Shannon Drezek: Shannon Drezek: Breaking Barriers: A Woman’s Journey in Elevator Construction

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Intro:
Today our guest is Shannon Drezek, an IUEC elevator constructor, NEIEP instructor, and Qualified Elevator Inspector in Oxford, WI.
Shannon has been in the trade for 19 years and is passionate about the work she does; she only wishes she had found it sooner.
Shannon is excited that more women are joining the industry, and although they are still the minority, there is always room for talented and ambitious people.
If you have any interest, don’t be afraid to give the Elevator Industry a try; you might just learn to love it like Shannon does

Summary:
Shannon Drezek, an elevator constructor and NEAP instructor from Oxford, Wisconsin, discussed her 19-year career in the vertical transportation industry. She highlighted the rarity of women in the trade, noting only about 300 out of 33,000 elevator constructors in the U.S. and Canada are female. Shannon emphasized the importance of childcare as a barrier for women entering the trade and the need for early exposure to trades education. She shared her journey into the trade, the challenges, and the rewards, including the variety of work and the opportunity to teach and mentor apprentices. Shannon encouraged more women and young people to consider trades careers.

Transcript:
Shannon Drezek 0:00
Yeah, oh, absolutely. It just blows their mind. They they’re confused elevator constructor? or like, you’re not selling elevators? No, no, I’m installing elevators. Thank you very much. And especially with women, they’re just drawn to, and they’re like, like, a celebrity can I take a picture with you. You know, you’re so rare to come back. I mean, holy cow, you’re working on elevators. You’re a woman, you’re doing this. And like, Yep, I’m a woman. I do lots of different things. It’s thank you for recognizing that, but yeah, I’m just doing my job. But yeah, guess what? This could be you or your daughter, your niece, or your nephew, whoever you want it to be. It’s just so, so rarefied and almost celebrity status. And I love it, but it gets them talking about it, and talking about the trades and giving them the opportunity that, yeah, you can do this yourself too.

Matthew Allred 0:48
Hello and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred group. I am your host, Matt Allred in this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry to inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before to inspire the next generation of elevator careers.

Matthew Allred 1:11
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Matthew Allred 1:30
Today, our guest is Shannon Drezek, an IUEC elevator constructor, a NEAP instructor and a qualified elevator inspector from Oxford, Wisconsin. Shannon has been in the trade for 19 years and is passionate about the work she does. She only wishes she had found it sooner. Shannon is excited that more women are joining the industry, and although they are still in the minority, there is always room for talented and ambitious people. If you have any interest, don’t be afraid to give the elevator industry a try. You might just learn to love it like Shannon does.

Matthew Allred 2:05
Shannon, welcome to the show.

Shannon Drezek 2:07
Hi Matt. Thank you for having me.

Matthew Allred 2:09
Thank you. I’m excited. It’s, it’s, honestly, it’s not every day that I get to talk to a woman who who works as a mechanic in the field, and something that obviously you’re aware of that, right, having been there for so long and I guess just knowing that you’re you’re probably outnumbered a good bit.

Shannon Drezek 2:30
Oh yeah, almost definitely. So in our estimation, in the US and Canada, there’s about 33,000 Elevator Constructors, and from our best guesstimate, only approximately 300 of those people are females, so we are less than 1% we’re trying every day, and when we see more women coming to the trade and turning that around. But that’s still a giant, a giant despair, despairment in number

Matthew Allred 3:00
So that that number 300 how has that changed since you got in the trade?

Shannon Drezek 3:06
So leaps and bounds, I can definitely say, and trickle down my local out of the you know, as a smaller, independent local, roughly about currently, 140 members, and I am the second female to my local and we had, I’m currently been in the trade for 19 years, and we just had our first female probationary three years ago. So for 16 years, I was just the other female journey worker or elevator mechanic in the trade. So it’s been very tough, but I can definitely say it has taken the upward swing in the recruitment efforts that are put on by the National Elevator Industry Education Program, NEIEP and the Union itself to get the word out so to up those numbers. So I’ve seen, we’ve probably grown about 40 women in the last three years. Wow, across the US, and that’s huge.

