Transitioning from a heavy equipment training school to a full time job as a heavy equipment operator can seem daunting. It’s true of every new career unless you have had some experience in that particular industry. Jobs are advertised in a wide variety of locations so knowing where to look is often not the problem – the real problem is that most people new to an industry don’t know how to apply for any vacancies.

The construction industry can be particularly hard. Some employers rarely advertise vacancies, they rely on word-of-mouth to bring in applicants. Others will talk to people who simply walk in off the street. The latter is rare these days, but it does still happen. As a graduate from a heavy equipment training school, what is ideal is to have a friend who has the inside knowledge of industry – someone who knows the employers and who knows what these employers are looking from job applicants. Here’s the good news, you do have a friend and they do have all the knowledge you need to help you find that first job.

Associated Training Schools has a highly regarded career services department and their function is to do everything possible to help you find employment. From the beginning of your training, someone from Career Services will interview you in an effort to find out exactly what you want from your training and a new career. They will then put together a resource package that will help you find suitable employers based on where you want to work, and the type of employment you are looking for.

Career Services will also deliver ‘soft skills’ training – these are designed to help you with application letters, resumes, and interview skills – all designed to help you prove your worth to a potential employer. Our career services department can never promise to find you a perfect job – that perfect job may not even exist – however, they can help you to locate vacancies and with your job application – after that, it will all depend on how well you influence the employer. Looking for heavy equipment training that offers that little extra? Don’t underestimate the value of our Career Services department.

If you’re under 30 and dreamed of one day operating a bulldozer, excavator or any other heavy equipment, then listen up – your country is calling. At least, employers are. We have a rapidly aging heavy equipment operator work force, many of whom will be retiring in the next five years. The average age of operators is now well into the mid-40s and the number of younger operators coming through is dropping each year.

Heavy equipment operations is best suited to mature and steady minds. However, that doesn’t mean that younger minds cannot succeed. In fact, by starting young, by the time you get to your mid-40s, you will be an expert at your trade, if not running your own heavy equipment business. While unemployment may be high, there is still plenty of demand for heavy equipment operators and this trend is expected to continue for at least the next ten years – unless of course we can recruit a lot of younger people to the industry.

If you’re interested in a heavy equipment career, then acting now will have you perfectly placed to take advantage of this demand. You can undertake heavy equipment training that will have you work ready in as little as three weeks – and this is across a range of equipment. You can also receive assistance to help you find your first job as a heavy equipment operator.

Being a heavy equipment operator may not be as flashy as some jobs sound, however, as a career it’s rewarding. You are not repeating the same job over and over again, and there’s plenty of room for growth.

Are you ready to step into the shoes of those about to retire? If so, find out more about your heavy equipment training options. Don’t dream the job – experience it.

There are a lot of workplaces that require operators of heavy equipment and cranes to have specific skills to that industry, or to a specific job. The same can be said for those employing truck drivers, riggers or signal persons. For some businesses, they are moving into areas that are relatively new, having secured contracts they have tended for.

Being able to train your employees to do specific tasks with heavy equipment can be time consuming, and not very cost effective if you do it yourself. Associated Training Services (ATS) have been delivering customized training in areas such as heavy equipment operations, crane operations, truck driving (including CDL training) and rigger/signal person for almost half a century.

We are able to walk into a workplace, assess the training needs of that workplace, then deliver cost-effective training based on those needs. Where appropriate, ATS can undertake assessments of those individuals to ensure they receive the right documentation – for example, certification of crane operators.

ATS work with employers to ensure the training outcomes meet all the demands that operating their equipment may deliver, including safety aspects of their equipment. Training can be delivered at the workplace or in one of our facilities. Workplace training is often effective because the operators are learning using the equipment they are going to be operating.

Is it cost effective? In the majority of cases, most definitely. By engaging a professional training organization like ATS, your employees receive quality training that is focused on the employer’s needs. Skilled trainers are able to identify weaknesses quickly and to work those showing a weakness to ensure maximum productivity with lower down time due to accident or poor performance.

If you’re an employer with specific training needs when it comes to heavy equipment – cranes, truck driving or rigging/signal persons – then contact ATS for a no-obligation discussion on how we can assist you to obtain the best out of your employees.

There are a lot of factors to consider when undertaking training for a new career. There’s the matter of funding to pay for your training, the loss of income while attending training, and for some students, finding accommodation as well. Fortunately, ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools have thought of these problems and we have solutions to help students overcome them.

