As a way to deliver back to the community! And possibly help out some at-risk youth, I have started to offer ride-alongs for our HVAC service jobs.
If there is a child in a local school that expresses interest in studying a trade, the guidance counselor will contact me and set up a day for the child to hang out with me and see what I do, but there are a lot of good adolescents in school who are simply not university material, but they still have a lot of work options, for the last 20 years the HVAC industry has been growing, and we need new techs just as badly as ever before, without spending tens of thousands of dollars on a university education, a young person can become HVAC certified plus make a good residing for the rest of their life.
I was blessed enough to have an uncle who was an HVAC tech, and he was the one who steered me into this industry. I like the plan of paying it forward, and showing these adolescents that they can make good money as an HVAC tech even without having the best grades. Typically how it goes is that I will come by the office of the school on our way to work and pick up the interested student. They shadow me through all of our HVAC service appointments for the day, for an “up close plus personal” view of the work. At the end of the day I deliver them our HVAC corporation card plus tell them to call me if they want to get started.