Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Building the Next Generation of Elevator Professionals (ABC Apprentice Program): LIVE BROADCAST

Transcript

Building the Next Generation of Elevator Professionals (ABC Apprentice Program): LIVE BROADCAST · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Today we are talking with Nick Tucker and Brian Tebow.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Nick Tucker has been in the elevator industry for over 10 years as a licensed elevator mechanic with experience in service repair, modernization, and commercial operations.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: He currently serves as the commercial operations manager at South Jersey Elevator, where he oversees complex projects and works closely with customers to deliver safe, reliable, vertical transportation solutions.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to his operational role, Nick is a CET instructor, teaching and mentoring the next generation of elevator professionals.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's passionate about sharing practical knowledge, industry best practices, and real-world experiences that have shaped his career.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Brian Tebow is the vice president of education and training at Associated Builders and Contractors, ABC, New Jersey.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Since entering the construction industry in 2002, he has advanced through nearly every level of the profession, including electrician, electrical sales representative, electrical foreman, project manager, instructor, lead instructor, and director of apprenticeship and workforce development.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: A licensed electrician, as well as a secretary and an instructor for the New Jersey Elevator Group, Brian is dedicated to developing the future of the skilled trades, and his career has been built on hard work, continuous learning, and a commitment to creating opportunities for the next generation through education, mentorship, and workforce development.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, gentlemen, welcome.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Great to have you here with me today.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Great for having you.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: So what I want to do first is just talk about a couple of headlines.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a headline in the news that I saw a few weeks ago.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: I even brought it up a time or two.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, the construction industry, according to ABC, needs an estimated 349,000 new workers this year just to meet the demand, highlighting the growing need and importance of apprenticeship programs and workforce development.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Brian, talk a little bit about that headline.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's a huge, huge number.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: How are you seeing that show up?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the problem we're having right now in the construction industry is that um for every eight people that retire out or leave the workforce, only one person is backfilling those spots.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and as time progresses, the average age of the people in the workforce is getting higher and higher.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: I think in the electrical world, the average age of a field employee is about 43.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um there's nobody backfilling those roles.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: So without that, that's you know, there's more and more openings in the construction field uh need to be filled.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's crazy.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Nick, what are you seeing in the on the elevator side?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: So, like Brian said, we're getting a lot of mechanics who are retiring now, and then we're just not getting the backfill in there, and new guys aren't coming in and getting trained up yet, or there's not through the schooling, it's just not coming in fast enough.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, eight to one is is such a huge ratio to not be seeing those people come back in.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so obviously it highlights the need to have an apprenticeship program.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what do you guys think, uh, Brian?
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what what are some misconceptions that students and maybe parents have about actually getting into the skilled trades?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: So one that a lot of people have is that it's a it's a secondary or it's a a career for people that aren't as smart or for people, you know, it's a it's a it's a backup plan.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it's anything but like in all of the in all of the trades that you go through, there's a lot of knowledge that you have to know in order to move ahead.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's also pushed by a lot of your high schools and and secondary schools and things like that, where it's they're graded on how many people go to college.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And not that college is a bad thing, it's a great thing if you know what path you're going on.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want to go on that construction path, which is not a secondary choice, you can go into an apprenticeship and there's a lot of money being made in that in that pathway.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Nick, what are you know how does the elevator industry compare to some of the other construction trades?
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: So one of the uh the big things about elevator trades, we kind of do it all.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: We go from welding to plumbing, what I mean plumbing, plumbing and oil line, not water plumbing, um, electrical, schematic reading, electrical theory, uh, electrician work.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's a lot of different trades rolled into one.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_03: And and it takes years and years of practice.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: And to be able to say, Yeah, I know it all, is never going to happen.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_03: So the continuing education, whether it is through the apprenticeship or just taking online classes afterwards or learning a different skill from a manufacturer, it all has to add up.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how does it compare like pay wise?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: Pay wise, so the more you put in, the more you'll get out.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, you if you want to just skate by, you're gonna make the minimum on that on that pay scalp.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: But if you really want to succeed, the more education, the better, the more valuable you uh you become.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: So um obviously that's a huge headline.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's a huge number.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And especially you're saying, you know, 349,000 additional workers.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: That must mean that there's a million or two million that are retiring every year.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: And and so we we need that uh, or maybe I'm doing the math wrong, but but there's a huge number retiring, and we're just not replacing them, is what I'm hearing you say.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um the other the second headline I want to hit is that uh Meta has announced a major workforce academy trained to or designed to train electricians, welders, fiber technicians, and other skilled trades workers for the growing data center infrastructure.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, the the news was saying that ABC is among the organizations involved in helping build that.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: But um very interesting, right?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: That a large corporation is like, hey, we're gonna help find and train workers.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um why do you guys think that large companies are suddenly investing so heavily in apprenticeship programs?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Brian, any thoughts on that?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry, I hit the wrong button there.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um big companies are are jumping in because they see the problem.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: They see that there's nobody there to to pick up the slack, nobody there to to start building these things that they want to have built.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I mean I do welcome it.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Any any bit of training that you can get or that we can put out there, I you know, I want to be part of.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: I I I want if somebody's gonna be building something, if somebody's gonna be working on something, I want them to be trained and I want them to be trained well.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: And if I can be one of the people that helps train them, and if ABC and if you know our our elevator apprenticeship can can assist in that, that's what we want.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Nick, what what are your thoughts on that?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, 115 million is a is a pretty big investment for this company that's obviously not in the elevator industry, but I've heard that there's some pretty robust elevators going into these, uh, you know, into this uh data data center infrastructure.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's a lot of where instead of having one avenue of getting workers, it's exploring different options.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_03: You know, if this takes this long to get me in, well, why can't we just do it by ourselves?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_03: As long as we're getting trained, you know, the the right way and actually doing the proper work, then then go for it.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_03: This is what it should be.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's it's giving different options, is what it really is.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and what it says to me is too is that they're they're probably seeing a you know, maybe it's lost revenue, right?
