High school students have long been told that the clearest path to a rewarding career is to head to college and graduate with a four-year degree. While higher education still matters to many graduates, today’s labor market is challenging the idea that there is only one path.

Employers across industries are struggling to fill critically skilled positions even as underemployment among college graduates persists. At the same time, hiring has slowed for many traditional entry-level roles as employers weigh how AI may reshape their workforce needs, widening the gap event further between available talent and available opportunity. Meanwhile, rising tuition costs and growing student debt are prompting graduates to rethink everything.

As young professionals become more pragmatic about the stability, income and long-term relevance a job can offer, careers in HVAC, plumbing and electrical services are increasingly delivering the financial stability, job security and growth many are seeking.

Most college graduates never picture a career in the trades, and the trades often overlook them right back. That’s a mistake on both sides.

Graduates typically bring adaptability, communication skills, problem-solving ability and a genuine willingness to learn. Those are exactly the traits today’s employers say they need most. In my role at Wrench Group, a national home services company operating in 27 markets across 14 states, I believe employers are missing a real opportunity when they overlook college graduates as candidates for careers in the skilled trades.

‘Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill’

More employers are embracing a “hire for attitude, train for skill” philosophy, shifting focus away from prior technical expertise and toward what actually predicts success in a role. In my experience in home services, curiosity, accountability, resilience and a willingness to learn are far better predictors of long-term success than industry experience.

College coursework and extracurriculars train students to absorb new information, collaborate across diverse groups, manage competing priorities and solve complex problems. Those capabilities translate directly to the skilled trades. Once graduates step into the trades, the technical skills follow through structured training, apprenticeships, mentorship and hands-on learning that many home service companies, including Wrench Group, provide.

The trades reward technical execution and strong interpersonal skills in equal measure, which opens the door for graduates whose strengths thrive in dynamic, customer-facing environments rather than a traditional office.

Exploring alternative career paths

Growing employer investment in workforce development is reshaping perceptions of the trades. Training academies, apprenticeships and structured career paths are giving people from far more diverse backgrounds a way in.

At Wrench Group, we continue building academies, apprenticeships, mentorship programs and technical training designed to help people develop long-term careers in HVAC, plumbing, and electrical services, regardless of their starting point.

Federal policy is opening the door further. The U.S. Department of Education recently launched the Workforce Pell Grant program, allowing eligible students to put federal Pell Grants toward qualifying short-term workforce training programs — many of them in the skilled trades and lasting just 8 to 15 weeks. For graduates who never considered a trade before, that access changes the calculus. For employers, it means a more diverse, more capable talent pool to draw from.

More than service calls

One of the most persistent myths about the trades is that advancement ends the moment someone becomes a technician. In reality, technicians routinely progress into management, training, recruiting, development, operations, sales, customer experience, executive leadership, and even entrepreneurship or ownership.

The industry needs leaders who can build teams, shape culture, develop talent and improve the customer experience — goals that line up closely with what many graduates are already looking for as they enter the workforce.

That opportunity extends beyond job availability, too. Workers with specialized technical and trade skills are seeing meaningful wage premiums as employers compete for talent, and as demand for electricians, HVAC technicians, plumbers, and other skilled professionals continues to outpace supply, both compensation and advancement opportunities keep climbing.

As employers navigate labor shortages and graduates navigate an uncertain economy, it’s time to move past outdated assumptions about what a career path should look like and focus instead on building more pathways to meaningful, sustainable work.

Degrees and trades aren’t in competition; they complement each other. The same qualities that help students succeed in college — critical thinking, communication, teamwork, adaptability, leadership — are exactly what modern home services organizations need more of.

Employers who understand this will start to see the college graduate in front of them as their future technician, leader, trainer, recruiter or operator. And graduates who look past old assumptions may find more growth, purpose and stability in the trades than they ever expected.

The organizations that succeed will be the ones willing to look beyond conventional hiring models and invest in potential. The graduates who thrive will be the ones willing to discover the opportunities everyone else overlooked. 

Julie Anderson is the senior vice president of talent strategy and organizational development at Wrench Group, and supports more than 7,000 employees across 27 brands in 14 states. She is a driving force behind innovative approaches that leverage behavioral science, artificial intelligence, and structured hiring practices to improve talent outcomes and develop future leaders.