Latest / The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast / Episode 322. Women in HVACR (Celebrating World Refrigeration Day) with Michelle Houle and Shawna Peddle

Transcript

Episode 322. Women in HVACR (Celebrating World Refrigeration Day) with Michelle Houle and Shawna Peddle · The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast

• 0:00
  Trevor: Welcome to World Refrigeration Day. Super excited to be here. I've done a few podcasts already talking with people all around the world celebrating world Refrigeration day, and. Why we celebrate the people in the industry. This is a day to celebrate us, what we do from technicians, to engineers, to designers, to refrigeration professionals, because this is an important day.
• 0:01
  I can enjoy this stuff. And this is some of the things that we do. And today. We're talking about cool skills, celebrating people in the industry, and I'm super happy and honored to have women in H-V-E-C-R Canada here today to have a conversation about and celebrate world Refrigeration Day and, and talk about their wins, their celebration, why they're in the industry today.
• 0:02
  I love it. The people that I know that are involved in it, they can't get out of it because it's addictive. And it's fun and it's challenging. And this is some of the things that we're gonna talk about today. I'd love for both of you to do an introduction of yourself. And I'll start with Shauna.
• 0:03
  I got into HVAC initially through the residential sector. I began a three one 3D apprenticeship. It ended up taking about three to four years to complete just with the schooling in Ontario. We've got a. Bit of a leg. I'm, I'm hoping it starts to get better as we start to get more trades people in. But at the end of my apprenticeship, I decided I wanted to go bigger and work on some, , much bigger equipment, much more, complex systems and I decided to make the switch to commercial being that I was already a licensed three one 3D. Apparently the way that it works is when you go into a 3 1 3 A apprenticeship, which is the commercial apprenticeship for HVAC in Ontario, you're able to come in as a third year. As opposed to a first year, which is great.
• 0:04
  Michelle: Yes. So my name is Michelle Ho. I am the chair of women in HVAC r Canada. I am also, my full-time is operating a business, so it's a B2C. I am in a contractor. I specialize in operations and business development. I've been in the industry for 22 years, long time and I've seen a lot of changes over those 22 years.
• 0:05
  That's what we need. We need more first generation people to come into the industry so we can continue to grow. So I love, I love hearing that stuff. There's lots of lots of things going on in World Refrigeration Day, and, but what we wanna do is celebrate people, celebrate you, because I know this is a movement around, and, and that you've been involved.
• 0:06
  So I kind of had to find it on my own. And so in my early twenties, I actually ended up taking a HVAC sales job. I knew nothing about. The industry or really the equipment. And so the more I became exposed and was going into homes and and exposed myself to the equipment and speaking with people, I really got curious about how the equipment worked and why it did what it did.
• 0:07
  My hands dirty and I started seeking an apprenticeship. Thankfully, I was able to get my foot in the door and secure a residential apprenticeship, and it's just dad. The rest is history. It's been amazing since then.
• 0:08
  A passion and I was inspired with the people that I met and interacted with. It was funny to see customers have the relationship that they did with their HVAC contractor. I always thought it was very funny. But they put a lot of trust in us and I think what really inspired me to stay in it is it's a demand industry.
• 0:09
  But this is continuing to change and evolve. And this is the kind of movement you, your, your organization is trying to do is to help get more women into the trade because that there is a lot of challenges but there's a lot of rewards to it. What are some of the most important changes you've seen in an industry regarding gender diversity?
• 0:10
  How do we get more people in the industry? How do we specifically get more women industry? Because you guys bring a whole different dynamics to the industry. You. Think differently than, than myself as a man. What I mean? You, you come up with different ideas and we can really progress the refrigeration industry because I see tons of women, designers, engineers, and more technicians involved as women coming into the industry.
• 0:11
  Know what HVAC R stands for at all. And I think it's just educating them, letting them know it's extremely lucrative that there's so many different areas to the industry and that you can start out doing, , rules where it's being a technician or it's sales, or it is it's admin and just opening them up to, how vast the industry is. So I think getting the awareness out there is really just getting in front of the younger generation and the high school students. I like to do a lot of speaking events to encourage them to explore it provide a lot of support, give them my email my contact number.
• 0:12
  How about you, Sean? I see tons of great stuff that you put up on social media promoting that you're in the field, that you are a technician, and that you're out doing the things that technicians do on a daily basis. What are some of the things that you see some of the most important change in the industry regarding either women coming in or gender diversity?
• 0:13
  'cause I, I think it's one of those that we're, we're almost seen as unicorns right now. And , it, once it can start to become normal, it, it really will. I think expedite seeing more people come, more women come into the trades and pursue these jobs.
• 0:14
  I, so I haven't really had a lot of female mentors, unfortunately. I've j I've been, a lot of times when I've come into companies it's, it's usually just me on the team or maybe one other woman. And, , we don't. HVAC is so solo that you don't necessarily always get to work with that person. But I've found that a lot of men, I have been great mentors, they've been great teachers, and they've been a wonderful support system.
• 0:15
  We need more people and we want to take in people who are going to want to grow which is great to see because I know 20, 30 years ago, that was not the case. There was a lot of people, there was a lot of pushback. , If women take Aven jobs, all this stuff and the, the stuff we have evolved as an industry, as a world, and hopefully we continue to evolve to get more women.
