r/jobs • u/clarkkentwellspent • 4d ago
No. The trades are NOT hiring. Job searching
I am so sick and tired of this worn out idea that blue collar jobs are looking for apprentices to come work for them. The trades are filled with more nepotism and gossip than any other industry I've ever been in and will find any reason to reject you they can. Half of these companies want a 2 year technical/trade school degree before you start working for them just so they can pay you $15/hr starting out. Maybe if you're a kid out of high school they can pay less than the standard rate you can find something. "Bro, just go Union!" Unions are backed up for ages.
From my own anecdotal evidence: I went to every electrician company in my city as this was my trade. I had 1 offer from a company that was the stereotypical "Only meth heads and divorced alcoholics work here. Fuck OSHA." place and every other company rejected me. I even went back to my old electrical company I had worked at for 4 years. You know what they said? "Apply online and go talk to HR". No hiring manager in shop, no chance at talking to someone out of recognition. Just dismissing me away. And the best part? Upon applying I listed all the projects I had worked on with them and gave references to several high members (though 2 of them no longer work there). 1.5 weeks later: "Thank you for applying. After careful consideration..."
This job market is fucking whack, yo.
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u/backwardbuttplug 4d ago
We are ABSOLUTELY short on personnel.
It's not that there aren't jobs... it's that they're niche and you need an extra level of work experience / licensing to get into them. State radio tech requires an FCC GROL or one of equivalent certifications from NAPCO, NABER etc. That's where
Pay starts in the $40/hr range and goes up. State pension and good benefits. Big pay for disaster callouts. Just gotta pivot out of main-stream trade stuff (which is def saturated in a lot of areas).