Employment in construction and heavy equipment operations is on the improve with pressure mounting to find sufficient skilled operators to complete contracted work on time. February saw the first real increase in new home constructions for seven months. According to the Wall Street Journal, February’s new starts were up 22% on January with the biggest growth being in apartment construction. However, even single-family homes increased marginally.

Apartment and multi-family dwellings had a massive 82% increase for the year. Home construction numbers of course rise and fall rapidly and cannot always be a real economic indicator. However, add in the Obama Stimulus Package that will see an huge increase in general construction, particularly roads, bridges and schools and suddenly you have a lot of pressure building on the construction industry and a lot of pressure on heavy equipment to complete ground clearing activities.

One of the causes for this increase in home building is undoubtedly the foresight of developers looking to get their works completed before the demand for construction crews really picks up. Whilst labor for house building is not the same as that required for road building, the heavy equipment operators that prepare the way are the same. Add to that the fact that heavy equipment operators are always the first crew required on any construction site, you can see why the lack of trained operators is starting to bite.

Those looking for a career change should, if they are interested in outdoor work, consider undertaking training in the field of heavy equipment operations. The training is not difficult and the work itself, whilst at times challenging, is interesting and varied. Even in tough economic climates, the construction industry is almost always the last to fall and the first to recover. This provides a reasonable level of job security when compared to many other employment sectors.

Employment in the construction sector is set to boom with areas like heavy equipment operations being the first to feel the pinch when it comes to a lack of suitably qualified heavy equipment operators. The smart individuals will get their heavy equipment training completed now so they are prepared for what should be a very busy couple of years. Heavy equipment operators are needed now – are you going to be one of them?

If you thought the economy was on the slide and that employment in areas such as heavy equipment was on also on the slide, think again. If you ever wanted a career in construction, including a career as a heavy equipment operator, then now is the time to get your training over and done with.

According to a report on the Associated Construction Publications website titled “Economic Stimulus Coming to State Highways”:

This added work will once again underscore the shortage of U.S. workers in the construction fields. There aren’t enough skilled welders, equipment operators, electricians, plumbers, and other tradespeople out there.emphasis added

Everyone has heard of the Obama Administration’s Economic Stimulus Plan but how much will this actually pump into construction. The report estimates that close to $160 billion will be allocated to construction over the next two years – that’s $80 billion per year and almost $1.5 billion per state. Now we are talking about billions, not millions, here and where this effects the employment sector, including heavy equipment operations, is that it is all being spent simultaneously.

This places a heavy demand on skilled workers. Under normal circumstances projects commence on a rolling basis and workers move from one site to the next as they complete their tasks. In the past, a bulldozer operator, for example, would clear the ground on site A then move onto size B while the next work crew started the next stage of site A. With this financial injection, sites A, B and C will all start around the same time. We now need three bulldozer operators instead of one. (And I am being conservative here, you could probably multiply that by 50 or 100 around the nation.)

That is a lot of work to be done; a lot of heavy equipment operators required; and right now, a lot of heavy equipment training required to prepare the workforce. The conditions have never been better for the recruitment of new heavy equipment operators. At least one sector of the work force can look forward to a lucrative future. Are you ready to be a part of it?

Heavy equipment operators who are in the know are preparing themselves for a very busy summer. Since the American Recovery and Reinvestment program was announced, most states began finding areas that required significant funding. South Dakota is a prime example with almost 200 million dollars being applied to road works.

Think about what they are going to do with the funding. More than 240 miles of paving, 28 miles of pavement rehabilitation, 33 bridges and 28 safety improvement projects. That is a lot of work and under the Federal governments funding rules, the work must be commenced this summer – in fact the states have only 120 days to obligate those funds (apply them to projects).

With 240 miles of paving and 33 bridges, heavy equipment operators will be busy for months – and this is just one state. Multiply that across the country and there is a real possibility that states will find they cannot find enough qualified heavy equipment operators to get the projects completed on time.

You can beat the rush to becoming a qualified heavy equipment operator by getting your training done now. Once trained, you can take what ever work comes along so that you can gain valuable on-the-job experience. With training and experience, you will be ready to tackle some of these big projects as they come on line this summer.

One of the most highly respected heavy equipment training organizations is ATS with schools in over ten locations around the country. Visit ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools for details on their courses and get a head start on a new career before the rush for new operators starts in the summer.

Some construction sites that use heavy equipment can be real eye openers if you take the time to look at what is going on and how it affects the community. Often, the construction itself will become a historical item.

Take the Christopher S. Bond Bridge in Kansas City. This bridge, when completed in 2011, will become the first cable-stayed vehicle bridge ever constructed across the Missouri River. Without heavy equipment, that bridge would take another twenty years to complete.