• 0:16
  Wires or tighten something. And mentally, I believe women are excellent multitaskers and communicators. I know in my own day-to-day operations, I'm constantly dealing with facility managers and coordinating repairs. And not only does management really appreciate technicians who keep them in the loop and keep them updated, but they really like that I'm efficient with my time.
• 0:17
  What, what are some of the strengths that you believe that the women that you see, that you've mentored that are coming into the industry what they bring and the unique strengths they bring?
• 0:18
  She definitely was a better technician than a lot of technicians out there because we've talked about refrigeration so far so much. And now she's a part of refrigeration mentor, founding member, helping me grow the industry. And we just did a, a customer service training and she built most of it for technicians.
• 0:19
  Like I know I would've did a good job making the customer service training. She just crushed it, like hands down. People were like, this is an amazing course for the, the first time running it. And it, and it was awesome. And it was from that different thought pattern that she has a different way that she, the her emotional emotional thoughts was it.
• 0:20
  What I mean? They say super heat, and they're like, what are you talking about? Don't talk about refrigeration around. But she retained that stuff. And so when we're talking about, , you running into an issue with a, a service manager. How to talk, talk about it. She would gimme advice that, to go back and have that conversation with them, what I mean?
• 0:21
  Shawna: Being an HVAC tech it's pretty well made me feel like a bit of a superhero. It's been a, it's a great privilege to be able to restore equipment and keep society running, having done both residential and commercial. When I was at Resi, it was, , it's very personal. You go in and whether it be heating or cooling, when somebody's got their equipment down and you're able to restore that, it's just an amazing feeling.
• 0:22
  So it'll be really interesting to see the way our industry adapts towards that. So I've loved it and, , I, I hope more people can, will come into the trees eventually and we'll just see that this is really a great journey to be had.
• 0:23
  Michelle: Kind of a good question, Trevor. What does it mean to me personally? It's extremely fulfilling. No matter what I am doing in my role, whether it's hiring a, a new technician, hiring another team member growing the business, I like the challenge. I love the change that the industry's been going through.
• 0:24
  Then I went into managing the service department, which was a super hard challenge being a female, , customers on the phone didn't always see me as providing proper information. They always wanted to speak to a technician. , It was, it, it was difficult, it was challenging. My husband had helped me out immensely.
• 0:25
  It matters. What we do matters. It doesn't matter where you're at in the world. It does matter because we are helping people, we're saving people. We are helping people be healthy, which I really, really love and enjoy. And the last question here, I'd love to find out like. Some advice because I know I talk to women who are on defense about getting in our industry.
• 0:26
  Michelle: I say jump in with confidence. A hundred percent. Don't let you being the only one in the room, discourage you. Let it empower you and fake that till you make it. It's funny, I always talk about whenever you start something new you go for your first interview, you try something for the first time, it's so nerve wracking.
• 0:27
  Trevor: Yeah. And I love that. And same question to you, Shauna, like what advice would you give to young women, because I know you talk to a lot of people that are coming into the trades. What advice would you give them considering a career in refrigeration?
• 0:28
  Shawna: so, that's exactly that. Yeah. I was gonna say, I always kind of have this one story, like one experience that happened to me back in my first year as as an apprentice was in residential when I, so at the time when I was doing maintenances, the process was we'd have to call the customer ahead just to let them know that we're on our way. And so that day I was headed towards a fee, a furnace maintenance. I called the customer to give her the heads up, and it was a little old lady that answered the phone.
• 0:29
  She's in the room with me the whole time and she pretty much just doubled down and she said, what? I'm entitled to my opinion. I don't think women belong in these roles, yada, yada. And, , I, I did my job and I got out of there and it kind of gave me a bit of an epiphany. That no matter how nice you are, no matter how good of a technician you are, no matter how knowledgeable you are, some people will still hold bias and you've really just gotta let the negativity roll off.
• 0:30
  There's gonna be these hard times, tough conversations, but you gotta push through and you're just gonna mm-hmm. Moving forward. Because that there's gonna be people, just like you said, have biases on whatever you do. It's, I hear this from young men as well. Like, I am young and I'm going into these, these calls just like that.
• 0:31
  Trevor: Yeah. Any final thoughts? I'll start with you Michelle, any final thoughts? I'd love for you to let everyone know how more women can get in contact with you and your organization to really learn to, to have that support system. 'cause that's really what I, I notice when I travel around the world and see women in H-V-A-C-R women in H-V-A-C-R Canada that you guys are a supporting community to help each other through thick and thin.
• 0:32
  And that's what I love about today. There's more technology. Everything's evolving, but we can learn a lot quicker together than a Shauna, any final last, final thoughts?
• 0:33
  'cause I will point you into those directions as well to get you that support, to get you that help to get your foot in the door. And that's a lot of times what it is, is again that one. Step in the door and then your whole life can be changed and be in an industry that is never evolving industry where you can work anywhere in the world, you can get any type of job that you want.