Matthew Allred 4:09
So, Shannon, do you ever get strange looks when people ask you what you do? When you say, I’m an elevator constructor?

Shannon Drezek 4:17
Oh, absolutely. It just blows their mind. They they’re confused their elevator constructor? Or like, you’re not selling elevators? No, no, I’m installing elevators. Thank you very much. And especially with women, they’re just drawn to. And they’re like, like, a celebrity can’t take a picture with you. You know, you’re so rare to come back. I mean, holy cow, you’re working on elevators. You’re a woman. You’re doing this. And like, Yep, I’m a woman. I do lots of different things. It’s thank you for recognizing that. But yeah, I’m just doing my job. But yeah, guess what? This could be you or your daughter, your niece, or your nephew, whoever you want it to be. It’s just so so rarefied and almost celebrity status. And I love it, but it gets them talking about it and talking about the trades and giving them the opportunity that, yeah, you can do this yourself too.

Matthew Allred 5:03
That’s amazing. That’s amazing. So, so yeah, celebrity status say, let’s take a selfie. I’ll post you on my Instagram. Elevator constructor

Shannon Drezek 5:10
Yes, yep. Girl power, hashtag, and we try to use one as elevator constructor, women, right is #elevateHER. Not only up, but it sounds like elevator, right? But elevate her. And we use that all the time. So like, Oh, that’s great. And, they see our our clothes are things that we do for it, and everybody wants to do a Rosie pose and figure with that. So we just play into it, whatever’s going to get our names out there. And my significant other drives a race car. I actually put a sticker on his car, and I make them say, the International Union of Elevator Constructors, the women of the Elevator Constructors on a race car. Advertise it. I’ll put it anywhere.

Matthew Allred 5:53
So tell me. I mean, going back to the beginning, right? How did you get in, and what was it that you know, kept you in, kept you right once you once you got in and realized, oh my gosh, I’m, like, way outnumbered. So I guess let’s go to the first question first. But how did this all start for you?

Shannon Drezek 6:11
So for me, I was in the private sector. I mean, for schooling and secondary education, I’d gone to college prep high school, I was going to go and do college for international business. I didn’t like the size of the school that I had to go to and things like that. And I just, you know, my parents said, Okay, well, if you’re not going to go to school, because I didn’t know what I wanted to be, it’s so hard to pigeonhole yourself to kick off the bat. You know, if you haven’t tried something, how do you know what you want? You’re going to dedicate four years and all that money too. And so I was, you know, working in manufacturing, I said, you’re going to go to work. If you’re not going to school, you’re going to work. I was fine with that. And then I just found the challenges through those years. Yes, having a job wasn’t hard for me, could get up, go to work, you know, do all that, but the piece was to grow with it, that if I didn’t have any type of degree in anything, even if it didn’t have to do with with what I was currently working in, that I couldn’t get any career advancement out of it. So I’m like, this isn’t going to cut it for me. You’re not going to make me, you know, pick and choose and and how do you know? Because the economy has fluctuated so much since then. So I was actively seeking employment. I saw the Elevator Constructors listed in the local newspaper. And so that was so 2005 was when I saw that in the career in there, and I had asked, you know, friends of that, and my significant other was in the trades. He’s a tradesman, operating engineer, he’s currently retired. But I said, Well, what about this? Because I just knew he had a great job. He had excellent benefits. Yes, it was tough work, but you know the money and the health care and the pension that was going to go through it like, how can you duplicate that? But I also knew that being with him, what if we don’t work out? I didn’t want to have a career that didn’t reflect my capabilities, and I wanted to make a mark for myself. So I knew his trade was not going to be big enough for the two of us come hell or high water, whether we were together or not. So I wanted something for my own. So I saw the elevated constructors. I said, What do you know about this trade? He says, that’s the top trade. You, you know, had experience and background in electronics and manufacturing. He said, that should help you with part of that program. So I saw it. I want, I applied and did all that, and the rest is now history.

