe, too, and um it's about the culture too of your company.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it's hard to create that culture because it's the hardest thing to keep everybody happy, right?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where I believe I know a lot of residential companies in my territory, and the guys are just they're beat up.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: They get low pay, beat up.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Over here, we have a whole other different type of culture, and that's where they they love it.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, we have a commercial division.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: So if these guys or women go through the right stages, now they can be promoted to the commercial side as they're going through their apprenticeship program.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we show them the path of life here.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: But on the other hand, I seen an article yesterday or the other day, however, it was a 22-year-old talking about Gen Z how they only want to work four days a week, but they also want to complain the cost of living every day.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: But they don't want to what you know, so and this 22-year-old, he he already owns two companies that are worth 20 million dollars.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: But he said, I gave up friends, I gained 80 pounds, I went through mental and physical abuse of driving my companies.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: But now at 22, being a millionaire, you know, and that's where I don't know how we're gonna get that driving force.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: We can learn every language in the world, we could do this, sure.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: But how do we instill that you have to work, you have to you have to give effort to anything you're doing, just like you doing this podcast, right, man?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: It ain't like you just woke up, got a microphone, and look how cool I am.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: You worked at it.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: You put some effort into this, right?
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: The same as your business, your business, anything we do.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know where that was lost.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a good question.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Good question.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: And well, and and you know, finding the right people with the drive, but but is is this where they want to in you know, use that driver?
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll give you another example.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: My wife had her uh old high school friend here, she hasn't seen her in ages, right?
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Her and her husband are here, first time I meet them.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: And they started complaining how their one son's not sure what he wants to do.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna go to college, but he's not sure what he wants to do.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't know if college is for him, and they're saying, you know, you have to go to college to make a good living.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you know, my wife, she combat it right away because me, I gotta keep my mouth shut because they don't, you know, because then they'll get the other version.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, um, and she goes, Well, that's not true.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: My husband never went to college, he was a tradesman, and you're eating and drinking in our house.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and they were like, Yeah, but your husband had to work hard.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want our children to work hard.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Is the misconducting hard?
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: We don't want our kids.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: I was I my mouth was open as wide as yours, bro.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, it's the misconception.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: But Debbie had the chokerly showing me that I wasn't Wow.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_04: That's that's the reality, it's the misconception.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_04: The people don't understand that this industry, this career, can make so much money, and they don't have to end up with the loan debt that they have coming out of college.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_04: Right because that's the funny thing.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_04: You go to college, you spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars with zero experience, and then they start you with a minimal salary, with a huge loan debt, and this career you start making good money, you learn the industry as you progress, you can make more and more and more money, and people don't realize that you can make the same amount of money that a professional, and within the same four years that they are doing university, we do it in the trade field, and we develop and become as valuable as that without the debt.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_04: The school debt, the the student loan.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Friends of ours' daughter has to move back.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: She just graduated nursing school, got a nursing job, has to move out of her apartment, move back with her parents, and her parents, I was like, Well, why is that?
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, dude, don't you understand?
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: She has a hundred thousand dollars in loans.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: She can't afford that.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it blew me away driving home a hundred thousand dollars as a young kid.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Then I for nothing.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Give that girl a wrench and and teach her how to fix elevators, Bill.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: You'd be making a hundred grand a year.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_04: Trust me, I have tell people the money that as a mechanic, and they are like, where do I sign?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_04: How can I learn?
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_04: It is, it is, and and it's sad, but it's true.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_04: And the problem is that this industry is being secreted for so long that and it's being so quiet that people don't realize how enriched and how how much opportunity is within it.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_04: So it is funny, but it's it's cruel, it's a cruel reality, but it's a funny reality.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Veronica, you mentioned you know, your family's been at it.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: How many, how many generations?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: May I ask that?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_03: Now it's entering to the third generation.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, nice.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: So as a family, you've you've been in on the secret, right?
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: That the Lilani's talking about.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, it's like for a long time, it seems like if you're in the family, you know.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: If you're not, you're like, what?
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: Elevators?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding me?