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: If we don't get people in there, we we've we're building these buildings or trying to, and we we can't complete them.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: We can't we can't make the the impact on the market that we want to.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So um it's uh do you guys think that uh the skill labor shortage is becoming like a national economic issue?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um okay, Brian.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: I I think that it definitely could lead to that.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um again, uh you supply and demand, the the less people you have working in the field, the the more you're gonna have to pay those people, and the more choice they have on where they're gonna go to work and what they're gonna work on.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: And if they don't, if they choose not to work on these data centers, then they're just gonna sit where they're at.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: So like you you have to build that workforce in order to keep things moving.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Nick, what are your thoughts?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: I agree with Brian.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_03: It it's exploring the different options and and knowing where we can get the workforce steadily and be able to uh not control, but be able to monitor how the income is and then that kind of situate your uh your bills down the road too.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: How fast can we train to build?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good point.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: So um I'm just gonna do a quick shout out to the audience and um would love your thoughts in regards to both these headlines as far as the numbers that are needed, these this big uh skilled trade initiative by Meta.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, would love to get your your take on that, but also any questions you have.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: We will go ahead and address those here in a few minutes, but we're gonna dive quickly into Nick's career journey.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, Nick, just want to understand how you your career began in the elevator industry.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: What drew you into into what you're doing now?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_03: So originally I went to school um to be a manager.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: I I was working at Hertz for a while, doing pretty good there, and then one day they just laid me off.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: That was it.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_03: And I was talking to Bill, uh, Bill McGrath about coming over as a sales rep.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um when I got laid off, I gave him a call and like, hey man, like I I kind of need to start now instead of what we were talking about before a couple months later, and then it was all right, well, you start Monday.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: Started out in the field a little bit, went into sales, and did horrible in the sales.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: It just it wasn't I'm not a sales rep.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um so he he put me in the field as an apprenticeship, and it's it's hands down the best thing ever happened to me as far as what my work career goes.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: It's been a lot of fun.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: I love my job doing it.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it sounds like you've got a chance to kind of try sales and realize, hey, that's just not exactly what I would need to be doing.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then you were able to pivot back into the trade and into the you know the more technical side, I guess, right?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, and it definitely helped me as far and like I'm back in the office now doing sales here and there, not as much as like my position isn't sales driven, uh, but it helps me with my sales pitch because now I know exactly what's going on and what part I need to explain to the customer.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: So um how how pivotal was it that that you knew Bill and were able to work with him and and he didn't just, oh I'm just gonna fire you from sales because you suck, or yeah, you know, he gave you a chance to to really try a different avenue.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: People do say like he he's not the friendliest guy in the world, and I and I don't see it.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: He's always been there for me and my family.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: And to give me that, you know, option to hey, just go back in the field and do this, is the it's the best thing ever happened.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and to me, that's kind of what a an apprenticeship is, is you get a chance to to try something, and you know, maybe you have to, you know, it sounds like you're becoming a better salesperson as you learn the technical, right?
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: But but to me, an apprenticeship program is is learning all the different pieces that that go into a business, right?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just learning, you know, one thing or or a specific skill a lot of times.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's all the skills that that support that, um, in in my mind at least.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um what what would you say that they're the skills that have helped you move from the field then into leadership?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_03: Some of the skills I I built up over the years, you know, working at different jobs as management, whether it was with Hertz or working at an academy as as management, um, and being able to communicate properly to my team.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I definitely think in this industry, learning the terminology and actually not just, oh yeah, this is what you need, explaining this is why you need it instead of just here it is.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: And that definitely helped me.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: What do you wish you'd learned or known at age 20?
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I wish I would have started sooner because I didn't start, I I didn't get in this industry until about 28, 26 in that range.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_03: And definitely starting sooner was definitely where I needed to be.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: Because I again I went to college, I had my associates, and not saying it was a waste of time, I just wish I got in a trade sooner.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: So just just being aware of it, right?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you weren't weren't aware that that was a choice.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: In high school, it was either you went to college or you're you're you're just a bad kid who keeps getting in trouble or not smart enough.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: So here's a trade.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: So how did workforce development become a passion for you that that you decided, hey, I'm gonna be an instructor?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, definitely it it's a lot to do with there's more options out there than just either college or nothing.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_03: And being able to be a part of this and building a program with the apprenticeship is definitely it and it helps me inspire the next generation.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_03: So I can train somebody to basically just take my job.