Matthew Allred 8:43
Did it scare you a little big? I mean, it’s just it seemed like it’s so foreign, right? You didn’t know anybody in it. You it’s like

Shannon Drezek 8:49
No, absolutely nothing, nobody. Um, I wasn’t scared to try something new. I was definitely scared to just be a trades person. Um, am I, am I going to be tough enough? Am I might have the skin tough enough. I mean, I grew up in a family of predominantly men. I only had a, you know, one other female cousin. I’m like, I can handle this. I can I can handle that. But just, you know, the challenge, am I going to be smart enough? What are they going to ask me to do? But I liked the fact that it was an apprenticeship program. They’re going to teach me. I’m going to learn on the job, and I’m going to have classroom to do that. And I’m like, that’s fine. I can be a good student. You can set me down. I’m a quick learner, but, you know, was I going to have that, that grit, that extra oomph, the physicality, to pull it off? And I did get in the trade later on. I was only 28 years old, so I wasn’t like, you know, fresh, young and early, you know, wanted to get in and start a career, so I knew I could handle myself. And I said, What’s the worst thing that could happen? I’m going to go there and I’m going to try. They’re going to send me home, or it’s not going to be good. But at least I tried. I bet on myself that I could do that and and that’s what I would want anybody else to do, is bet on yourself, and I’m sure you can overcome.

Matthew Allred 10:00
Love that. Love that. So as you look back, any regrets, Do you ever wish, oh, I wish I’d have stayed in college, or, Oh, I wish I’d have stayed in manufacturing, or, oh I, you know?

Shannon Drezek 10:10
No, I just wish I would have found the trade a lot sooner, and that other people, and predominantly women, because they’re not associated with the trade, and then, especially in our trade. But I, you know, again, my significant other, he was, you know, a teacher in the trades. Also, I had seen one of his prior students, and she was successful on the road, you know, doing it, and she had a family, and she had a child, and, you know, she’s saving up, and her winter, she’s, she would be laid off, but she’d be on snowmobile trips, and she could have a second cabin. And I’m like, well, that’s great. All I have to do is show up and go to work and just try my hardest and do it. Yeah, so I wish I would have found it sooner. I just, I wish I would have been exposed. I grew up in a blue collar family of police officers and teachers and, you know, union based and city workers and county workers, but to just see it, not just a college prep high school, but, you know, many high schools now don’t even have, you know, shop or, you know, home economics or things like that, to teach these, like, real world skills that people need to succeed. You know, why? Why are you pushing us into, like, political atmospheres or things like that. I mean, what you need to know how to prepare a meal or iron your shirt or, you know, maybe do need to build a birdhouse or work on a car someday, or things like that. That’s down to the grit. And I think we’re finally turning and bringing back value to that work and that the need for that.

Matthew Allred 10:49
Yeah, I hope so. What would you say keeps women from being in the trade? Is it? You know? What could it be?

