Alright fellas, I could use some feedback here... I just finished a technical school about a month ago in HVAC(heating and air conditioning) work. Most of the course revolved around troubleshooting and familiarizing with refrigerant, gauges and such. I've been applying all around town to be a service technician(ya know, your a/c breaks down, I'd be the guy to come fix it) because that's what the course revolved around and yet- I haven't gotten any call backs. It hasn't exactly been very hot around here, and I've heard people talk about "We haven't even had to turn ours on yet this summer, we've just opened windows and turned on fans," so I was thinking maybe not many service jobs have opened up yet. Well, I got a call back from one of the companies saying they needed an installer. I went and did an interview and everything and he said he'd get back with me sometime this week and while I can't read his mind, he seemed genuinely interested in hiring me. The shop is relatively small, he employs 10 people and I'd be the 11th employee. The shop is also relatively out of the way, no matter what part of town you live in so I don't imagine they get a lot of applications but I could be totally wrong. At first I wanted the job because I want to start working, although I don't 'need' the money real bad yet. Now here's where my dilemma comes in- installers don't get paid as much service technicians. I don't want to be viewed as a job-hopper, so I'm not sure if I should take the job because one of the companies might get back with me when it heats up(but at the same time, maybe they wont). I really wouldn't mind doing install work or anything, it'd probably be funner than being a service tech... but like I said, after becoming a full journeyman, service techs get paid around $5-6 more than journeyman installers. One of the guys I had class with got a job as an apprentice service tech for a Union shop and they started him out around $16/hr plus benefits. And this company said they'd start me out around $10-11.50 plus benefits and after 3-4 months they'd bump me up to $15/hr. If I take the install job and work it for a few years, I'm really not sure how much of the troubleshooting aspects I'll remember 2,3 maybe 4 years down the line. So my questions really are- should I hold out until I can find a job as a service tech or should I take the install job now? And for anyone who may know, in case I do go with install with this non-union shop, will Union shops hire journeyman installers who were trained in a non-Union shop? Any serious insight here would be greatly greatly appreciated.
Here's my view from 10,000 feet (as I don't know particulars about HVAC industry): Only take the job now if it feels right, otherwise you'll regret it later, and yes the "job-hopper" is always frowned upon by potential employers.
You have a path you want. Follow it. Anything else is just a distraction and can actually harm you in the long term. I know you need something now but it would be just "settling."
