Recruiting HVAC staff is essential for growing your HVAC business, and it is one of the most important aspects of having a successful contracting company, alongside providing adequate and sufficient training to your personnel. That is why it is always a good idea to explore ways in which you can improve your recruiting process and secure qualified and prospective candidates for your business. 

However, sometimes revamping your recruitment methods requires outside advice and concrete examples of tried-and-tested recruiting practices that yield results for recruiting your future HVAC staff. Let’s take a look at some of the steps that tend to make up the most successful recruiting campaigns.

What are the steps to improved HVAC recruitment?

There are many ways in which you can improve your process of recruiting new personnel for your HVAC company. That is why it can sometimes be difficult to choose the right methods for bettering your recruitment. Take a look at the following seven steps that can help you make your recruiting easier and more effective:

Examining your company culture

While it is a standard part of the recruitment process for a company to interview, examine, and potentially vet their job candidates, skilled trades function a bit differently than other industries. In the HVAC industry especially, the focus tends to shift from the potential employee to the potential employers. 

Qualified, experienced, and skilled HVAC professionals are becoming an increasingly rare commodity, and it’s necessary to consider more than just the candidate’s credentials when looking to hire. Providing an enjoyable work culture and encouraging business atmosphere will bring the most qualified candidates to your company. That is why it is essential to evaluate your company culture to ensure you’re able to provide a stimulating job proposition.

Matters to consider when performing the evaluation

In order to perform a quality evaluation of your own HVAC business, it’s important to know what aspects to examine. These points can help you perform a more exhaustive evaluation of your company culture:

• Inspect your company’s mission.

• Scan the core values of your company.

• Take a closer look into the ways you practice those values.

• Investigate what distinguishes you from the competition. 

• Emphasize the role your HVAC business plays in the community. 

• Check your company goals and whether you celebrate them as a team.

• Do you offer different policies that show respect to your employees, such as benefits, maternity leave, sick time, and PTO. 

• Do you provide opportunities for personal and professional growth within your company. 

Compose a compelling job ad

One major mistake many employee-seekers make when composing an ad is to create a list of demands they require from their potential future employees rather than a potential job offer that would motivate skilled applicants to make their move. 

The HVAC job ad you compose is the first glimpse your prospective employee gets into your company and its overall culture. That is why it’s an immediate mistake to make a litany of essential requirements and not an enticing ad that will get candidates to apply, allowing you to select ones that match what you’re looking for.

Details to pay attention to when composing the job ad

When planning to compose a job ad for an HVAC technician, there are certain aspects to keep in mind if you’re planning to attract candidates. Take a look at the following five things to pay attention to when writing a job ad:

• Try to be very brief.

• Limit application parameters to their bare minimum.

• Be sure to highlight perks you’re offering and the benefits you provide.

• Give them an idea of your company culture.

• Spread the word through different avenues and platforms.

Use social media to promote your career opportunities

Speaking of avenues of advertising your job opening, it’s important to take advantage of all the media outlets modern technological advancements provide, including various social media platforms currently available to both you and your candidates. 

That means first establishing your social media presence by creating profiles for your HVAC business on several platforms, posting and editing content, and showing off not just the ad and the requirements, but also what makes your company such a great team to become part of. Remember, skilled HVAC technicians are hard to find these days. 

Update your website with a dedicated page

Your HVAC company website can be both a huge asset and an enormous liability when it comes to finding the right candidate for your business. If your website is outdated, lacking in content, reviews, or any of the other things now considered standard, you risk such an internet presentation reflecting poorly on your otherwise amazing company.

That is why your website is also something to pay attention to if you have it. Make sure it looks sleek, modern, with plenty of relevant content and eye-catching places your prospects could explore.

Also, never forget to create a dedicated “careers” page on your website. This not only allows candidates to find all the information they need in one place, but it also streamlines the entire process of applying for the job at your HVAC company. 

Create a simple job application process

Simplicity is almost a requirement when creating your job ad and envisioning the entire application process. Individuals looking for employment are already facing a potentially grueling proposition of having to apply to numerous places with varying degrees of simplicity involved in the process.

Don’t risk alienating possibly great candidates by making the process of applying complicated, unintuitive, and overly time-consuming. Your best bet is to create an easy-to-apply form online that will allow your candidates to easily provide required information. 

Find HVAC hires through building community relationships

One of the best ways to encourage prospective employees to come to you instead of you struggling to find them is to build a positive rapport with your local community. You can accomplish this by supplementing your already-excellent HVAC service history with all kinds of community activities and sponsorships on your part. 

Show your local community all the majesty of your true colors and you’d be surprised just how many skilled and experienced HVAC technicians would be eager to become part of a company that truly cares not just about its employees, but its customer base too. 

Remain open for different hiring possibilities

Finally, even though you might have specific and strict requirements and expectations from your potential employees, try to show some leniency when the process of selection begins. Don’t easily dismiss candidates with less experience or individuals straight out of college. 

Remaining open to different employees could prove a great asset to your company, as it is never a good idea to turn back potentially great employees simply because they failed to conform to a single job requirement. 

What benefits do HVAC technicians value?

In order to attract the best possible candidates for your HVAC company, you need to provide an attractive career prospect for them by promoting the unique selling points of your business. It’s important for prospective employees to know how they would benefit from becoming part of your company. 

There are some advantages HVAC technicians value more than others. Take a look at what most up and coming young HVAC pros want from their employer:

• A business that keeps up with the modern advancements in the industry and uses accounting integration and field service management software.

• Company that is reactive and responsive to constant industry changes. 

• Numerous opportunities for developing specific industry knowledge, advanced skills, and hands-on experience. 

• Paid professional workshops and training opportunities. 

• Health, vision, dental, and life insurance possibilities.

• Opportunities for remote work in certain scenarios.

• Access to a company vehicle or full coverage of all gas expenses. 

• A salary that is competitive with other companies in the area. 

How can I improve my company employee retention rate?

Finding talented and dedicated HVAC technicians is difficult in today’s business environment. If you’ve managed to assemble a team of qualified and hard-working professionals that are helping you expand and improve your business, you have to think about keeping your staff happy and retaining them at your company. 

Here’s how you can improve the wellbeing and happiness of your employees and get them to stay and thrive at your company: 

• Always review the salaries of all your employees every year and provide incentives for your staff to continue working at your company. 

• Give all your technicians an opportunity to develop their professional skills and advance their knowledge through participation in dedicated training days or online courses.

• Show appreciation to your staff by regularly taking them on interesting and engaging team-building activities such as escape rooms or paintballing. 

• Be open to constructive employee feedback and try incorporating their thoughts and worries into your company culture.

Gustave A. Larson can help you improve your recruitment process!

If you’re struggling with recruiting HVAC technicians and contractors for your HVAC business, it’s time to take another look at your recruiting process and adjust it for today’s tendencies. Gustave A. Larson is a wholesale HVAC distributor built to help you with that task. We offer our certified partners more than just advanced HVAC products and equipment to provide to your customers – we can also help you walk through figuring out the best recruitment methods for your business. We want to see your company thrive in every aspect of your business. Contact us today!