Besides the pay, an installer reads your careers page for five things: the truck and tools, the kind of work, how the on-call rotation runs, what the benefits really are, and where his application goes.
An installer with a job doesn't apply on impulse. He has a truck, a crew, a rotation he understands, and a paycheck that clears. Leaving has to be worth it.
So when he opens your careers page, he's trying to picture working for you. He'll look at the pay, and he should. But when two companies pay close to the same, the rest of the page decides which one he calls.
In any service business, your careers page is a marketing page.
Installers look hard at the truck and tools
Ask an installer what he wants to know about a company. Most of his questions are about the truck and the equipment.
Is the van his or shared, and what shape is the fleet in? Who stocks it, and is it ready before the first job? What equipment lines does the company install, and does it stock parts for what it sells? Does the company supply gauges, recovery machines, and meters, or does everybody bring their own?
None of that shows up on a benefits list. It's just the job, every day, and he can tell fast whether you've thought about it. A page that answers those questions sells the job better than a line about being a great place to work.
Here is a made-up example to rewrite with your own facts: "You get your own van, stocked before your first job. We supply the recovery machine, gauges, and meters. You bring your hand tools."
Say exactly what kind of work the job is
New construction rough-in is one job. Change-outs in occupied houses are another. So are light commercial rooftop units, ductwork in an attic in the worst part of summer, and replacing a system somebody else installed badly. They all carry the same job title.
If your page could mean any of them, an installer who has spent years on change-outs assumes the work he'd like least. So name the mix: residential, commercial, or both. Say whether a crew is a lead with a helper or two full installers. Say whether the company installs what it sells or hands pieces to a sub.
Tell him whether there's a slow season, and what happens to hours during it. If you leave it out, he assumes hours get cut and nobody wants to say so.
Say how your on-call rotation works
If your company answers calls after hours, somebody is carrying the phone. Plenty of careers pages leave that part out. A candidate who finds nothing assumes the rotation comes around constantly and the pay for it is thin.
Say how it runs: whether installers are in the rotation or only service techs, how it's shared, and who takes first call. Say whether anybody screens calls before they reach a phone. Then say how on-call time is paid: a flat amount for the week, hourly once he's dispatched, or both, and whether a call-out pays a minimum. A hard rotation, spelled out, costs you fewer candidates than an easy one you never mention. Techs compare notes, so he'll hear the answer somewhere else if he doesn't hear it from you.
Here is a made-up example to rewrite with your own facts: "Installers aren't on call. Service techs rotate one week in five. The office screens calls until 9 p.m. On-call pays a flat weekly amount plus hourly for every call he runs."
Write the benefits list with real details
Every company writes this part the same way, and he reads it most closely. He's looking for details: when coverage starts, and whether the company pays for licensing and continuing education. Who buys tools, and what happens to them if he leaves. Whether the truck goes home at night, and how time off adds up.
Write only the lines you can stand behind, in words you'd say out loud. If exam fees are covered, say which ones: EPA 608, NATE, a state license exam. If they aren't, say so. A short honest list beats a long vague one.
Pay matters, so post a range
Pay matters, and installers look at it. But two companies paying close to the same number win or lose him on everything else on the page. The pay tells him whether he can afford the job. The rest tells him whether he wants it.
A range keeps out people you can't pay, and it stops good candidates from guessing low. Say what decides where somebody lands in it: experience, the license he holds, lead installer or helper. That does more than posting a bigger number.
Where the application should land
If you run crews out of shops in different towns, he notices when the page leaves that out. He's applying to one shop, in one service area, under one manager. If the form doesn't ask which shop, the application sits in a general inbox until somebody sorts it. He takes the wait as a no.
Make "Which location?" a required question on the form. The application should reach that location's manager and the office together, and get a reply from a person the same day if you can. Installers with options are talking to somebody else the same week.
Check your own careers page this week
- Open your careers page on your phone and read it as an installer would. Then describe the daily job from it: the truck, the crew, the kind of work. If you can't, add those three things first.
- Search the page for "on call" and "after hours". If neither turns up, add who is in the rotation, how it's shared, and how it's paid.
- Hold each benefit on the page against what your last hire actually got. Ask whoever runs payroll if you're not sure. Fix what doesn't match, and add when a new hire becomes eligible for each one.
- Look for four words on the page: install, service, residential, commercial. If a candidate can't tell which job he's applying for, add one line that says it.
- Send yourself an application from your phone. Note whose inbox it lands in and how long it sits before a person reads it. It should reach that shop's manager and the office together. Can't find it? Ask whoever built your site: "When someone applies on our careers page, where does it go and who gets it?"
How The HVAC Marketing Guys handles this
The HVAC Marketing Guys builds the website for owner-run HVAC companies and keeps the whole site current, and the careers page is one page on it. It gets the same work as the service pages: written so an installer can tell what the job is, and built so search engines and AI assistants can read it. The owner supplies the facts in this post, from the truck to the rotation to the pay range. The same site carries pages written from real service calls (more on that here). For how we build HVAC websites, see HVAC marketing.
Frequently asked questions
Should I list a pay range on my HVAC careers page?
Yes. Some states and cities require a good-faith pay range on a posted job, so check the law where you hire. Where nothing requires it, list a real range anyway and say what decides it. A range tied to the license, the experience, and the role saves you both an interview that goes nowhere.
What if our on-call rotation is a hard one?
Say so, and say what makes it worth carrying: the on-call pay, any time off after a heavy week, or the calls the office screens out first. What loses a candidate is finding out after he's already given notice somewhere else.
What should an HVAC technician job description include?
The work itself, in your words: install or service, residential or commercial, and the equipment lines you carry. The schedule, including the after-hours rotation and how it's paid. What the company supplies and what he brings. A pay range with what decides it, and benefits with the date each starts.
Keep the careers page up between openings and post the description itself only when the job is real.
What does The HVAC Marketing Guys do about a careers page?
The HVAC Marketing Guys builds the whole website for owner-run HVAC companies, including the careers page, and keeps it current between openings. The page is built so search engines and AI assistants can read it, and it uses the facts the owner gives about the truck, the work, the rotation, the pay and the benefits.
Next step
Installers look you up before they apply. To see how your company shows up when they search, start with a free visibility audit. It shows where you appear in search and what to fix first.
Written by Jay Carroll, co-founder of The HVAC Marketing Guys.