• 13:17
  unknown: Cool.
• 13:17
  unknown: Cool.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and and then obviously there's plenty of jobs out there, right?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we we talked about that, so it's not like you're gonna be replaced.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um so Brian, let's talk a little bit about your your career and and also understanding ABC and its mission.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what has your career journey looked like?
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I grew up.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my father was an electrician.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um I when I was in you know high school, it was I'm gonna go to college, I'm gonna do something different.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I went to a couple years of college as electrical engineering, um, and then ended up right back just working for my dad's company.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um when the economy kind of fell apart a little bit in like 2008-2009 era, um, didn't affect us until a couple years later.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so I ended up working for uh a supply house where I learned the um the distribution side of things.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um to Nick's point, um I never thought of myself as a salesman, but sales becomes actually easier when you know the product.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: So and that's why like uh I could I don't want to speak for him, but you know, if he went into sales, he didn't like it, then he worked in the field for a while and now he's back in sales.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's probably because he can speak to it better, knows it better.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: Knowing the product makes selling a product a lot easier.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but also learning that side of things on how how things get to the job, lead times, things like that, it it furthered my career as an electrician.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, then I ended up going back and working for another electrician, became a foreman, eventually a project manager.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was at that point that we started realizing uh I'd probably say that was in the 2016, 17 era, we started realizing that our workforce um our what as we were pulling from from like growing our workforce, we didn't like what we were getting.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we started deciding to kind of grow it on our own.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so we started staying after helping uh teach the next level of helpers in our company.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the deal that I made with my boss at the time was if I'm gonna train them, then I get my pick of them for the job.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: So a little self-serving.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Right on.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um so uh growing that, then we decided that you know it would be great if they could get some sort of credential for this.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we looked into what it was to get uh to build our own apprenticeship.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: We ended up getting linked with ABC and started, uh, that's where I started teaching for ABC as a part-time instructor while still working in the field.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then just kind of grew from there, went from part-time instructor to a full-time instructor to the lead instructor, and then eventually made my way as uh director of apprenticeship and workforce development here, and now have made it to vice president of education and training.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um so to me that's a good story in the sense of like I got I had some college, but I I didn't have don't have like a master's degree or anything, but it's just just continued working on myself, continued furthering my education, um, and and going from there.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Very good.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um so tell me a little bit about uh ABC, like the the mission.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've heard it about it, right?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: But really didn't know that much about it.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: But um, what what is the mission of ABC?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're gonna you're catching me at a bad spot.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, to put it exactly right, but the the the general idea is that anybody um that the person most qualified should be the one that gets the job, uh, regardless of what a labor affiliation you have.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_01: So like if you if you work hard and you've earned to that spot, you should be able to have that spot.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um the one thing I do always say is like we are we are not anti-union by any by any means.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like uh if a union wants to run their business the way they want to run their business, by all means.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: We just want people uh within ABC to have the ability to run their business how they want, as long as they are paying a livable and a good wage to their people.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like we always want to make sure that we are taking care of our workforce.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, when it comes to training, I just want people like me personally, I want people trained.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh again, I said earlier, you know, if somebody's gonna be out there working on something, I want them to be as safe and as trained as possible so that the product is good and that the people are safe and going home at the end of each night.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_01: And if that means somebody gets a job, you know, with the union or whoever, you know, with it with the contractor, I want them to be taken care of and I want them to be safe and trained.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of companies are typically members of ABC?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: A typical member of an ABC is a merit-based company or a merit shop type company, uh, open shop or typically non-union.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: But again, we have no problem um with any unions.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: For sure, for sure.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: What um what makes the apprenticeship programs such an important part of ABC's strategy?
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: So uh it's one of our biggest benefits.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: So ABC as a whole is a membership organization that provides benefits to its members.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: The members pay their dues to come in, and then we provide benefits for them.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um our big, I think one of our biggest benefits is our apprenticeship program, the ability to trade your people, the ability to, you know, build the workforce for your people as you as you grow your business.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: What uh so I've got a you know, you know, some questions popping in from the audience.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: One is just how do people who maybe don't know much about the trades find these these options, right?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like you know, you've obviously got multiple apprenticeships going on.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: How do young people find out, for example, about you know, maybe they want to be a plumber or whatever?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_01: So we are trying to get more into career fairs in high schools and and like colleges or other, you know, junior colleges, colleges, things like that.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: We're trying to get out there to any of these trades, um, career fairs just to show that that that is an option.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um the I think one of the biggest hurdles that we talk about is how schools downplay what the trades are.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that that that that seems to be changing.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um we're we're seeing more and more uh high schools are actually considering, and some are already bringing shop classes back into the high schools, um, like trade trade classes into the high schools or giving options for for places to do that.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: But again, we're kind of at the the beginning of that, so it's you know, hopefully that continues and and we see that growth.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, I mean when I was a kid, right, there were several shop classes, but those, I guess, kind of went went away.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and obviously there was a big push nationwide that everybody needs to go to college.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, my dad was a 30-plus year educator, and he used to say, you know, not everybody's cut out for college, right?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of kids.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: He in fact he would say 20% of the the population can benefit from college.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: The others have other gifts, right?
