Obtaining a higher education in heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) can be done by enrolling in an accredited school or college. Students can receive the career preparation that they need to enter into successful positions. Different educational training programs allow them to prepare for the career they dream of by finding one that meets their individual needs. Students can study a variety of specialized areas as well as obtain numerous certificates and degrees. The best way for them to begin is to research available programs to find the one that is right for them.

The first thing students should do is decide on the specialized area of study they wish to enter into. HVAC career and training possibilities exist in numerous areas to allow them to receive the career preparation that is needed for them to succeed. Enrollment can be done for higher educational training in:

• Heating and Refrigeration
• Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning

…and other related areas of the field. Once the decision has been made for the area of study, students will need to choose the level of training they wish to receive. Level of education will depend on the school or college of enrollment.

Students can expect to have the options of earning a variety of certificates and degrees. Opportunities are available at the certificate level as well as the associate and bachelor degree levels. Receiving a higher education in HVAC will require that students spend a certain amount of time on studies. Certificate programs can last from several months to one year. Obtaining an accredited associate degree will require that students’ complete two years of training. Bachelor degree programs can take four years to complete and provide the training needed to succeed. Once the student has decided on the specialized area of study that they wish to pursue and the level of training that is needed, they can begin the process by completing all required coursework.

Accredited schools and colleges that offer HVAC career training will offer coursework that may vary. The specific areas that students are required to study will depend on the level of certificate or degree as well as the area and desired career. Some studies will allow students to train in CAD, design theory, blueprint reading, electronics, installation, maintenance, heating designs, and much more. Once a higher education is obtained employment can be sought. Training in this field will allow for work in plumbing, heating, electricity, construction, and many other related areas. With an accredited education there will be numerous opportunities for success in the workforce.

Accredited HVAC degree programs can give students the proper training that is needed to help them inter into successful careers. Numerous agencies like the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology http://www.accsc.org/ can fully accredited educational training programs that offer students the best quality education. By researching programs and more information can be obtained to help make a decision on the right program. Students can begin the path to an exciting career by enrolling today.

DISCLAIMER: Above is a GENERIC OUTLINE and may or may not depict precise methods, courses and/or focuses related to ANY ONE specific school(s) that may or may not be advertised at PETAP.org.

Copyright 2010 – All rights reserved by PETAP.org.

Putting it in perspective

The first thing that comes to mind when we talk about the speaking and training industry is to think about the huge annual seminars, conferences, and conventions usually conducted by industry associations, societies and professional bodies. Added to this are the corporate training by elite universities, polytechnics, colleges, giant consulting firms, and the like. Not far left behind are the global motivational speaking giants and celebrity speakers such as Tony Robbins, Brendon Burchard, Darren Hardy, Jack Canfield, Victor Mark Hansen, Les Brown, Brian Tracy and hundreds and hundreds of other giants. Then you have super-celebrity business moguls such as Donald Trump and Richard Branson that get paid up to $100,000 per appearance. These business moguls are in a class of their own. Some books have spawned global movements such as Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, and Guerilla Marketing by Conrad Levinson, to mention a few. So it’s a huge market out there.

How big is the industry?

Training Industry.com estimated the global market for training expenditures in 2011 was about $287bn. They expected the market to grow to about $292bn by 2012. Market Data Enterprise estimated the Motivational ”Self-Improvement” market to be about $10.4bn. In my opinion these are extremely under-reported figures as they may reflect at best market of OECD countries. Putting all countries in the picture may result in figures three times bigger, so it’s a huge industry, that clearly overlaps with other industries such as ICT, and education, where formal education, certification and the like take place.

Who are the key players?

The key players as we mentioned at the beginning include corporate training arms of almost all universities, with elites such as Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, Columbia, and MIT taking global lead. Then you have global leadership institutes such as INSEAD in France, IMD in Switzerland, and Cranfield in England. Then you have global consulting giants such as McKinsey, Accenture, PWC, KPMG, that don’t only consult and audit, but also train their clients in best practices. In the speaking segment the global leaders are Toastmasters International, National Speakers Association (NSA), and International Federation of Professional Speakers.

How can you belong?

A whole book can be written about how you can become a trainer or speaker. The best place to start is to visit your local library or neighborhood bookshop and look up books on the training and speaking sections. To help you jumpstart, the best place to begin is to decide which niche you wish to serve. While you may play in different niches, the biggest earners are niche players who have developed expertise in their niches to the point of becoming celebrities. To become a trainer, the best place to start is to become an expert or at least, a knowledgeable professional in the area you wish to train on, for example, sales, leadership, and communication. To really gun for the seven figures, seek out the experts, submit to their mentorship and coaching, then join their networks. The best mentors will open up their networks for you.

