Short #23 - Intangible Soft Skills

HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

Bryan Orr

Training, Careers, Airconditioning, Self-improvement, Hvac, Business, Education, Refrigeration, Heating, Ac, Apprenticeship

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2018

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this short podcast episode, Bryan gets feedback on a podcast topic from Andy Holt. Per Andy's request, we discuss some intangible soft skills required to be a top-level technician in the HVAC trade.

Overall, a technician needs to be aware of the people and things in their surroundings. These techs are in tune with their customer's emotions, the pets, and the space where they work. A good technician is thoughtful but has the ability to let things go and not let their bad experiences overwhelm them. Many technicians that fit both of those descriptors are calm and focused by nature, and they are often positive people; happy techs are better communicators with customers.

Eye contact is important in the right amount. Customers want to know that you're paying attention to them. Customers also want to see action; they want to see you physically working on their system and taking measurements. Give the system a thorough check to find the most thorough diagnosis, even if you go into the job with an idea as to what that diagnosis is.

Cleanliness is a way for you to show respect for your customer's home or site. Use drop cloths and wear shoe covers to show that you care about keeping the site clean. Cleanliness is a branch of the overall idea of professionalism. Our image of professionalism is always evolving, but in the present day, you still want to use classy language and avoid looking like a slob. Most of all, professionalism stems from a central concern for the customer; spend less time talking and more time listening.

Organization in paperwork, processes, your work vehicle, and your toolbag is another one of those critical intangible soft skills. You exude professionalism when you are neat and have a structured process to guide you through your work.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's the HVAC School Podcast, podcast that helps you remember some things that you might have
0:07.4	forgotten along the way, as well as helps you remember some things you forgot to know in the first
0:11.2	place. This episode is going to be about
0:13.2	intangibles, intangibles that a technician needs and we've done some similar
0:17.3	episodes to this but I want to go through some things that are truly
0:20.9	intangible. But this episode was not a regular short episode.
0:25.4	This episode was actually inspired by my friend Andy Holt, who left me a voicemail on our new
0:30.8	voicemail system for HVAC school through a program called Speak Pipe.
0:35.0	It's pretty cool. You can just hit a button right on your phone and say what you need to say.
0:38.0	There's a five minute limit, but if you have a quick tip you want to give or something that you've noticed in the field, something you want to add to the podcast, or if you have a quick tip you want to give or something that you've noticed in the field
0:43.1	something you want to add to the podcast or if you have a question for me you can go
0:46.6	to HVacr School.com forward slash VM for voicemail. HVacr School dot com forward slash v.m. for voicemail, HVacr School.com forward slash VM for voicemail.
0:55.0	Before we get into the episode though, we need to thank our excellent sponsors who make
0:59.1	this thing possible carrier and carrier.com, everybody knows carrier willis carrier invented air conditioning and
1:05.1	many ways he invented the word air conditioning which means that by definition he
1:09.2	invented air conditioning which is the simultaneous control of humidity, temperature, and air filtration, which is a good
1:16.8	combo.
1:17.8	We're proud to work with carrier.
1:19.2	They've always treated us well.
1:20.6	You can find out more by going to carrier.com also refrigeration
1:23.8	technologies at refriggedec.com makers of so many different great
1:27.1	chemicals for our industry chemicals that are much more natural than chemical in
	...

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