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: They need to be doing something else.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: And and so I'm glad that you're you're reaching out and and helping those people find places where they can succeed because not everybody's gonna thrive in that you know, that kind of thing.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: The thing I will also say to that is like I so you say not everybody's cut out for college.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: Not everybody's cut out for the trades, you know, like it is a it is a business that you know you it has to be right for you.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: So like, you know, the the last thing I want to do is, you know, continue that process or thought process of this is a fallback.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a lot of knowledge that has to go into and and the right person, it's got to be the right fit.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now, hopefully, if anybody is interested in it, we're doing those career fairs, we're doing those things, but they can also just reach out, like reach out to trade schools, find, you know, reach out to ABC, reach out to, you know, technical, you know, tech schools, vote's, things like that, and and and see, or just talk to other like if you see a contractor somewhere, ask them questions.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: Most contractors are willing to talk about what they do.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a great, great comment.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Any uh misconceptions about AD ABC you'd like to clear up while we while we got you on here, Brian?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um a big one a lot of people say is that we are unsafe.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: I actually disagree.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: I I think we spend uh safety tends to be first and foremost for any of for any ABC members.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: We Push that with our safety committees and various options we have for making your job safe.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: And then the other thing is that we are anti-union.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: I said earlier, we are not anti-union.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: We are just pro-work, like pro-workforce.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: And we do want our people to be taken care of.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: We have things in place to try and make sure that happens.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: But again, safety, that that's our number one concern here at ABC.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Very cool.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, let's talk for just a minute about the elevator apprenticeship program.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um Nick, from your perspective, how did this program come about?
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: I know, you know, it's uh just curious from your perspective, yeah.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_03: So originally when we started, it was just working in Bill's house, uh a little plastic table, drawing on a TV screen with dry eraser marks to learn how print reading and pretty much the first two years of the of our apprenticeship is mostly safety training, like Ryan was saying, like the the whole aspect of us not being saved.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_03: You we go through so much training.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we have to be OSHA 30 at our company.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's a lot.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_03: And then on top of that, you know, to build into different classrooms and then you know, bringing in different simulators now, bringing in different vendors to come in and show us their product and teach us how to you know work on their particular ones.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_03: It's definitely night and day from where we started from.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: So how did you guys get connected with with ABC and and kind of make this partnership?
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_03: So we started out with ABC.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: Bill originally started out with that.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um I think pretty much when the the company started, he linked up with the guy from Delaware Elevator and said, Hey, you should look into ABC, they would help you uh grow.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_03: And that's pretty much what it turned into.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_03: And it slowly progressed into oh, this looks like something we can do here, and now we're building a whole training facility with I think three test hours, four test hours now.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, very cool.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: So Brian, was that three test hours?
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well was that a con a call that basically came to you, Brian?
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then you said, oh, hey, you know, let's we've got all these other programs going on.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Why not add an elevator apprenticeship?
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: I I wish I could take credit for that, but actually Bill McGrath did uh most of the heavy lifting on that.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: So he uh what we found was that there's a n there was a national apprenticeship that was accepted in different areas, the CET program.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: So the NAC.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: So he wanted to have, he wanted to see what we could do.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we basically sat in a few meetings, uh took the CET program, uh, looked through it, made sure everything was was good on our end, and then we submitted it to the well, so New Jersey is a U.S.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: Department of Labor uh run state.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we submit it to the U.S.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: Department of Labor uh for them to to check off, and and they agreed that it's acceptable training and um signed on it.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: So that that gave us the ability.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um but like I said, a lot of the work was done by uh Bill McGrath there.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um as even though like like I oversee paperwork on that.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: If it's outside of electrical, though, uh the the big thing about our program is in order to be an instructor or to to kind of run any of those programs, you have to be journey level or higher in that craft.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: So while I can oversee the paperwork or the logistics on things, uh I need people like Bill and Nick to be the ones that actually administer that training because you know what do I know about an elevator?
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: I need somebody that can answer those questions and be there to pass on that knowledge.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and that makes sense.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so Nick, what is uh what does the the program look like like starting day one, you know, if someone was to join and start to be trained and taught?
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_03: So day one, you you automatically you get your first set of books, and the first set of books goes over literally the history of elevators, it brings up Elijah Otis and the safeties, then it goes into these are the basic tools you're gonna be working with.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: And the first two years is mostly just safety-driven training, meaning um, you know, how do you properly remote a car, how do you secure a car, you know, when you're cutting the cables off the elevator, how do you make sure you're everybody's safe at all times.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_03: And then years three and four goes into electrical theory, that's where the real uh thought process has to come in as far as anybody could put a wire just because the paperwork says it put it there, but to understand why that wire is going there, that's what your year three and four really built into.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and and as I understand it, you're also you know, you're you're training people who are working in the trade, right?
