‘There’s more risk involved with going to college’: How companies are attracting Gen Z to trades jobs

Ted Glaser hadn’t intended to start a lawn care company. For him, mowing lawns was a way to pay for college and have some spending money. “At one point, I realized I was making more than my teachers,” he says. It occurred to him he’d been “building something that could provide me a level of freedom with time and money that none of my friends or teachers had.”

By 25 years old, Glaser had become the owner of Summit Lawns, a Lincoln, Nebraska-based lawncare company that today works across thousands of properties in the city. Now 33 and looking to hire Gen Z workers, Glaser’s learned that many members of that generation have a desire to pursue trades like he did—and many are skipping a four-year college education to do so.

“There are one million college graduates each year flooding the market, and that’s completely diluted the value of the college degree,” Glaser says. “The law of supply and demand indicates that there’s now a shortage and high demand for trade skills, and businesses are paying a lot of money to get those skills into their workforce.”

Glaser isn’t alone in targeting Gen Z talent as the owner of a trade-based company, and his young employees aren’t the only ones angling toward trades instead of more white collar career paths. Some colleges now cost nearly $100,000 per year, making it easier than ever to second-guess whether it’s the right financial choice to attend—and Gen Z has taken note.

A 2023 survey of 1,000 Gen Z individuals by the higher education research group Intelligent found that one-third “plan to pursue a blue collar career,” while 45% said they believe artificial intelligence will replace many white collar jobs. In another 2023 survey, by think tank New America, more than half of Gen Z respondents said getting a well-paying job with only a high school diploma was possible with the acquisition of other skills.

Josh Levin, the owner of electric and construction company Empowered Electric in Kansas City, Missouri, describes the current logic. “If you go to college for two years and in your junior year realize you hate it, you’re in debt and haven’t developed a lot of skills,” he says. “There’s more risk involved with going to college than joining a trade.” He and other trade-focused business owners are working to spread this message.

Recruiting Gen Z

It’s relatively common to hear from workers in trades like plumbing and construction that it’s difficult to find Gen Z recruits. Levin sees it differently. “The people who say that are piss poor hunters,” he says.

Levin, who didn’t go to college and says he “grew up in the trades,” from framing to painting to roofing. He studied business informally via internet personalities like Gary Vaynerchuk and Tony Robbins. Through the former, he learned some crucial advice for recruiting Gen Z: “Do not post; direct message.”

While other trade-focused business owners posted “We’re hiring” ads, Levin searched the “electrician” hashtag on social media sites and scrolled for young people exhibiting a curiosity in construction. He started DMing them. “I send probably 100 direct messages a day,” he says, and it’s paid off. The company’s been on Inc.’s 5,000 fastest growing companies list for multiple recent years.

In addition to using social media to reach out to potential candidates, companies looking to recruit Gen Z use those platforms to share information about their work. “The social media side is helping to showcase how cool the trades are,” says Eric Girouard, the founder and CEO of trade apparel company Brunt Workwear. He finds videos exhibiting what tradespeople accomplish in their daily jobs—from turning natural stone into kitchen countertops to deep diving underwater to do welding work on New York City’s sewer system—are “changing the perception” of their work as merely a backup for college.

“Before social media . . . if you’re an electrician or plumber, you’re working by yourself, no one else sees it,” he says. “Now, there are opportunities to broadcast what you do, show off the pride you have in the work [and] how sexy it can be.”

Girouard does this on Brunt’s podcast, Bucket Talk, which features workers from different trades speaking frankly about their jobs’ daily realities. They provide “a peek behind the curtain,” he says, for young people considering careers. Levin uses a similar tactic with Empowered ED, a YouTube video series that features contracting tutorial videos, like a step-by-step on how to fix a damaged cord.

“Being able to get online and look up a video and see somebody that looks like you, talks like you, acts like you, makes jokes, but then also shows you effectively how to do it,” feels relatable to Gen Z viewers, Levin says. With their vast exposure to social media, he adds, they’ve learned to see through disingenuous content, so making authentically helpful videos is crucial to getting and holding their attention.