Two barge-mounted heavy cranes were used to lift and position each of the 11-foot-diameter, 85,000-pound steel pipes that line the drill shafts. Once the pipes were in place 48 pieces of 85-foot-long rebar were lifted and positioned inside each pipe. Cranes will also be used to lift each of the 40 cables that will be anchored to the pylon.

Whilst the cranes are busy putting the huge jigsaw puzzle together, bulldozers, graders and loaders are busy preparing the approaches, the on and off ramps along with almost 5 miles of highway that will be reconstructed or rehabilitated.

There are 1100 people working on that project and it has another two years to run – and it is only one of many thousands of projects being worked on around the country right now – with more to come. They will not all be as interesting bridge building – however, if you’re prepared to look a little closer, you will always find something interesting about them.

Heavy equipment could help build roads or bridges without carefully trained operators to control the equipment. You can join the heavy equipment workforce by undertaking a training program that has been accredited by industry – the people who do the hiring the firing. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools are accredited to deliver training and can help you get your career as a heavy equipment operator off to a flying start.

Many people look at heavy equipment operations as a job and not as a career. This is a mistake when, in reality, every job can be a career – it is just a matter of perception and whether you plan and working in a position ‘just for now’, or to make it a life long job. It’s funny how for many who make it a ‘just for now’ job are still doing it 20-30 years later!

So why choose a career as a heavy equipment operator? What will it offer you and is the work going to last your lifetime? Let’s start with the last question first – will it last. As long as we build houses, factories, shopping centers and other buildings, or construct roads or have mines for resources, there will be work for heavy equipment operators.

What does a career in heavy equipment offer you? Let’s look a couple of key points:

Lifestyle: yes, working as a heavy equipment operator can also be a lifestyle decision. You can choose to follow the work, for example construction and road building trends; work in isolation in the mining industry; or perhaps become self employed.

Variety: you can decide to specialize on one piece of equipment or you can be a general operator with experience on a wide range of machines. The broader your experience, the more varied your work will become. That is not to say that most specialist operator don’t have variety as well.

Environment: if you’re an outdoors type person then the roll of heavy equipment operator will suit you to a tee. You get to work outdoors, however, in most modern machines you can close off the cab to keep excessive heat or cold out – the best of both worlds.

Income: heavy equipment operators are well paid workers when you compare them to many others in the construction industry.

Portability: an experienced and well trained heavy equipment operator can work in many parts of the world. They can certainly work every where within the country. The only proviso is that some states (and countries) may require special operator licenses.

The key to being a successful heavy equipment operator is in the training and the initial experience on the job. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools can help you get both. We provide top quality accredited training on a wide variety of heavy equipment. Once your training is finished, we can also help you to find the right job for your circumstances. A job where you can put your training to good use and start to develop the experience that is necessary to be successful as a heavy equipment operator.

Sounds like a great news story doesn’t it. Yet that title is actually true, heavy equipment will be needed to drag our economy out of the current recession. How do I know it’s true? The most powerful person on the country said so and he is putting your tax dollars in to make the point.

Back in December 2008, President Obama made an announcement that should have every heavy equipment operator checking their licenses, qualifications and any other work requirements including safety clothing.

President Obama promised to put together the largest public works construction program ever seen to revive the economy. His program includes infrastructure projects that repair roads and bridges, renovations in schools, sewer systems, mass transit, electric grids, dams and other utilities.

His plan will create millions of jobs by investing the single largest amount in national infrastructure projects since the creation of the interstate highway system more than 50 years ago. That is a lot of money and a large chunk of that will need to go into the employment of heavy equipment operators. A lot of these projects will require highly experiences operators – that could be great news for younger operators coming into the employment market.

Experienced heavy equipment operators will be attracted to the higher wages on offer for many of these projects. Under normal circumstances, when there is a huge attraction to particular areas for skilled workers, there is a vacuum left on a local level. This is were freshly trained recruits can step in to fill the vacuum and gain valuable skills locally.

If you are interested in a career as a heavy equipment operator then now may be the time to start your training. President Obama made it clear that this project was to be one of the first to be implemented by the new government.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools can have you trained and on the road to a new career in a matter of weeks. A career as heavy equipment operator awaits you – will you be ready to help dig our economy out of this recession?

Generally speaking, the words ‘heavy equipment’ and ‘environmentalist’ rarely get mentioned in the same sentence – when they are mentioned, it is often not in the nicest way. That is slowly changing with many companies taking a ‘green’ approach to their business.

Ten or twenty years ago, preparing an area for a building, highway or housing development meant going in with heavy equipment an razing the area back to bare ground. These days, construction companies are lot more cautious. With housing developments, areas are cleared for roads and house building but as many of the larger trees as possible are left standing.