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: So they're seeing this day in and day out and getting to apply this this learning, the right, the classroom training, uh in their in their job every day.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is that right?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: Is Brian work for the whole time they're doing it, they're uh in the books, it gives you certain skills that your mechanic has to sign off on.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_03: So when they're doing something, they they have to either watch it and then do it the next time, um, depending on what job it is.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, we're not gonna send them in there here, rear up a car on your second day.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's a lot of sit back and let's let's walk through every process bit by bit to make sure everybody goes home at the end of the day.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Not makes sense.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: What are so with any say with any apprentice program, there's uh certain criteria that you have to meet.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um every every apprenticeship has to have a minimum, and again, this is a minimum, it can be more than that, but it needs a minimum of 144 classroom hours or related theory instruction hours of so that would be like the going through the books that Nick's talking about and the the classroom time.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: But then every apprenticeship also has to have 2,000 hours per year of what's known as on-the-job learning.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_01: So while you're learning those things in the books in the evenings and the night classes and possibly weekend classes, you're also then applying it to your business or the what you're doing at um during the day.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: So like your working hours during the day, um, you're applying all that.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then you have a uh you have a foreman, a journey, somebody journey level or higher that is also signing off on your hours during the day that that you're basically accruing to get give to towards your apprenticeship.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: So 2,000 hours is is approximately a full-time job, right?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a couple weeks in there for Yeah.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's a 2,000 hours is a 40 40-hour work week for every week but two weeks of the year.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: So there's two weeks of vacation built in.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um if you do more than that, you accrue more hours than that.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you but unlike you know, whatever type of pay, you know, if if you work past 40 hours or if you work past eight hours in the day, that doesn't mean you get time and a half or double time on your hours.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like 42 hours is 42 hours.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's like like pay is different.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hours towards your apprenticeship, that's hour for hour.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: So when are classes usually held?
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is it evenings, is it weekends?
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: How does that work out?
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: So most I'll let you yeah.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_03: So for our classes, we do ours at night, we do it once a week.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_03: We uh usually I'll reach out to the the people who are in the class, like, hey, what day works best for everybody?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_03: And then we'll do it every night or uh once a week, uh, whether it'll be in the class or by the simulators, and then we work it out that way.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you'll do what two or three hours, or how how long do those classes go?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_03: Two to three hours, we try to keep it at.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um anything because it gets real late, and again, we we're all working too.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: So we we all come back out and sometimes sweat and everything, and then go right back into class.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_03: So we try to keep it around two hours, but we've had a couple classes go much longer because just because we go into a depth conversation with, hey, this guy saw this was weak.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_03: All right, let's go step by step at how we come across that.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's really cool that you like say they have simulators, you have the coursework, you you know, you can really focus on things, those things that, you know, maybe maybe they need a little bit more time on, you know, troubleshooting electrical circuits or or some of the the theory or or print reading.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I am curious, Nick, what are some skills that that maybe today's apprentices are are learning that uh maybe weren't such a thing 10 or 20 years ago?
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh mainly now is technology, learning how to use it properly.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_03: And just because you know, Chat GPD says this is how it's big, the knowing to when to filter through and like, all right, you gotta double check a couple things and be able to just go to work and do your job and then make sure you have all the knowledge you when you got there and leave leave it all on fingers and toes, too.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Nick, what what surprises most new apprentices about the trade?
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, are are they surprised?
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: And if so, what is it that how much work's involved?
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_03: They don't they just think, okay, yeah, we just landed wire here, we're good to go, or everything comes pre-assembled.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, some things come pre-assembled to an extent, but in our cur in our industry, it's a lot of figuring out as you go, just because the paperwork says it has to go that way, doesn't mean it's going to fit that way.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, checking the egos at the door is a big one for us.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: You know, there's there's every it's a one big team.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: There's no ego here on the best one on the job site.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_03: We're all here to accomplish the same goal.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's cool.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Brian, just how does how does an apprenticeship program prepare people for long-term careers rather than just jobs?
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think that was something you mentioned earlier, and I just wanted to dig into that a little bit.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, number one, apprenticeship programs are gonna, you know, if you're gonna go through an apprentice program, it's gonna give you a level of accountability.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: You like I said, there's minimum hours you have to hit.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: So right out of the gate, you have to make sure you're hitting those.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: You have to make sure you're passing your tests, uh, that you're doing your on-the-job learning, that you're showing up for enough hours of class that you, you know, pass the test, and then that you demonstrate when we do our performance testing, uh, that you demonstrate that you can, you know, perform the items that that you said that you could as you kind of ruin the class.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um but it also just, you know, a lot of companies can retain a workforce by training them.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: So again, anybody in our apprenticeship is employed by an ABC member.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh that ABC member has basically footed the bill to pay for that apprenticeship.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then that employee sees how a company invested in them and then stayed and tends to stay there, you know, tends to stay there for the long haul.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's not always the case, but it's just uh it's something that you know they invested in me, I'm gonna work for them and builds a sense of loyal loyalty, and then hopefully that person as they grow brings on the next person.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like I know for me, I was taught by my dad, but when like that gave me a desire to then pass on what I know.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, as Nick said, you know, I want to be that person that teaches somebody to take my job one day, you know, like it's and and I'm gonna try and stay sharp to keep my job and I hopefully one day retire out of it.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: But like nothing the people that are instructors tend to want the best for their students and want their students to outshine them.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: I I like that, you know, for especially for the the long-term career perspective, which kind of leads me to the next question, which is you know, once you've gotten in, you've got the license, the the training, um, you know, what are some of the opportunities that exist?
