Did you just graduate from high school or will soon and have absolutely no idea what you want to do with your life? You’re pretty sure that spending four more years in school at a traditional college is not for you, but a two-year trade program doesn’t sound like a great fit right now either. You’d rather be spending your days outside than sitting in a classroom. People have always praised your willingness and ability to work hard, too. Does this sound a lot like you?
As you begin to think seriously about your first “real job,” you need to consider what industry or field would be best suited to your talents and skills. Your parents, a favorite teacher, or your school’s guidance counselors may be able to help you in this area, but ultimately, you need to know what feels right for you. We’re here to give you some insight on what it looks like to work in an exciting industry that offers excellent pay, great benefits and the highest level of job security – roofing!
What Roofers Do and How to Get Started
A little while ago, we shared a blog post that gives a standard checklist of job responsibilities and duties for roofers. To sum it up, roofers spend a great deal of their time physically up on roofs performing inspections to look for problems, fixing leaks, and installing roofing materials – either to repair issues or damage or to totally replace a structure’s roof.
In areas where a lot of new construction is taking place, some roofers may be more focused on installing brand new roofs than on repairs and replacements. Think of all the different types of buildings in your city or town – from churches, schools, and government buildings to homes of all sizes and types, they all have roofs that require regular maintenance and care. As a roofer, your job is to assure that these roofs are kept in excellent condition!
Roofers do need to be ready to work in varied weather conditions, but must be capable of doing their best work in hot summer temperatures. Many roofing materials are made to be installed at higher temperatures, and this means that the warmer months of the year are the busiest in our industry. Roofers also obviously have to be comfortable with heights. Although we don’t have an abundance of skyscrapers here in our home service areas around York, PA and Hagerstown, MD, these super tall structures have roofs that need attention, too! You may find yourself working dozens of stories above the street level, which is exhilarating to many roofers.
So, could this be a great career choice for you? Let’s look for a moment at how you can get started as a new roofer without any experience. As you know, finding a job straight out of school can be tough, as every human resources department seems to want you to magically have years of experience even though you’ve been required to go to school full time through your entire life until now. How is that supposed to work? Know that hiring managers at roofing companies like ours understand the position you’re in, and they want to help you get on the job and gain this experience. Even if you’ve never picked up a hammer before in your life, you can get into the roofing field quickly and easily!
A Highly Trained Industry
The roofing field offers exceptional opportunities for training, as well as job growth as you gain experience. Professional roofing companies like ours here at Heidler Roofing have deeply ingrained the concept of professional development and training into company culture. And, we’re committed to always doing our best every single day on the job. If you’re a hard worker with a great attitude, you will likely advance quickly in the roofing field.
Opportunities for Everyone
While roofing is definitely still a male-dominated field, there is strong support in place for women who want to stake a claim. The National Women in Roofing organization connects women with roofing careers to each other for mentoring and networking and offers training and education opportunities, as well. Women bring new perspectives and diverse backgrounds and experiences to the field, and roofing companies have realized how valuable hiring and empowering female professionals is to their teams’ success.
Additionally, if you’ve been out of school for a few years working at other jobs and are looking to make a change, roofing could be the field you’ve been searching for. Even if those jobs were not in the construction industry, roofing is still a very realistic career move. If you have excellent communication skills, or you’re a safety and compliance expert from another industry, or you’re just great at selling services or products to customers, there’s a place for you in roofing (that probably offers a better paycheck, too!)
A Bright Future
One of the best parts about choosing roofing as a career is that your skills will be in demand for the foreseeable future. You may not be concerned about this now, but going into a field that doesn’t have a great outlook for growth in the coming years is an unfortunate mistake many new job seekers make. The job outlook for roofers according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is 11% growth through the year 2026. While that may sound modest, it’s solidly above the total projected growth for all tracked occupations across the country, which is just 7%. Even within the construction industry as a whole with a projected 10% growth, roofing is a particularly strong segment, which equals a bright future for your career.
As we’ve shown, there are many reasons to consider roofing for your career. From a supportive culture to a dedication to honest hard work, roofing is a field that offers great job satisfaction to many.
Do you live in the York, PA or Hagerstown, MD areas where we provide our legendary service to a wide-ranging client base? We invite you to check our current career opportunities and apply to join the Heidler Roofing team now.