News
April 6, 2022Major Heating and Cooling Companies to Recruit at Capital Region BOCES
With demand increasing daily for workers and an aging workforce, it’s no doubt that students with skills that prepare them for the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R) industry are in hot demand.
On April 6, just how hot that demand is will be on display at Capital Region BOCES as area employers seek to recruit Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School adult and high school HVAC/R students. The career fair will start at 4 p.m. and feature major employers, including Northeast Refrigeration and Appolo Heating.
Some of the firms are looking to hire for full-time positions, others for summer spots. Still others will be on hand to provide a learning experience for the students.
In recent years, up to 10 high school and adult students have been hired through the job fairs. Among them was 2021 graduate Adam Fisherauer from South Colonie who was hired at Crisafulli Bros. Plumbing & Heating.
“It’s pretty cool to get a job through BOCES while you are still in school,” he said.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects employment of HVAC/R technicians will grow by 5 percent in the next decade.
The job outlook is particularly strong for students “familiar with computers and electronics and those with good troubleshooting skills…as employers continue to have difficulty finding qualified technicians to work on complex new systems,” federal labor officials have reported.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say we are in a crisis situation, not just here or in New York, but across the country,” said Don Abbruzzese, retired owner of Northeast Heating, Cooling & Refrigeration.
The HVAC/R program at the Albany campus of the Capital Region BOCES CTE gives students a solid career foundation in the HVAC/R industry. In a state-of-the art classroom, students learn about ventilation, piping, refrigerants and refrigeration, furnaces and boilers. Upon completion of the program, students have the technical and employability skills employers seek.
Businesses looking to recruit at the event still have time to register. They should contact Capital Region BOCES Business Liaison Nancy Liddle at nancy.liddle@neric.org.