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because I I I do know people who, you know, once they get their license, a few years later, they're starting their own company, they're, you know, they're kind of advancing because they now have the skills.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say, Nick, or some of the opportunities that open up once you complete the apprenticeship?
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_03: So once you complete your apprenticeship, you automatically you'll become a uh a licensed mechanic once you apply for your state or whoever it is.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um every state has different licensing requirements.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um but there's always like for me, it was get my CET, which is my certification, and then become a CETS right away, just so I can start teaching the next generation behind me because it's already fresh in my brain, and this way I can keep going and make sure somebody who can do the job can do the job when I ask them to.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's really where I need to be at.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_03: And then also like there's other avenues.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_03: You can go down the inspector if you really wanted to.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, for me, that's a retirement goal, I think.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: If I wanted something to do on a side, inspector, because most times they're just there.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_03: So that's where I think it's gonna be at.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, if there's a parent or high school student that watches this, why should they consider this career path?
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: Nick, what would you say?
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_03: It's really good money, it's a lot of fun.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, in the end of it, it it's definitely a job where a lot of people think, oh, I never thought about the elevator industry.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's definitely a niche uh group there.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_03: And I think being able to build up that uh reputation or uh reputation, sorry, of yeah, we are one of the king of the trades just because we can do mostly everything, whether it's welding or wiring, electrical, anything you need, we can get it handled.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's really cool.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I and I do know a lot of people that are really passionate about that what they do and love it.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: Brian, what would you say to that question?
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what what would be the reason to consider this type of career path?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: So and initially, as Nick said, I would say the money.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like I I'll say I, you know, wish I started earlier too.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but like when I was a foreman, I'm watching the, you know, I pull into the I got my work truck and I pull in and I'm waiting for my helpers to get there, and I'm watching them pulling in like nicer trucks than I have at home because they're have no expenses right now and they're making a ton of money.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that's initially long term, there's stability in like so eight people retire, one person leaves.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're you're gonna be needed.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: So like there's gonna be some stability in that job.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, there's gonna be, and and as that happens, you're gonna be able to name your price.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the money's gonna be there too.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: AI is not gonna stop, you know, AI is not gonna install an elevator.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: You're still gonna need people to install an elevator.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_01: AI's not gonna wire a house, you're still gonna need people to wire a house.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and as Nick said, that you know, if you if you had the mindset of continuing to learn throughout your career, you're just gonna get further and further.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you'd have to if you'd have told me when I was eight, you know, 21, 20 years old that I'd be running a school one day, I'd have told you you're a liar.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: But because of what I've done in the industry, it's opened a lot of doors for me.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: And as Nick said, I like I'm can always continuing to try and build my education.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm working on being an inspector for the state.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: And if even if I never use it, it's just something I want to make sure I have under my belt because it's a door that was open to me because of the industry that I was in.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's great.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: So, Brian, what if there is an elevator contractor that is interested in doing something like this, maybe in a different part of the country, what would be what would be the first step to to actually starting an elevator apprenticeship?
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: So there are ABCs, like so we're the ABC New Jersey chapter, but there are 67 ABC ABC um chapters throughout the country.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you can reach out to us or you can find that local chapter and reach out to them.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: All of those chapters, again, that's a member benefit uh organization that wants to, you know, benefit their members.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: So reach out to that ABC, see if you can become a member, and they will probably want to continue that training.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: And if and if we have a template, like we have a template here in New Jersey, obviously different states have different rules, but like they could use our template and our assistance to uh maybe help build that down or over there wherever that is.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a guarantee because again, different states have different rules, but right.
• 38:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and you and you told me different different branches have different capabilities, right?
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: They may or may not have a VP of education, but uh certainly, you know, if you've got the template and and they can you know get that from you and some support, it sounds like there there could be opportunities to build more of these around the country, is is what I was thinking.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: So let's let's take just a minute and uh and answer some audience questions.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if if you're listening, uh part of the audience today, feel free to to put your your comments or questions in there.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: But we've got a few here that I want to kind of uh bounce through.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know that we, you know, I brought one up just a minute ago.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the questions here is, you know, it's just asking, like, you know, do you uh Brian, do you guys go into high schools and maybe start a little earlier than just college fairs to to try to get that engagement with students and so we're working on that more and more.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we have a couple of our local high schools that we're trying to get into some more.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_01: But one thing that we've also started uh the past two summers is we've uh done a middle school construction camp, a couple different cohorts of that, per it's two per year, uh, where we just introduce the trades to middle schoolers.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then some of the outreach programs around here.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: We've always also tried to spread the word about you know getting people into apprenticeship or into the trades.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it is something that we are trying to do better at.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as I said earlier, I I have noticed a an uptick on high schools actually trying to bring those classes back.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and we support wherever we can without without spreading ourselves too thin.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: But like, you know, we want to do as much as we we can to get that word out there.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, sure.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and it it takes a community, right?
