Page 32 - BusinessWest June 10, 2024

Fahad Khan says STCC is equipping students to take the first steps into an HVAC field that needs young talent.
air scrubbers or electronic air cleaners because of all the ancillary benefits. They do kill bacteria and viruses, such as coronavirus. It won’t prevent you from getting sick out in the wild, but it can help you in your own home.”
While technologies continue to advance, Khan said, the state is also focusing on incentives for weatherizing houses, making them more efficient in terms of heat loss and gain. “We’ll still rely on combustion, at least for the next 10 years.”
Priming the Pipeline
With business split about 75% residential and 25% commer- cial and industrial, Western Mass Heating, Cooling & Plumbing handles all aspects of that name, from installation and retrofit- ting to new construction and service, Cernak said. “We’ve had
a steady incline since our inception in 2020 — we’ve tripled our sales and doubled our workforce.”
That employee growth is impressive in itself, at a time when all building trades are struggling with retention as retirements outpace new talent in the pipeline.
“We’ve seen challenges, especially at first. But we have a strong training program,” Cernak said. “It’s been relatively easy to hire young talent coming up from the trades. They’re not ready to run their own jobs yet, so we’re training them exten- sively to bring them up into our workforce. The growth has to come from within.
“For a young kid coming out of high school or college, bring- ing them up to speed usually takes one to three years, depend- ing on the position,” he explained, adding that internal training has been very effective in bolstering his workforce.
Cernak said the question of whether to go to a four-year col- lege or enter a training program in the trades is one each young person needs to make based on their interests and needs.
“But what I can offer is, we pay for training, and you start making money immediately. Even in an internship, you’re making a livable wage, and then there are frequent increases, good benefits, and it’s satisfying at the end of the day, knowing that, by providing heating or cooling or plumbing, you’re providing comfort, safety, and efficiency in someone’s home.”
Khan also recognizes the need to bring more young talent into the world of HVAC.
“There is a vacuum in this field, as a lot of folks are retiring, or have taken early retirement since COVID. We’re trying to fill the gap.”
“These guys are not going to
be outsourced anytime soon. You’re not going to see
a robot come into the house; somebody has to do the work. An engineer can be outsourced, but who’s going to install and cut metal and lay down the ductwork and do the wiring? Somebody has to do it.”
While STCC also HVAC
>>
offers a two-year degree
Continued on page 35
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