When it comes to funding your training, we have some sound advice on this blog (see posts on financial aid here) and on our website. You can even apply for financial assistance online through us. When it comes to loss of income, we have developed our training programs in such a way that students can be trained and ready for employment in the shortest time possible.

Housing assistance is always a difficult option. Do you stay at home and travel each day, or do you try and find accommodation closer to the training school? With gas prices the way they are, travel can be expensive, not to mention a time-hogging option. ATS has resolved that problem as well. For students wishing to train at our Sun Prairie training school, we can arrange finance for the ATS dormitory. This is a very comfortable establishment that is only four miles from the training school and within easy walking distance of restaurants, grocery stores, and shopping centers. We even offer financial assistance to help cover the costs of your accommodation.

With your accommodation taken care of, you can start to concentrate on the more important issues – studying to become a heavy equipment operator – and we’ll be there with you.

It’s rather sad to read online newspapers sometimes, especially when you work in the field of heavy equipment training. One of the core areas of heavy equipment training is safety, and it’s easy to see why given some of these stories. To see these headlines, you would think that backhoe operations were extremely dangerous, yet in reality, operating a backhoe should be a very safe occupation. Some of the headlines from the past month include:

• Man Killed After His Backhoe Tips Over
• Orangeville Man Killed By Backhoe
• 6-Year-Old Girl Injured While Playing With Backhoe
• Gas Line Explosion In Lake Worth After Backhoe Incident
• Backhoe Gets Stuck In Mass. Ave. Tunnel

With the exception of the last news article, taking a little more care may have prevented these accidents. When a child is injured, the first question raised is related to how secure the operator had left his equipment while unattended. Severing a gas line is a team problem – someone should have had maps of the services to they could avoid any underground problems. The last point, while not a problem caused by the backhoe operator, is still an example of what can go wrong.

Undertaking heavy equipment training can help you to avoid many of these incidents, simply through the safety training that is now incorporated in that training. Safety should always be on the mind of a heavy equipment operator. Working safely in the work place demands attention to everything both in the cab and on the ground around you. Backhoes are generally very safe vehicles to operate, however, if you don’t have that safety training, you won’t know how to stay safe.

There are several factors that need to come together that will ensure you have a long and happy heavy equipment operator career. The first of these factors is you. How keen are you to really work in this industry? If you are keen, then the rest can be fairly easy to work on. The second most important factor is your training.

Training to become a heavy equipment operator needn’t be long. Your training should provide you with a good grounding in heavy equipment operations along with workplace safety obligations. Your training should combine in-class training and actual hands-on operator training. Heavy equipment operations is one of those careers where you improve with experience – provided you have the good grounding to begin with. ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools has developed a good reputation for providing industry with graduates who have that good grounding – there are thousands of successful heavy equipment operators now working successfully following our training.

The third leg of a successful career as a heavy equipment operator is just as important as the first two. That third leg is your first job. After graduating from your training school, you need to find employment that you are going to enjoy, employment that will allow you to continue learning, and an employer that understands you’re a rookie, someone who needs to find their feet in their new career.

We can never promise to find you employment. No one can – at least, not the ‘perfect’ job. We do have a specialized department, our career services department, whose only aim is to help you find that first job. We work with you to sift through all the potential employers in your region to find those that are best suited to you. More importantly, we have worked with many of these employers for a long time. They understand the difficulties that new graduates face, and often work with them to develop their new skills.

To become a successful heavy equipment operator, you need commitment on your part, training that provides a good grounding (and we provide that), and a good job to get you started – and together, we can work on that. You too can join the thousands of successful graduates who have entered the workforce through our training – you just need that commitment.

While excavators continue to be used primarily for digging trenches, they still have a variety of uses, even in that task. Excavators can have a wide range of tools fitted and the tasks they can perform range from splitting concrete or rock to raising and lowering loads. As an operator, you need to learn how each of these tools are used if you are going to have a successful long term career.

Watching an excavator at work can be an interesting experience. They may start by lifting part of a concrete sidewalk to gain access to the dirt below. They then switch to a digging tool to start digging a trench. If they are being used to replace underground pipes, they will switch to another tool to help lift the old pipes out of the ground.

As an operator, you need to work with precision using the right size tool for each job. With pipe work, an operator will often lower the new pipe into the ground and then slowly refill the trench. Some of the newer smaller excavators also have bulldozer-like blades at the front. This can help to speed up the back filling process.