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: It takes uh it takes a lot of different voices and and you know, for a long time the voices have been, oh, you know, just go to college and and skip the trades.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_00: And and obviously we can there are things we can do to to change that message that no, we need these jobs, they they pay well, they you know, you'll you'll love them and we'll train you how to do them.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it's uh I think it's great that you you do what you can and um try to get try to get people in there.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um the uh there's a question here from the audience about just kind of the the the amount of innovation.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: And um they're just curious, you know, how much innovation, like how much change is going on.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Nick, do you want to speak to that when it comes to hardware and software and um you know as things become maybe widely adopted from innovation, how much change do you see in your work?
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_03: Our in our industry alone, it it's constantly changing, different versions, different boards, different manufacturers.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_03: One guy can go, oh, I can do it this way, but then complete different manufacturer.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we can do it the same way, but different.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_03: And that's where you know continuum education comes in, where just because you pass your your license test doesn't mean it stops there and be able to adapt to different ways of doing things instead of setting, nope, this is the only way we're gonna do it.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_03: This is this is it.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's it's constantly changing every day for us.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it sounds like there's a lot of options out there that that you would yeah, have to train people on.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, hey, we're we're going away from this supplier because maybe they can't get stuff to us, right?
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so now we've got to go over here.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna have to train on this different form factor or something.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um good good uh comment there.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one question here is just asking you, Brian, you know, do you actually like recruit companies to join the programs?
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like your members kind of come to you, or or how does that work, I guess, to get companies into your apprenticeship programs?
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's a little of both.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, word of mouth is huge.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we have a lot of people uh in our state that come to us uh because of legislation that was put in place.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh a lot of companies come to us because in order to be on a public works job, they have to be involved with an apprentice program.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um so so that New Jersey has that, you know, in place to promote apprenticeship.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um but we also, you know, as we're you know, as I'm around like talking to different people, you know, I I go out to different industry things and just say, like, you know, what benefits are you looking for?
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because again, ABC as a whole is a a member benefit company.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_01: So like it's not just apprenticeship.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: It could be uh networking, it could be safety training alone, not other training, just safety.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: It could be um benefits in terms of like 401 or retire um uh healthcare plans and things like that.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: So like ABC as a whole has a lot of benefits for its members.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um we just you know, and maybe it's because I'm part of it, but I I think that our apprenticeship is one of our biggest benefits.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: So for sure, for sure.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it sounds like you yeah, you have a lot of benefits to offer.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so if if a company is looking for the support that you have, yeah, that sounds like a huge one, especially just given the conversation we've had with all these jobs needing to be filled.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: And and I see from my perspective that there's a lot of companies that are that are limited in in their ability to grow until they can fill those roles.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I think it happens to a lot of companies that that's the biggest limiting factor, in other words.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a huge benefit.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, one question here is um just in regards to uh and maybe Nick with this one for you, how do you like is there a time of year that you say, hey, apprenticeship opening up, or how how do you make that known in the local community that, hey, we're, you know, bringing on new people, or what does that look like?
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_03: So we went into PECOTEC a couple of times in ABC, the same thing.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like, hey, we're getting ready to be hiring, you know, when your next class graduates or your next program ends, let us know send us a couple applications of who you think would thrive in industry or who's really trying to make a change and they already let's say they're our car mechanic and they just want to try something different.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_03: Hey send the application you know we can definitely look into that um as far as recruiting like that it's just it's everything's word of mouth for us it's hey we're hiring we'll put a couple applications out on the um or a help one assignment whatever you want to call them on the internet and then we'll filter in that way.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah yeah well like you say word of mouth is is great and and obviously there's some that just get I mean I heard that hear that word of mouth.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: So um I guess that's why we're doing this too, right?