Shannon Drezek 11:48
I seen the people. It doesn’t apply to me necessarily my situation, but it is actually, surprisingly enough, childcare. Of course, women are having the children, right? Unless you can go through surrogacy or IVF, but in, you know, predominantly women are carrying, you know, these babies and and early childhood development until they’re able to go to school. And you know, even in situations of single fathers or, you know, divorce or things like that, but it is the child care. Who the parent. They’ll take the sacrifice of their job and their careers, and it’s so ironic, because they could be making top tier benefits, top tier money, to take care of these families and provide for them and give them whichever direction they want to raise them, but it’s also keeping them from getting those jobs, going through The apprenticeship the long hours of working construction, because that’s what you’re going to start off in. And it’s finding, you know, the early child care to take care of them when they’re not in school. And then, of course, you know, navigating 10 or 12 hour work days. How do we get them early? How do you get to the job and work six to four, six to five and and out of town and things like that. So it is a big thing that’s come up with our other sisters and just our members that, you know, if they go through the life changes of, you know, planning marriages or divorces, or they’re like, I’m having kids, is this going to mess up my career, my future, you know, becoming a mechanic or, you know, however they find it. And you know, many of them, they’re successful families of dual partners, of where you know the the wife and the husband are both Elevator Constructors. I mean, I know, you know women that have already retired out, and that’s how they met, and now their sons are in it, and they’re all just trying to make it work and balance for each other. But if we can open the eyes in the construction industry, you know, union or not, that that’s keeping us away from a talented pool of people, men or women, to come to the trades in general

Matthew Allred 13:52
Interesting. So on one hand, I hear that childcare is the issue. On the other hand, I hear that, that if you know, as a family, or you work together. You know, there are ways to work around that to make it successful, and, and for those who have it’s, it’s good for the family, it’s, you know, it’s, it’s not, I mean, obviously there are a lot of corporate jobs, you know, I spent many years just in corporate America, right? And, you know, women have families. You know, they have to obviously, men as well. I’m just saying that that to your point, often that the child care, you know, has traditionally landed in the, you know, in the women’s corner, and so there has to be a ways to to work through that. And so maybe what I’m hearing you say is, yes, this can be an issue. Yes, it can be worked through. And maybe it’s perception as much as anything that says, Okay, I can’t do that because of childcare, but, but just, I guess, expanding people’s awareness that no this, this can be done, and this is how it’s been done. And here are some examples of people doing. It. So that’s kind of what I’m gathering from what you’re saying,

Shannon Drezek 15:03
Yeah, yeah, definitely. You know, many people have said, Oh, is it, you know, the physicality of the work or, you know, the education, or not the knowledge, right? And I’ll say to that. I mean, you can learn anything with the right teacher. Not everybody’s a teacher, maybe, and people learn different ways, but the trades is definitely the way to go. That I wouldn’t say that, you know, you never really necessarily know if you are mechanically minded or electrically minded unless you try it. There’s no litmus test, really to do that otherwise in our testing procedures. So people have said, you know, is that what’s keeping women out or people disinterested in the trade and not doing it? And I think, surprisingly enough, no, it’s not. I would definitely say it’s other priorities that are taking them away from not choosing these careers. Because you go out there, they can see you working. And I’ve had men or women, hey, that’s great. I would love to do that. But you know, this family situation, and this has it that keeps me from the work schedule, which definitely we have to be freed up. Many people do, and particularly my local. I travel in a three state area, so I have to be very flexible at that. But then, you know, there’s still other people my local that are doing it, and they’ll do whatever it takes and with their home life to balance it. And yeah, I guess it takes, you know, understanding of the other partner, like I was able to with my significant other, that understood, from a construction background, that, hey, if I have to go and I have to be out of town, this is what’s going to have to happen. You’re going to have to pick up the bit, take care of the things at home. But I think that’s, you know, with anybody, whether you’re working with a doctor that’s on call, you know, a first responder that’s going to have to leave in the middle of the night and things like that when we’re taking elevator calls, I think that’s just going to be in any relationship, is to find the other person that’s going to understand your work and you know, again, weigh out the balances of that if your absence for that paycheck is going to be worth what your goals are as a family or as a couple?

