Hirsch Electric pilots program to train future electricians

A dozen students from area high schools are getting classroom instruction and on-the-job training in the electrical trade this summer through a pilot program by Hirsch Electric.

After establishing its own inhouse training programs five years ago, Hirsch organized a two-month summer internship program this year for students enrolled in trades classes and interested in pursuing a career in the electrical trade.

Students receive safety training and classroom instruction on fundamentals of electrical work at Hirsch’s warehouse/training center. By week four of the program, the students were doing “pipe-bending boot camp” and using a hydraulic bender to prepare pipes for a construction project.

They are also assigned to complete basic electrical work on jobsites.

Instructor Alan Ward coordinates with foremen on projects to identify specific, repetitive tasks that students can complete within a contained area. Ward then accompanies the students to the jobsite and supervises their work.

Within the first four weeks of the program, students did selective demolition, ran conduit, participated in deck work, and installed receptacles, light fixtures and other electrical devices. They worked with wire-pulling crews and learned about in-ground rough-ins and basic circuitry.

“Every time they get to tackle something new, there is a lot of enthusiasm,” Ward said.

On jobsites, that enthusiasm not only creates an eager, productive worker, it sometimes boosts the spirit and production of other workers.

“Construction is not easy and sometimes it’s not fun. But when you see someone out there is really eager to get to work on time and eager to get the work done, it infuses enthusiasm into the crew,” said Tom Livezey, Operations Manager-Owner.

Livezey acknowledges that the internship program represents a financial investment for Hirsch Electric. However, he also anticipates several types of return on that investment.

The interns have already completed billable work on projects and pleased a Hirsch client. The company assigned students to work on a project managed by The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company.

“Whiting-Turner is big on supporting training and internships. They had six interns on that job,” Ward said. “They were extremely happy to see us bring young, enthusiastic people to the project and pleased with the work they did.”

The internship program could also serve as a “blue chip recruitment” service, Livezey said. “Out of the 12 in this group, if I get three good electricians five years from now, that will be a good return.”

Hirsch, however, plans to run the program annually and potentially generate more electrical workers than it needs.

“We all know what the biggest deficiency in construction is now. It is labor,” Livezey said. “The whole point of this program is to nurture the future workforce and try to do something that will help our industry for years to come.”