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_00: Is to get the word out that that hey these things do exist.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah now with ABC apprenticeships we can enroll students anytime during the year but our school year is t is the is the typical school year.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like where our classes will typically start in the September October area and go until the May June with some breaks um so like that's when like a year one will turn to a year two a year two to a year three and so on.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: But we enroll people at any time and then they'll just start at the next cycle.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: No and and I think in order to be enrolled they have to be as you said they've got to be an employee.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: So they've got to kind of join at the entry level uh the apprenticeship level and then that becomes one of their benefits is the training.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: So that's to to be in an ABC apprenticeship you have to be working for an ABC company.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: And again any company can reach out and see what it takes to to become a member of ABC and then that allows them to enroll their students but everybody in our program is working for an ABC company.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yep yep makes a lot of sense um one other comment here just that that uh construction camp sounds awesome that in regards to the uh you said middle schoolers are doing construction camp or something so uh so this year we have uh here at our South Jersey location we have a construction camp uh the second to last week of July and then at our North Jersey location it's the second week of August uh we are actually adding uh through one of our partner companies Aspire Outreach we're adding a girls camp um the first week of August so it's gonna be all uh actually high school aged um ladies so very cool so how would they get more information if they're interested in enrolling their their children in in something like that oh they can reach out just um I don't know if my email is in there but you can reach out to me.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: And again we have a template um I will you know credit where credit's due our template is based off of ABC ABC Keystone which is central PA's template.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay so you know I don't want to steal steal the credit for that they they kind of came up with that one.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: No but it's awesome that you can share them you said you have numerous different you know branches of ABC so the fact that 67 67 the fact that you can share those between um just makes it uh available to so many more people so that's uh that's great news um so uh gentlemen this is awesome I've got one set of of kind of do just do some rapid fire questions as we wrap up this last 10 minutes or so and uh I think I'll just ask each of you the same question.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it'll be kind of a a quick question quick answer.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: Don't you know don't worry too much if if it takes you a minute to think about it or whatever.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_00: But just kind of want to kind of want to get through a few of these and just get your your take and then I've got one one final question to hit both of you with as we as we wrap up.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll start with you Brian what is the best career advice you've ever received uh best career advice I ever received was never stop learning.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um whatever whatever craft whatever trade or whatever industry you go into even if it's not the trades just never stop learning always try to better yourself uh every certification that you get on your resume uh increases your price tag.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome Nick best career advice you ever received uh I think Brian Steelman knows I was gonna say the same thing never stop learning as far as you know you go into a room and you hear the guy says oh I know everything I don't need to do anything he's probably the dumbest one in the room that's the way I always looked at it with that.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_00: Gotta gotta be open.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: Second question Brian one thing every apprentice should learn in the first year you should learn in the first year you're gonna start at the bottom in the at least in the trades you got to earn your keep you got to earn your way up uh a lot of people think that you know they're gonna start out running a crew we're doing this no you're gonna start at the bottom and you're gonna earn your way so like how you how you treat people how you talk to people is gonna is also gonna make a difference and always be always stay busy like just keep pushing like don't sit there with your hands in their pockets don't sit there always be moving yep awesome um Nick same same question so I want to add to that so me that I was always told as an apprentice especially first year there's always something to clean don't be standing there put the cell phone away and go find a broom or ask the your mechanic hey you need me to do uh any kind of organizing a truck find something to clean and and don't just stand there.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome Brian biggest misconception about the trades biggest misconceptions that's for um and I said this earlier that's for dumb people or etc a fallback um anybody that succeeds in the trades are some of the smartest people that I've met um I mean don't get me wrong you can get by but if you want to succeed uh it's not it's not for it's not for stupid people it's for people that are willing to work people that are willing to learn people that are willing to better themselves for sure Nick biggest miscon misconception again same thing I think Brian actually still my notes it's it's knowing um go in there and thinking is you know this is all felons or this is all just people who couldn't make it through high school and that's not the case I met some of the smartest people I ever worked with in the in the industry as far as engineering and coming up with different ideas is definitely a misconception as far as you know thinking that this is it.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_03: This is the only way I'm I I can't make it in college this is what my fallback is right right Nick what's the most underrated skill in business money management.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh definitely being able to manage your own money on top of you know if you're running your own company you know managing that there was actually a really good book called Rich Dad Poor Dad definitely homed in my my money skills.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome Brian what do you think the most underrated skill in business is a good one that's a good one um I I don't know right now I I I'm drawing a blank I apologize it's all good it's all good well let's do one more of these uh rapid fire um Nick one tool you cannot live without uh tweaker so or a terminal screwdriver it's to the point where I have one two I think I have a third one here I know I keep at least three on me this I can't live without these tools.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right on Brian what about you?
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_01: Tool one tool you can't live without as an electrician a tester you want to make sure things are de-enerized before you start messing with them or if you if you know they're energized you know I would never say that you should work on anything live it happens but you know the safety side of me says not to but a tester a tester would be the the bet uh most important tool.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome awesome well let's do uh one just closing question here and uh Nick I'll start with you.
• 52:11
  SPEAKER_03: When we're having conversations you know five years from now what do you hope has changed about workforce development and apprenticeship in America me it's definitely having the different options instead of having just one option of apprenticeship there's many different ways of going about it.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_03: Even in as starting high school bringing back the traits there or you know coming out of high school either going to college and college like hey maybe this is a different avenue should you explore helping with that.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: Brian what about you?
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: In five years from now what do you hope has changed about workforce development and apprenticeship?
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_01: I hope in five years that it's not an eight to one ratio anymore.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that it is something we end up talking about as a past you know in five years I want to be like hey five years ago it was eight to one now you know we're at two to one or one to one like I you know I I hope that people and and I want people to be coming out trained.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_01: I want people to be out you know ready to be in the workforce.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right on.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well Nick and Brian thank you so much for being with me today.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's been a lot of fun uh apologize for that little echo that was harassing us but uh it's been a real ple uh pleasure, privilege and uh I appreciate you both being on here today.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_01: Just thank you.