Empowered Electric and Brunt also reach Gen Z offline. Levin goes to local high schools and speaks to both entrepreneurship and shop classes to try and “change the face of construction,” making it more friendly and relatable to the younger generation. Brunt, meanwhile, has a physical presence in its garage near Girouard’s office, where a bunch of students from nearby trade schools come to hang on Thursdays.

The brand’s garnered enough cache that the students who come by take pride in repping the logo. Brunt offers a monthly merch box for its more than 1,000 subscribers with branded shirts and hats. “Our brand is speaking to this younger, modern age construction worker,” Girouard says, “while all the historical brands were built in my father’s, grandfather’s era and are still new to marketing that way.”

Retaining Gen Z

Once they’ve gotten Gen Z workers in the door, owners of trade-focused businesses have learned that keeping young hires around means imbuing their jobs with meaning.

“I realized it’s way too common in painting, roofing, framing, and electrical that people were treated like batteries,” Levin says. “They were plugged in, sucked dry, thrown away, and replaced.”

Determined to avoid this practice, Levin works to make his employees feel like valued members of a team. Empowered Electric has hosted employee CrossFit competitions, watch parties of Kansas City Chiefs games, and big, annual bashes to celebrate the summer and Christmas. They also have regular all-company meetings to discuss “wins and losses” as a group.

“Gen Z wants community. They want to play board games together, celebrate together, win and lose together,” Levin says. “It’s not just [that] they want to work seven to 3:30 together anymore.”

Glaser has noticed the same at Summit Lawn. “I believe Gen Z wants to be a part of a team they feel respected and valued in—part of a purpose-driven organization that does something for the community beyond shooting for profit.”

He and Levin communicate the pride employees should be taking in their work at jobs sites. For instance, Levin makes a point to tell Empowered Electric workers, “We’re not just building a building. This is where memories are made . . . someone’s going to celebrate an anniversary here.” In turn, Gen Z workers realize “construction is a big part of that, and it’s way cooler than sending emails all day.”

Of course, part of feeling valued as a team member comes down to pay and benefits. Empowered Electric offers free counseling sessions for its employees, and Levin makes a point to talk openly about mental health in the workplace—a conversation you might not imagine occurring regularly in old-school construction outfits.

Gen Z also wants “to feel a sense of control over their time,” Glaser says. This inspired Summit Lawn’s “pay-for-performance” plan, which gives financial incentives to employees who meet certain goals. Not only does this explicitly value workers’ time, but it also lets entry-level employees make between $45,000 and $60,000 their first year, Glaser says. That matches up with entry-level salaries for college graduates, but without any student debt.

Glaser’s not the only trade-focused business structuring employee pay this way. “Trades contractors all over the country in painting, garage doors, plumbing, HVAC, and automotive are doing the same thing with this form of compensation,” he says. “I think it’s game-changing.”

Controlling their destiny

Other trade-based businesses in the U.S. are working hard to attract and retain Gen Z talent. Missouri-based construction company Cardinal Crest posts humorous reels about homebuilding to attract younger viewers, for example, and New Hampshire-based landscaping company Outdoor Pride uses social media similarly. Levin brings up World of Electricians, an account that makes merch and content for younger trade professionals.

Anecdotally, these efforts appear to be working. At the high schools where Levin’s spoken, he’s noticed a “domino effect.” One student will vocally opt for a trade-based career over college, and others follow.

However, what Levin’s seen even more of is parents wanting their Gen Z kids to go the trade route. “Like 90% of the parents I know talk to me about how to get their kids into plumbing or HVAC or electrical,” he says. They see the financial opportunity, and they’re eager for that next generation to benefit.

Still, the supply of young people looking to get into trades isn’t on par with the demand, which helps keep opportunities favorable for Gen Z applicants. “They can work the hours that they want . . . someone’s going to pay for those hours,” Girouard says. “They can control their own destiny.”