Matthew Allred 17:03
Yeah, yeah. Thank you. I mean, what comes to mind is, you know, I think there’s a lot of, you know, tradition, there’s history, there’s there’s stereotypes around who does what jobs. And I know a lot of families where, where the, you know, one of the spouses is a nurse, and they have interesting shifts, and they have, you know, maybe it’s a 12 hour, maybe they’re traveling, maybe they’re, you know, there’s all kinds of challenges to taking care of a family, and yet they can all get worked through. So, yeah, I think it might just be people’s awareness that, oh, hey, this is an option. And certainly, if, if someone has those skills, I know that, you know, technical and electrical competence does not run on gender lines, right? It’s just, you know, some guys don’t do it. Some do. Some women, it just depends. But, but I think getting the message out there, so I’m curious what, what are some things that you do, maybe your your local or your involvement with NEIEP to to get that message out, because it sounds like it’s, yeah, it was maybe a little slower than than certain others, to just to get out to the public.

Shannon Drezek 18:07
It is, we all try to do wherever we can with our time. It’s, it’s definitely public engagement. And I think it’s already too late if we’re just trying to hit even the high school level, or just say, like, say Skills USA, or, you know, the STEM programs that are happening now in the high schools and things like that, or just going to technical colleges, or just doing a job fair, I think, for us to really stand out, And the interest you have to almost hit them and like a grade school or middle school aspect and and still get to to people or kids with with the imaginations, right? Because they they still haven’t gotten to the confines, you know, if they still want to be an astronaut or a ballerina or things like that, you still need that creativity to find that outlet, right? Or a race car driver or things like that, and kind of steer that, you know, working with your hands, or trying that even artists, right? Because, you know, almost like, you know, architecture or anything else that’s going in our trade, you’re gonna have to be able to walk into a room and kind of see a bigger picture and imagine, and you should already, by the time you get into the trade, like in journeying out, you can already see where, you know, the the challenges are going to be, what you’re going to have to overcome, you know, possibly what you need. So you need that creativity, and it’s really hard, and it kind of gets, I think, gets taken away from any of our jobs, or going forward, you know, a lot of that creativity and and AI is coming out with that, besides the physicality, so it’s great to get that, and I think we’re getting to those people. But I mean, it’s just any opportunity working with, again, high school career fairs, or just the interest doing a zoom communication calls and, you know, maybe sending out some tape measures, because, grade school, they’re learning fractions. So, hey, guess what? You know, we’re a job where you use those fractions, it’s on a tape measure, right? And you give that and it helps them learn those things and bringing out the awareness. So, so we have, you know, people let us know. But, you know, just career fairs that are out there, I try to look for anything different, you know, hook up with the local urban league, or another big thing that we’re trying to tap into is for the indigenous groups, right? So we have tribal that you can work. They have, you know, actual tribal centers to help pair them up, to get people that maybe are only exposed to reservation life, or, you know, unfortunately, limited to casinos or things like that. Though, you know, America has set aside for them. Well, we need to go to them and see where the talent and skill and it’s just mind blowing when you come up to those people and be like, Hey, did you ever think about it? Money’s always going to be attractive to anybody. And I can always walk in and say, Hey, you want to come work for the highest paid trade. But hopefully it’s not just chasing the money. It’s be like, you know, Hey, have you ever thought of this? What, what kind of skill or gift do you think you have? And it’s transferable, whether they’re already into a trade, that you’re going, you’re seeing electrician on a job site or a plumber, and be like, Hey, do you want to do that for the rest of your life? Or do you see what I’m doing over here? And you know, potentially, you know, talking about skills and wages and things like that, and people come up and ask you, so you know, wearing your clothes or be seen and things like that. Wherever we can job, job fairs, career fairs, then I’ll just anywhere that to take the time and do that. And in our recruitment efforts. We’ll send letters out. But I think we really need to to maximize in person and people seeing that, because I know when I saw it advertised in the newspaper, and just like anybody else is going to see a piece of paper that’s going to come by, they’re really not going to associate it with the work. So if they see you doing that and putting those out, I mean, I think we need to do more commercials out there, and whatever we can to bring the awareness. And your podcast has been great for that. I appreciate you. Thank you. You working it through I know you’re bringing people you know, perhaps on the corporate side, but to take the time to know in the field, because it’s a perfect marriage. We all need each other inside, in the office and outside to make that happen.