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: But we have we have I'm the guy that fell into it.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: We have so many.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: I say my dad kids, because we say so many people that come and and say, I see in so many positions and everywhere, because my dad, when he was alive in Puerto Rico, all my cousins, all my cousins work in every single company and you can mention on all the comp all the cousins.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because they don't they were poor at that time in Puerto Rico.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_03: And they my dad was the one that stepped up as the family and say, Okay, I want to build this career.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: He started working in Westinghouse.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: And he gave an option before all the time.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_03: He started with options to to my family members and all my cousins because they don't want to be on the on the on the streets, and all his kids also have a career.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: And my cousins, my so many friends from everywhere that I know.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_03: I am so happy because you see a lot of people in the industry.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_03: I have a spice everywhere.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_03: But it's like that in different countries, in different countries, in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, and everywhere.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_03: Venezuela, we have so many people working on the elevator that start with my dad, and now they spread all over.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_03: And it's you give it an option.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: Because my a lot of kids graduate from school.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_03: The first two years, they're lost.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_03: Drinking and living the life of the their time.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_03: And until they decide they want to study and paying all of them money.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_03: So some of them of my my my cousin, even my son, my son is in the in the college right now, and he's um, they say, You're gonna study something technical because I don't want to pay anything like that.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_03: So no, mommy, I want something technical to help you because he's into the company, like uh like Billson, like 300%.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_03: And but I want to create a phone because that worked for me, at least for me work, and I I studied engineering, and I was creating my path to create something solid for me.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: But it's not for everyone, not for everyone, it's not the same.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm agree 300%.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_03: My husband, we he study, and then he's finished in the elevator industry too, and he's a great mechanic, and elevators are great.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Well, and I think honestly, that's part of the reason I wanted to have this conversation because because not only are people retiring out, not only are are certain people, and and I don't think it's whole generations, right?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: But but certain people just don't want to do this kind of work.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: And yet, if it's unknown to everybody that, hey, there are some amazing careers, some amazing jobs, some amazing people, even more than you would realize, right?
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_01: Just you know, that if we can just get that word out that those who are most interested and most qualified, and and you know, maybe they've got all kinds of skills but didn't really know, well then hey, here we are knocking on your door saying, hey, there are opportunities here for you.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_04: It's funny that when you said that because it reminded me, uh my husband and I study accounting.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_04: We our bachelor's degrees are in accounting.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_04: So, how we become elevator mechanists?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_04: And the funny thing is it was through his brother.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_04: But the funny thing about that is that when we started the elevator industry, my husband is like, I don't know if I should go in becoming a mechanic because I don't want to dare my hands.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_04: That was the first thing that I started.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_04: And because it it gave the impression that you hear mechanic and you feel greasy hands, dirty.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_04: But reality is that that is not like that.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_04: It's not like a mechanic, uh automobile mechanic.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, you're gonna find equipment that is gonna be a little bit dirty and everything like that, but most of the time, if you're doing a good job, the the you you maintain your equipment clean and and and it's funny because a lot of people see me when I was yesterday doing an inspection in Manhattan, and and the guy was that was talking to me and he was like, Hey, uh are you gonna get on top of the car?
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, Yes.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_04: Are you gonna get your hands dirty?
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, no, I have gloves.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_04: It's like your nails are gonna broke.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, no, don't worry.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_04: I have everything under control.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_04: So it is funny because uh people think about elevators that they feel like this is a dirty job.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_04: And it's not dirty at all.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's not a job that you are all the time full of grease from top to head or anything like that.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_04: No, it's a blue collar job, it's a technical job, but it's a beautiful industry that I really love and I'm passionate about it.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: And honestly, that's that's some of the magic, and and honestly, it's one of the reasons I love doing these interviews because there's so much passion around people loving what they do.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: And and I don't get that in other industries.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, prior to this, I mean I used I used to recruit in a lot of other and work in other industries, and and it it's really hard to describe that to anybody, but if they know just how passionate people get.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I interviewed a guy recently, right?
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: 46 years, no plan to retire.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because I love it.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: This is what I love to do.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: How do you describe that?
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like you you can't know until you actually get in, right?
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: You have to take that leap of faith or or whatever it is and and try it.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_04: My niece, she was working for a a law firm.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_04: And I told her, like, come, I need you in the office, I need you to work for me in the co-compliance department.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_04: I'm like, I don't, I don't know nothing about elevators.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm like, no, come, I'll teach you.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_04: And now she's like, I love it.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_04: Auntie, I love it.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_04: I wanna be there, I wanna do this.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_04: And sometimes she's calling me at eight o'clock, and I'm like, girl, and she's like, no, Titi, I'm loving.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_04: T is auntie.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, oh, I love it.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_04: I wanna be, I wanna fulfill this, I wanna complete this, I wanna do that.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_04: It is it it becomes passionate when the people start understanding it's exciting for her.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_04: And I I I that's what I see about the pe the teamwork that we have.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_04: Sure, our team starts getting excited, loving it.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_04: It is amazing.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: And when you have people like that with that passion, at least for me, nutrient my soul, nutrition my soul.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I let them take a decision, let them take mistakes.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_03: What is coming?
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_03: Nothing is gonna happen.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_03: You lose like my kids that if he says my son is starting and I have a what is gonna happen?
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_03: Will you do a mistake?
