It’s no secret we in America are beginning to experience a shortage in blue collar workers. Many companies are getting desperate to find skilled workers. Every year, millions of kids graduate high school only to immediately enroll in college programs. Upon graduating, the goal is to find a job in the field you majored in, and not too many kids major in heavy equipment operating or in house framing and carpentry. Those jobs are also fighting an uphill battle in the “Interesting Line of Work to Discuss at Parties” competition. It’s not exactly glamourous to tell your finance or sales buddies, “I fixed sewers all day.” Yet, as we’re beginning to find out due to shortage, those jobs are more important and more appreciated than ever. There is a respect due to the people who work physically demanding jobs to keep our needs met. We sometimes celebrate it as we recently saw with the coal miner at the Kentucky University basketball game. However, jobs like that are easy to overlook.
This is why Mike Rowe and his show “Dirty Jobs” was so necessary and remains even more so today. As a quick aside, did you know his very first “dirty job” was actually with a sewer inspector? According to this article, while he was still working as a reporter in San Francisco, his mother called him with an idea that blossomed into the hit TV show. The next day after the fortuitous phone call, he went to interview a sewer inspector about the nature of his job. The special report gained traction, and it eventually led to him getting his own show on the Discovery Channel. His spotlight on blue collar work from a positive perspective was and is a refreshing change of pace. It’s also pivotal for Americans to see what it takes to make this great country run each day. Continuing with this need, a Philadelphia-area HVAC/R and plumbing industry representative recently wrote a book called “The Water Came To A Stop.” The book is aimed to improve the perception of skilled trades among kids and is intended to be the first in a series of illustrated children’s books called “Next Up Trades.” More and more of these stories are popping up of people highlighting the importance and respectability of blue collar work.
It’s exciting to see more people interested in helping kids choose the trades. As underground plumbers, we understand these issues well, so we hope to further the excitement and progress in any way we can. We strive to make Apex Plumbing a fantastic place to work, and we seek to improve the lives of each employee. This is a key focus of our now being 100% employee-owned! Each person in the company is an employee-owner with actual stake in the business. It goes to show that being in the trades can be exciting, lucrative, and rewarding in more ways than one. To become a part of this and to be an employee-owner of Apex Plumbing, consider joining our team by filling out an application today! And for those already on our team, we greatly appreciate your work and your dedication to making Apex all it can be. We couldn’t do it without you.
