By KIMBERLEY McGEE
The continued education path that often follows high school graduation is littered with opportunities, and more people are turning to trade schools over the two- and four-year college routes due to the job market and the slumping economy.
It's a step in the right direction for a solid future, said Art Leonard, administrator for Quality Technical Training Center in Las Vegas.
"There are more jobs available to our graduates than we have graduates," Leonard said. "Our particular training is very much in demand and one answer to unemployment in Las Vegas."
Students who go to a trade school have the opportunity to receive specific training for the job they seek. Course studies at a trade or vocational school are very specific, which makes for a shorter amount of time before students are ready to enter the employment arena fully prepared.
Most students who leave Quality Technical Training have a job within the first few weeks or months if not immediately upon graduation.
"While college degrees are great and important, for some, getting the foot in the door with specific skills will help them get the job they need, then they can get their degrees while working," Leonard said. "Plus the hours and time frames are usually more condensed whereas college classes - especially for computers - only a few days a week don't allow for enough repetition."
Quality Technical Training's classes, held on the 18,000-square-foot main campus at 4625 S. Procyon Ave., have 26 students per class and often fill up quickly.
"Our school is set up where you are here every day for four hours a day, so it's like going to work," he said. "You get in the habit of being somewhere every day and building on the skills you learned from the day before."
Each class is set up with working heating and air conditioning units for students to receive a hands-on education.
"We don't believe in using 'trainers' to take the place of real working equipment," Leonard said.
Quality Technical Training Center is the only school in Nevada (and one of only a handful of schools in the entire country) that trains professional technicians who want to upgrade their skills from companies throughout the United States and Canada. Many of its graduates have gone on to open their own businesses, including Technical Air, Air Supply Cooling & Heating, Doctor Cool, Grand Air Conditioning and Refrigeration, and Air Magic.
"We also don't teach 'seminar' style," Leonard said. "Each class is set up to do projects like you would on the job, to prepare our students for the workforce. For (corporate) clients, we like to customize the class to teach them what is relevant to their specific business. We don't do 'canned' classes out of a book, like some of the franchise-type training schools do."
Quality Technical Training has a long list of diverse programs that can assist students as well as companies looking to hire for specific needs. Cooling and heating in the desert environment can have its unique problems and solutions.
"We have full-time placement assistance to help with jobs and internships," he said. "Also we have our assistive technologist staff, who work with individuals with disabilities. We help visually impaired and individuals with limited mobility and injuries."
The trade school's enrollment has increased since the recession hit the Las Vegas Valley in 2007. Leonard notes that HVAC technician was listed, in 2011, by AOL Jobs as one of the top, best-paid skilled, labor jobs, as well as one of the top 10 jobs that employers find difficult to fill.
"Many people realize they have to keep up on computers to be competitive," Leonard said. "Plus, most all employers want you to apply online, so you have to have basics of computers to even get a job these days."
Vocational schools highlight the practical side of education, as opposed to academic, said Laurie Clemens, school director for the Las Vegas Professional Institute of Technology software center, located just south of Flamingo Road on Decatur Boulevard. The institute takes every student's success very personally, which is a large part of the longtime local institute's ongoing success.
The LV-PITA has 150 students currently who train in accounting as well as other software programs. It offers half-day and full-day classes for those just entering the field as well as programs for those who want to retrain or increase their knowledge to better compete in their chosen field. Every Monday, mentored learning and career programs are available for those looking to change fields or brush up on their current skills. The institute also caters to those in the technology field who need further certification to maintain their current jobs or strive for better ones in the ever-changing field.
The most popular classes at the LV-PITA are information technology, accounting and bookkeeping, and medical office specialist.
"We are looking for contract instructors who can teach classes in the above areas," Clemens said. "(They) must have two years' experience in the technology and teaching-training background."
The institute also assists companies looking to hire by recommending students to companies that the institute has a relationship with. It has become a great resource locally for small businesses and larger corporations to find employees on a regular basis.
The school prides itself on its staff as well as its graduates. Clemens looks for passionate empathetic, engaging and patient people to fill its growing staff.
"(They) must have a genuine willingness to teach and spend time with people who need help," Clemens said. "We are different at LV-PITA, at least we think so, and our students are very important to us, so everyone that works here has to understand there is never that 'sorry I don't do that; talk to someone else' attitude. If a student has a question, I expect whomever they seek out to help them, even if they don't have the answer, or get them to the right person."