You can become an excavator operator by completing three weeks of heavy equipment operator training. This will prepare you for entry level employment in an industry that is often well paid and continually looking for more skilled workers. You will also be entering a profession where learning never stops – your heavy equipment training course is only the first step in a career long learning curve. Every new piece of ground has the potential to teach you something new.

While legislators have been grappling with rules and regulations aimed at making workplaces safer, employers have been busy doing just that. When it comes to heavy equipment, accidents can have a wide range of effects, and from a business point of view, none of them positive. With this in mind, many employers have made heavy equipment safety their number one priority.

If you consider the effects of an accident on a work site, you’ll understand why. Here is a small list of some of the effects of a work place accident:

• Insurance – The more accidents associated with a business, the higher their insurance premiums. A safe workplace will result in lower insurance premiums.
• Repairs – Every time a heavy equipment vehicle has an accident, there are repair bills. Sometimes, rather than repairing that vehicle, the damage is such that the vehicle requires an expensive replacement.
• Down Time – Accidents often bring a work site to a standstill. Down time costs money since workers are still being employed, but their is no productivity. To add insult to the injury, many construction contracts have penalty clauses for late completions.
• Morale – Perhaps one of the biggest hidden costs is that of low morale that always follows an accident, especially if an individual is seriously injured or killed. Low morale can lead to low productivity and further accidents.

One simple accident can have a flow on affect that costs a business tens of thousands of dollars. That cost could have been saved if everyone had undertaken basic workplace safety training. Today, that’s exactly what is happening. Most employers now expect their new heavy equipment operators to have undertaken some form of heavy equipment safety training – if they haven’t, they generally won’t employ them.

If you are considering training for a career as a heavy equipment operator, make sure your training is through a well respected training organization, and that their training includes a module on heavy equipment safety.

Current and former members of the military can access a range of benefits to help them undertake heavy equipment training for a new career. There are several restrictions on the type of training that can be undertaken. For example, the training organization must be approved to deliver these services.

When you served and for how long you served will also affect the level of benefits available. In some situations, you are also able to transfer benefits to a direct family member. The types of benefits available include:

• Montgomery GI Bill ® – There are a number of eligibility criteria for this bill and you are better off talking to a VA vocational counselor as to your eligibility.
• Post 9/11 GI Bill ® – Provides assistance for training and housing. You can transfer some of your entitlements to dependents.
• VetSuccess Program – Rehabilitation and employment program for veterans with service-connected disabilities
• Survivors & Dependents Assistance – Provides education or training assistance to spouses and their children following the death of their partner whilst on active service.
• Active Duty Personnel – May be eligible for the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP)

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools are approved for the use of Veterans Educational Benefits. You will need to check with the respective government departments to see whether or not you are eligible for any assistance under these programs. You may also be eligible for state-based military education benefits so check with your state’s web site for more information.

Heavy equipment operations are a perfect opportunity for those who have been in military service. The camaraderie that operators have with each other has been likened to the military as has the need to work with precision. Former service personnel also find that continuing to work outdoors a lot more satisfying than trying to adapt to an inside job. If life as a heavy equipment operator appeals to you, and your have been involved in the military in some capacity, then you may be eligible for assistance to help you with your training.

Some of the best paid heavy equipment operators are those that work in the mining industry. One reason is the sheer isolation of many of these workplaces and, of course, for many there is the inherent danger that comes with mine work. While the equipment used in mines is often huge in comparison to those used on a construction site, often the operational principles are still the same.

The giant excavators used in open cut mines, often referred to as shovels, are still just a giant excavator. The basic operations are still the same, just on a much larger scale. The same could be said for the dump trucks – on some of the big units, one wheel is the same size as a small regular dump truck. Again, the basic operations are very similar.

Because mines use similar equipment, learning to operate regular construction size vehicles can still open doors to work in the mining industry. What is important is the initial training provided, and the experience an operator can gain in the workplace. Once you have had a reasonable amount of experience, you could find that many of the mines are willing to employ you.

Training is the key to any job – more so when it comes to heavy equipment. Employers are expecting you to be productive from day one – they don’t have time to teach what is required on the job. The general assumption is, since you have completed your training, you’re ready to go to work – not enter into more training.

At ATS, we believe in a similar principle. Having the skills and knowledge that makes you immediately employable is our main goal. Safety is also included and since it is set to national standards, the employer knows you are already compliant with safety standards knowledge. As for the mines, do your heavy equipment training, gain a little experience in the workplace, then start applying to those mining companies – you never know until you try.