Likewise with some road building. Environmental studies are undertaken first with sensitive areas protected. Heavy equipment with tracks will often be used since it can be less harmful to the environment than tires.

Working as a heavy equipment operator is not longer simply a matter if ripping everything up. In many locations around the country, heavy equipment is being used to rehabilitate areas. This is especially true of some the smaller equipment such as bobcats, however bulldozers also have their place.

There are several companies that specialize in ground clearing in environmentally fragile situations. If you have a keen interest in the environment and yet a desire to work in the heavy equipment field, and you have thought the two conflicting, think again. The two can work together. In fact the future will rely on individuals who can work effectively whilst maintaining environmental factors.

Your first steps to becoming an environmentally friendly heavy equipment operator starts with your training. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools can help you to get your career off the ground.

The position of heavy equipment operator is always full of interest. Every day brings new challenges, even if you are working on the same project. If you’re building roads, then everyday is going to bring changes in terrain types and with it changes in the equipment, the equipment settings or attachments and changes in the work required. The life of a heavy equipment operator is never boring.

Question is, is this the career for you? Are you ready to work in a field that is ever changing, rarely monotonous or boring and a field that is full of interesting characters? The ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools has a full featured video on the role of a heavy equipment operator. If you are in the slightest interested in heavy equipment operations as a role then I suggest you view it.

Training to be an operator is not really difficult. It does not take a rocket scientist to operate the heavy equipment, even the most up-to-date models. What is needed is an interest in the job as a career. There are very few operators who will claim to dislike their job, that in itself is an endorsement of the job as a career.

If you are still unsure about heavy equipment operations as a career then why not sign up for the free online training program that will introduce you to the role of an operator. The training covers important areas such as safety, a compulsory topic in all construction industry training. The free training will also introduce you to the different types of heavy equipment used, the roles of the operator and some of the basic operating techniques.

The online training program, your only commitment is to time. Once you gain an understanding of heavy equipment operations, and the ‘bug’ bites, there will be no stopping you. If you think about it, whilst the job is important, it is also a career where you get to play with big toys, every small child’s dream as they are growing up.

There are certain skills that are required to operate heavy equipment and these can be gained through appropriate training. There are, however, certain personal attributes that cannot be taught. You either have them already or you are willing to make a conscious effort to take them on.

The most obvious personal attribute that every employer wants is reliability. This is particularly true in the field of heavy equipment operations. Not turning up for work can hold up construction, particularly if you are working as part of a team. Road crews are a good example since it is a progressive job. The work you were required to do today could be the area that someone else will work on tomorrow. If you fail to turn today, your work is not done which means the next person cannot do their work tomorrow. Reliability is an essential attribute to the smooth running of any operation.

Patience is another attribute that can be very important in heavy equipment operators. If you’re a grader operator, you may need to go over the same area five or six times to get it right. An impatient operator may try to do too much with fewer passes with the end result being too much dirt removed. Crane operators are another role that requires patience. You may have to wait for the wind to drop, or for a vehicle to move on, or for a group of people to clear the area. If you’re impatient and start moving the load to early, you could cause real safety issues.

Being willing and able to follow directions is extremely important when operating heavy equipment. The crane operator is one person who relies on directions from the person on the ground. Every other piece of heavy equipment needs to follow the instructions of the site manager when it comes to the how, when and where of a job. Being able to follow those instructions to the letter is the only way to get a project completed on time.

There are many other attributes that may be important, however those three are by far the most important. If you have those attributes then learning to become a heavy equipment operator is not going to be too difficult.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools can provide train you in the skills required to operate heavy equipment. The personal attributes required will need to come from your commitment to working as a heavy equipment operator.

The next 12 months may see an increase in the number of vacancies for skill heavy equipment operators as public spending on infrastructure increases. We live in a fickle world where government promise big spending on capital projects to boost an economy, but it takes up to twelve months for these projects to come to fruition. This is not a political comment, rather a statement of fact.

If you take into account the possible improvement in the economy over the next 12 months globally and the public infrastructure spending coming to a head, the demand for heavy equipment operators from both the public and private sector will be quite large. We will be back to a situation where potential customers have to wait three or months for an operator to be free to get their land cleared.

Now is the time to prepare yourself for a career as a heavy equipment operator if that type of work appeals to you. Get the training done now. Get as much experience as possible on a variety of different types of equipment so that when the demand for operators spikes, you are in a position to take the jobs best suited to your situation.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools can provide you with training required to get started in the workplace. We may also be able to help you find employment to gain the experience necessary to move on in your career. Check out our online video to see if heavy equipment operations is the right career for you.