What can you sell as a trainer and/ or speaker?

The training and speaking industries have overlapped so much so that sometimes it is difficult to say these days where one ends and where the other begins. For all intents and purposes, the two industries are tending in one direction and are coalescing into one huge information industry. For the purposes of this article, however, we will keep the two industries separate, at least for now. To be a trainer, the most lucrative segment to focus on is corporate training. Most quoted companies dedicate huge sums to their annual training budgets, sometimes as high as 10% of their profit before tax, so there is huge money to be made there. As I said earlier, the more focused you are, the better. In the speaking or motivational segment or niche, while you also sell expertise as a trainer, unlike the corporate trainer, you’ll be selling directly to individuals most of the time. So to really succeed in the speaking industry, you need to develop your unique spin of what you want to sell to your target audience. As the saying goes, there is nothing new under the sun. If you look back far into how the industry developed from the days of Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone, Earl Nightingale, Jim Rohn, Bryan Tracy to modern day icons such as Tony Robbins, Darren Hardy, Marcia Weider, and Brendon Burchard, the one thing that sets the most successful speakers apart was and remains the ability to develop a unique style that gets you on the radar.

How to make 7 figures

Thanks to technology and the proliferation of media, the training and speaking industries are merging into one huge industry that people now refer to as information marketing industry. When you are selling corporate training, what exactly are you selling? If you look at it closely, you are selling information and ideas. Maybe, how to carry out certain tasks better, how to hone a particular skill, or how to direct a change in attitude or behavior in a more desirable direction. The same applies to the motivational speaking. The outcome you desire is the same, you are conveying ideas and information that your audience can use to better their lives in various areas, such as health, wealth, self confidence, time management and other dimensions. While in the past, an average speaker if he or she was lucky could get ten or twenty people into a hall to listen to what he or she had to say, today you have a global audience, thanks to the internet. So the first step towards your 7-figure earning is to leverage the power of the internet and the associated technologies to your advantage. According to Janet Switzer, there are more than 50 information products you can market. Assuming you have 20 products, and you are able to sell to just 10,000 monthly at the rate of just $20 per person, you can make about $4,000,000 per month. Not bad for a start, but it will not happen overnight. You have to keep at it, and be willing to pay the price. I know celebrities that are making more than that figure per month, so jump in, the water is warmer than you think.

Food Safety Training is Imperative.

Statistics prove that nearly every year, literally millions of people are victims of an illness which is caused by unsafe food handling. These take the form of poorly prepared food, or cross contamination by bacteria that are caused by handling practices.

Often these illnesses can give symptoms that range from flu-like to violent upset stomach and other issues. Sadly, many of these illnesses could be prevented by proper techniques in food safety.

Offering  employee programs in safe food preparation can help your company to address all aspects of the food preparation and to ensure the proper handling of food for complete safety. Keeping your customers safe means safeguarding your business.

In many states the law now requires that employees of restaurants and schools must receive some type of training and certification in the handling of foods. Even if your state does not have this requirement, training your employees in the safe handling of food should be part of your business’ Standard Operating Procedures.

These type of  food safety programs are more than important for handling foods safely. The food safety programs today teach so much more than safe cooking and hand washing. They help to assure compliance with safe methods of not only handling, but also storage, and even receiving of food products in order to prevent food-borne illnesses.

The vast majority of illness related to food handling can be easily avoided if the foods are handled properly and employees use the correct hygiene techniques. The major problem is that many employees are not aware of what those proper handling techniques entail.

The importance of the proper education of food handling employees simply cannot be overstated. Appropriate handling techniques for food may be common sense in many ways, but some skills and techniques must be learned. Proper temperatures for holding food items, as well as the proper method of receiving foods from outside companies must also be taught. These are factors that most home cooks are not aware of and have not dealt with on a regular basis.

Food prep safety techniques will ensure your employees use the correct methods of preventing food borne illness. The skills that are taught in Food preparation safety courses may include:

Prevention of cross contamination
Proper cooking
Correct Food holding temperatures
Receiving of food items
Proper Food storage.
Proper cleansing of food receptacles
Personal hygiene

When these risk factors are addressed and food handlers know what to look for and what to avoid, the statistics tell us that food related illnesses are lowered dramatically.

There will always be risk factors that we cannot avoid in any industry, but preventing those that we can only makes good sense. Proper food handling and instruction in food safety is imperative for those who will handle the foods in our restaurants and schools.

Any organization that is in the business of handling food on a regular basis needs to implement courses on food safety and must provide for the education of all of their employees.

Insisting on industry educated  and experienced food handlers is a preventive measure against food borne illness that every organization should be implementing.