Tips for Recruiting Young Plumbers

Statistics show that despite many aspects of life either stopping or slowing down during the pandemic, your plumbing workload isn’t one of them! If you’re struggling to find new skilled employees to help you juggle your projects, Plumber Magazine recently published an article that has some good tips for attracting young talent.

You can read the whole article here, or check out my “readable during your break” version below.  The original author, Anthony Pacilla, is a registered master plumber for McVehil Plumbing in Washington, Pennsylvania with 23 years of experience.

Mr. Pacilla’s first point is something I’m sure you already know: workforce demographics are changing. Many skilled trade workers are reaching retiring age, and the country is struggling to make recruitment meet the demand. With most high schools pushing college as the “best option” after graduation, Pacilla argues that you need to get creative and use their own weapon against them: effective marketing.

“Begin by getting involved locally with high schools, vocational schools, and trade schools. You need to take that aspect more seriously if you want to recruit employees. Run advertisements on social media promoting how you can have a great career with zero college debt.” Here are some of his advertisement examples:

• “Don’t spend $200,000 and be in debt until you’re 70 years old…start making money immediately!”

• “Make money, don’t spend money.”

• “The front line of defense protecting the health of a nation and its environment.”

• “Tradition, glory, and big paychecks without the weekly exams and debt.”

Pacilla says in order to convince high school students that a profession like plumbing is a viable alternative to college, you need to “create a clear path to success from a new employee’s first day to how and when they get raises and training.” It also helps to emphasize the college debt aspect.

“These high school students are shopping for the next step in their life, and until we make adjustments to how we sell ourselves, they are never going to buy it. As the knowledge gap gets wider, and more of your employees retire or die, the situation will only get more desperate. Get a plan of action and take some steps now before it’s too late.”

What do you think? Have you already been trying ways to recruit younger workers? Let us know on social media!