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_03: He does a wrong quote or something.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_03: It's not a harmful situation.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: Let it then let let them nutrient that passage because at the moment, if you start putting rules and rules and rules and rules, maybe they lose that passion.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: At least that's like, okay, let's do it.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: And nutrient that one of my people in my office there always, Veronica.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_03: And how you how you he she's so attentive with everything that Giovanni said, she called me at eight.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_03: You girl, it's family time.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_03: Go and spend time with your family.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to hear, no, because I need to find out this information.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_03: And you can wait.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: Go into your family.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_03: And and I love to see that that she's I giving this opportunity to her.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_03: She says, Stay mom in the house, and she can work for home.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_03: And she's oh my god, that never no one gave me this opportunity, Veronica, to work from home.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_03: And I can be a present mom and I can work in the industry, and you are giving me a career.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: I was thinking that I need working at a retail store for all my life because I don't have a degree, because I have kids.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_03: And she's so grateful because we have the opportunity to grow people and know our people.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_03: What are their where are the things that they do good?
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_03: And we can make it happen.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_03: We make the magic.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, that's awesome.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: So um we're we're kind of getting close to our time here, and I just want to end with one one question to each of you, and that is on one hand, you know, we've got you know, seemingly a a shortage, right?
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: We need we need people, and and sometimes, hey, you happen to have the skills, sometimes maybe you don't, right?
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so there are obviously people we have to turn away and say, yeah, that's that's just not gonna work.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_01: What would you say to um you know, maybe to somebody who who wants to get into the industry?
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: What could help them?
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, sometimes it's who you know, right?
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: That that helps, right?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: But uh maybe they don't know anybody, but you know, are there ways that maybe they could start preparing themselves?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um if they you know listen to this and and get all excited, uh what what would you say?
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: Bill, let's start with you.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the get in, I mean, I do tell people that this trade isn't for everybody, because it's not.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I also tell people, young people, that if you're looking for a job, go to Walmart.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: If you want a career, come here.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, like I said earlier, I'm not really banging on the uh kids anymore, I'm more banging on the parents because just as my example I gave earlier, because if the parents don't want their kids to work hard, it it's an uphill battle that we won't win.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where I'm at with that.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_04: I would say um if you're willing to use your hands and get you can use your brain and your hand, so definitely this is a great industry to be in.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um I know uh a lot of people that has come close to us and looking to learn, I would say like try to learn some kind of trait, like electrical trade or a a trade that is related to mechanical and electrical.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_04: If you are not finding or you don't have anybody that can teach you elevators itself.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_04: And we we have other people that have said, like, can I hit can can I go and volunteer to learn the industry?
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_04: We have helped people like that too.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_04: And it it's interesting because honestly, they are open, they try it.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_04: Some say the first day I'm like, no, this is not for me.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_04: And some of them say, I can do this, this is not that complicated.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_04: And once they try it, uh they fall in love with the industry and they start trying to develop themselves and learn more and more.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_04: I would say yes, always try to.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_04: If you don't have a school built, by the way, congratulations for that.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_04: That that school that you're opening, I love it.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_04: I'm excited, I'm looking forward to sending people there.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_04: And and um looking, I always tell them like if you don't have anybody that can teach you, at least learn electronics or mechanical skills, develop something in that area because once you have at least a base, it will help you to grow faster.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_04: So we have people that because they have that base on electricity or mechanical, they is is about they become big they build develop so fast that in two years, two years and a half, they already become in mechanics because they are working fine.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_04: They are they they are able to to fix elevators left and right.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_04: And that's something that I always encourage everybody to to in that area if they have to learn something.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: And Veronica.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_03: For me, it's um they need to learn um if they're a crafty person and they like to use your brain, you can work in everything.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_03: So in my case, they have to be crafty.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_03: Crafty can be technology-wise, can be with their hands using tools.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: If you are that, you can open the you you have your my doors or color is open for you guys.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_03: Because um we have engineers in place that make design, we have people that do uh assembly, we have people that work with wood.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_03: So many areas that you can fit in.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_03: We have a marketing team.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_03: The if your tech, these kids from graduate from school that they are very knowledgeable in marketing, they don't even know.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_03: And we are open doors for that.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_03: So it's more than like I say, we we are here.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_03: You if you want to work, first of all, you want to work and you are crafty for me, it's like the best option that you can do.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_03: You and you you're gonna be success in this industry.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_01: No, those are those are words of wisdom.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: I've um I've said this before, and I don't, but my my dad was a school teacher for like 33 years, and then he was on the school board and then on the state legislature out west where I grew up.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: And he he used to say to me that only that that college really only works for about 20% of the population.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_01: And and so he was trying to to change state laws to get more, you know, more funding, if you will, to for not just trades, but the arts and and other things that aren't just you know college.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and so I think there are definitely a lot of people that will find deep satisfaction.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's part of what we're talking about when we're talking about the joy and the passion, is there's a lot of deep satisfaction in in working not only just with your hands, but but wherever your gifts are, right?
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you have that gift, then you know, come come work here, right?
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you all for being here.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: I appreciate all of your time, your your insights.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's been a real pleasure.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Matt.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Matt for the invitation.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: Have a great day.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the All Red Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: Please visit our YouTube channel at Elevator Careers or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: Please like and subscribe.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: And until next time, stay safe.