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Page 24 — Property Management Quarterly — July 2017
to fill engineer positions. She also
has a standing list of managers who
ask her to send along résumés any-
time she receives them, which she
does.
As part of their job, vendors are
expected to know all the engineers in
town and talk to them and property
management teams regularly, mak-
ing them an easy resource, she said.
These are options for finding indi-
viduals already in the field, but it still
leaves the bigger problem of recruit-
ing new employees to this line of
work.
As an industry, building engineer
wages have not kept up with many
of the wages tradesmen can get
elsewhere, leading to a continuing
problem of finding qualified help,
Wilske said. This means that entry-
level positions are the most com-
mon, which require greater time and
energy spent on training these new
employees – making it doubly frus-
trating if they quit. And entry-level
positions typically include the things
nobody else wants to do, making it
not the most desirable – or highest-
paying – of jobs. However, the field
offers ample opportunity for growth.
“It seems like nowadays, kids out of
high school want the money right off
the bat and they don’t want to work
for it,”Wilske said. “And that’s a con-
tinuing struggle we have – trying to
find those people who actually want
to be here and want to work.”
Growing an employee from entry-
level to a senior position presents its
own challenges. To be qualified for
the positions taking care of the meat
of the building, an individual must
have an extensive understanding of
the technical work as well as strong
leadership and management skills.
It’s not uncommon for some techni-
cians to enjoy what they do without
having a desire to move up the lad-
der, said Wilske.
While the reliance on a trade
background among new employees
seems to be dwindling, property
managers who have good contacts
at the trade and vocational schools
still may have a head start accessing
new employees. These program can
help identify students who are inter-
ested in working with their hands in
this type of work.
Trade schools are establishing
creative way to encourage student
interest. For example, Emily Griffith
Technical College partnered with
and the Apart-
ment Association of Metro Denver
to create a maintenance apprentice-
ship program.
The six-week program, MAP, is
designed to train future mainte-
nance professionals with the skills
needed for a career in the apartment
industry. The program consists of
an in-class and on-site paid training
apprenticeship, according to the pro-
gram’s website.
At Red Rocks Community College,
a Ready2Work program was estab-
lished, which follows a boot-camp
model to introduce students to the
building maintenance and energy-
efficiency industries. Ed Hegwood,
an HVAC instructor at the college,
founded the program in partnership
with industry employers to offer
students an intense, two-week intro-
duction into the industry.
As buildings become more depen-
dent on technology, the prerequi-
sites for certain building mainte-
nance positions may change. But for
now, trade schools are still the best
bet for the computer-savvy employ-
ees as well. However, these skilled
employees can present a challenge
in maintaining the bottom line, said
Wilske.
Wage increases could be on the
horizon for most experienced engi-
neer staff members, in order to
align with wages they could make in
another line of work using the same
skillset.
“I honestly think wages are going
to go higher,” said Lewis. “It’s supply
and demand – if there’s not enough
people in it and there’s a huge
demand, then people will start to
pay more for it.”
It’s Lewis’ personal philosophy
that the wages of all trades will
increase as the industries adjust to
attract a younger workforce. This
wage enticement is necessary to
shift the millennial and Generation
Z perception that a desirable income
is mainly achieved through white-
collar positions.
Industry associations are recog-
nizing the severity of this staffing
challenge as well. For example,
BOAC offers a résumé file in which
member engineers can submit their
résumé and any property manager
can search the database.
An informal group, Denver Engi-
neers and Facilities Conversation,
was established to help engineers
learn from one another. Through
educational lectures and free-flow-
ing conversations, these engineers
try to pass knowledge down to the
newest generation. Without assis-
tance from each other, first-time
engineers can be thrown into scary
situations and fail miserably, said
Wilske, who heads the group.
Both associations see the ben-
efit of internship and mentoring
programs. However, operating on
smaller budgets, neither program
has come to fruition. Larger organi-
zations, such as BOMA or individual
property management firms, may
have more financial wherewithal
to help put this type of program
together, Lewis said.
“I think internships would be a
great idea – get them into the build-
ing, let them get their hands dirty,
and let them see if this is something
they want to do,” Lewis said. “Hope-
fully you’ll weed some of them
out and you’ll grab some kids who
maybe didn’t know this is what they
wanted to do.” s
Staffing
“I honestly think wages are going to go
higher. It’s supply and demand – if there’s
not enough people in it and there’s a huge
demand, then people will start to pay more.”
-Kim Lewis, BOAC State Chair