KALISPELL, MT — National Trade Tech, an online training provider for the skilled trades, now offers training programs designed for employers. Trade contractors, service companies, property managers and facilities departments can use the programs to onboard new technicians and upskill current employees in HVAC, electrical, plumbing, appliance repair, and building and facilities maintenance.

Online Training Helps Employers Develop Technicians Around Work Schedules

Many employers in the skilled trades report difficulty hiring and developing qualified technicians quickly enough to meet demand. Traditional classroom training can require employees to step away from billable work, creating scheduling and productivity challenges for contractors and service companies.

National Trade Tech’s programs are fully online and asynchronous, allowing employees to complete training around their work schedules. Each program includes virtual reality simulations that let technicians practice diagnostic and repair tasks in realistic scenarios before applying those skills on live jobs.

Instructors provide support throughout the learning process, and programs include preparation for third-party industry credential exams.

VR Simulations Support Technical and Diagnostic Skills

The simulations are designed to give learners practice with job-related tasks before they encounter them in the field. For example, the HVAC program has learners troubleshoot gas furnace faults, including a failed flame sensor or igniter.

Simulations can be accessed through a Meta Quest headset or a standard Windows or Mac computer. Employers therefore can use the training without purchasing VR headsets for their employees.

Programs Support Onboarding, Upskilling and Multi-Location Training

Employers can use National Trade Tech’s programs for several workforce development needs:

• New-hire onboarding: Establishing consistent technical and safety foundations before or alongside field work
• Incumbent-worker upskilling: Helping current employees build skills and prepare for credential exams
• Multi-location cohorts: Delivering the same training across branches and regions.
• Pilot programs: Starting with one occupation and a defined set of goals

Training Designed to Complement Field Experience

National Trade Tech founder and Executive Director Andrew Wilkinson said employers need ways to prepare technicians while making effective use of experienced workers’ time.

“The contractors and facilities leaders I talk to say some version of the same thing: they have work to do and not enough trained people to do it,” said Wilkinson. “We’re not trying to replace the apprenticeship or the ride-along with a senior tech. We want a new hire to show up already knowing the fundamentals and safety, and to have practiced the job in a simulation first. That makes the time your experienced techs spend with them far more valuable. Think of us as a high-tech textbook for 21st-century technician training.”

Employers can learn more and schedule a conversation at nationaltradetech.com/employer-training.

National Trade Tech is also developing a Data Center Technician program to meet growing demand for technicians who can maintain critical facilities.

Note: online training supplements, and does not replace, required field experience, apprenticeship hours, licensing or employer onboarding.