Philadelphia Master Electrician Harold Deloach shares his story about how he transitioned from the electrical contracting industry to training future electricians.
Q: What is your background in the electrical trade?
A: I am a master electrician experienced in residential, commercial, and light industrial wiring and planning. I started my career as an electrician in Philadelphia in the early 90s. I have been an electrical instructor for eight years. I fell into teaching out of necessity. When the economy collapsed during our last economic recession, I was forced to shutter my electrical contracting business like several other construction companies across the country. Out of necessity I was forced to "get a job" after being self-employed for more than 30 years.
Q: How did you get interested in training electricians?
A: After I made the decision to join the traditional workforce, as luck would have it I got two teaching jobs within two weeks of my decision to apply for open instructor positions. My first teaching job was within the Philadelphia Prison System during the day teaching minimum security inmates building maintenance and construction. That job changed my life. I began to make a difference in the lives of my students every day. Everything I did with them mattered. I began to witness how teaching building trades could change their trajectories.
Q: What was your next job as an instructor?
A: My second job was during the evening at Kaplan Career Institute teaching the electrical technician training program. I worked both jobs day and night for three-and-a-half years.
Q: How did you get involved with the Associated Builders and Contractors?
A: Eventually I got really good at teaching in a classroom and that's when a recruiter found me on LinkedIn and asked me to apply for a part-time instructor position for Associated Builders and Contractors at The ABC Apprenticeship Training Center in Harleysville, Penn. Within six months, I was promoted to head instructor and assistant director of education and taught first through fourth year electrical apprentices from companies across the Tri-State area: Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania. I really admired those apprentices for getting up at 4:30 a.m. to just to travel to class. I did everything I could to match their effort, enthusiasm, and time investment. That experience taught me the importance of learning different teaching styles. I have also worked as a program manager for a local nonprofit and Triangle Tech Schools.
Q: Talk about your training program in Philadelphia. How are you helping to prepare future electricians for a career in the electrical trade?
A: Over the past seven years, I've helped hundreds of experienced electricians/mechanical tradesmen prepare for and pass electrical licensing examinations in Philadelphia and Allentown, Penn. and Delaware through my web site, www.necprepclass.com, (Philly Fast Track Electrical License Prep Courses). In just two years, Necprepclass has become the highest-rated electrical license prep course in the Philly metro area. I've watched hundreds of my student/contractors’ electrical construction companies grow and expand exponentially. Unfortunately, most of my contractors/students have the same complaint and struggles. They don't have enough apprentices or helpers. They are all struggling to keep up with the workload and demands of our recovering economy. As a result, their businesses are suffering. A lot of them started hiring relatives and siblings to help keep projects moving along. Unfortunately, it's hard to train new helpers and run a business.
Q: How are you helping to solve this problem?
A: Local electrical training programs are too expensive and time consuming as an option. The average cost of other local programs ranges from $18,000 to $32,000 and requires a six- to 18-month commitment, so a few of my contractor students asked me to help out. I created a convenient, affordable self-paced learning option to train and develop their future helpers and apprentices. My solution was to build a micromodule style entry-level electrician training program called The Academy of Industrial Arts (TAIA).
Q: Describe your training program.
A: The program initially started with just a few referrals from recently licensed contractors. It became clear to me that the industry needed something more customized and convenient to accelerate the training process. I found a local community center called The Southwest Community Development Community, which allowed me to build a classroom with a dedicated space for my students and contractors. The TAIA School has now become an affordable and efficient option to send their employees or temporary helpers. I teach the electrical trade progressively through three-hour sessions, one night a week in 10-week semesters. My TAIA School students learn the electrical craft progressively in a linear pattern that makes sense based on their employers' needs in the field. They learn residential wiring and commercial wiring at their own pace, in bite-size pieces they can digest using mini-modules. We focus on tasks and applications they are executing on the job in real time.
For more information, visit www.taia-school.com or check out Deloach's seven strategies for training and recruiting future electricians.
Fischbach is a freelance writer based in Overland Park, Kan. She can be reached at [email protected].