Matthew Allred 22:22
Well, honestly, when you know, when you and I first talked right, the kind of what I was saying was, I want more of the mechanics. Not only are you the ones doing the work, but Sure, but some of the most passionate people, right? It’s like, it’s just the love and, oh, I love what I do. I mean that that excites me every time I hear it. Because there’s, I think there’s a huge swath of the population that can’t say that, that doesn’t enjoy what they do. And so to hear you say, you know, I tried college, I tried manufacturing, I really found myself in this elevator trade and opportunities to grow and to earn and to to really make a contribution to the world. What? What is it that you love the most? What was it that really clicked for you?

Shannon Drezek 23:03
Um, I definitely, I like the variety it was. It’s not just going to one place every single day. It’s not just you’re going to be doing this. It’s the whole variety of the tasks and the awareness and working and then definitely the the teamwork that’s involved, right? And that you really get to showcase and bring your thoughts and your talent and seeing it come to fruition. And it’s, it’s going up there. It’s like, Hey, I did that. Stand back, and now it’s going to be there until either they modernize this equipment or they just tear this whole building down and something new goes in, but to walk away and, like, I did that, I, you know, like planting a tree or, you know, I don’t have children. Perhaps having a child is to see that, something there that you can go back and revisit and see that. And definitely, you know, the other point of it is, is working with the apprentices. I had great teachers, you know, giving me the opportunity I, like I said, I had didn’t, wasn’t, you know, tinkering around with my dad, you know, working on cars or anybody else that had let it. So, you know, they don’t let you play with power tools and cubicles. They kind of frown on that in offices. So to get loud and just demolish and tear it down and and the dirt and the grit and tear it all down and then put something new in, or build it from scratch and make it coordinate it, you know, it’s just like Legos on steroids. You know, we can do that, but then teaching somebody else be, hey, I’m going to teach you the tips and tricks, or perhaps they’re going to show you something new, because everybody learns differently. Everybody experiences and that give and take and seeing the light go off and in their head what’s in the classroom. Or, you know, putting the tool in their heads. They’re like, Okay, I showed you this one. Now, go for it. Just start cranking. And they’re like, really, are you sure I’m allowed to do this? I’m like, yeah, what are you gonna do? You’re gonna break something. We’ll just buy a new part. I mean, that’s the nice thing about it. And your boss, my boss, might not think that or appreciate me saying that, but it is. It’s all fixable, and you have to give somebody that confidence in that space to grow and learn. And that’s the best part about the trades, is that there’s no perfection. To it, but it’ll come together and it’ll work out.

Matthew Allred 25:03
Hey everyone, thank you for listening. This is Matt with a brief message from our sponsor, the Allred group, has been recruiting elevator industry talent for over 14 years. If you are looking to grow your business and hire great people, contact the Allred group at allredgroup.com that’s A, L, L, R, E, D, G, R, O, U, P.com, and talk with Matt and his team about how they can assist you. And now back to the show.

Matthew Allred 25:26
And the way you talked about that, you know, learning through confidence and using your hands. I mean, what I’m hearing and kind of what I’m interpreting here is just that you’re allowed to use your creative energy. And you talked about, you know, younger kids, younger than middle school even, and, you know, and they’re still trying to think about, you know, astronaut, ballerina. I find that fascinating that, yeah, maybe, maybe, as we get, you know, far along enough in world culture, it’s like, oh no, you need to fit into this mold. But when they’re when they’re young enough to not have been tainted, if you will, by the by the stereotypes and and, oh, I need to please so and so, they can be a little more creative. And it almost sounds like you’re, you know, you kind of allowed your inner child to come out. And, hey, we’re going to create something amazing, and then we’re going to stand back really in awe that, look what we did, and look it works. And it takes us up and down. This is such a smooth ride. This is, this is amazing.

Shannon Drezek 26:22
Right. Yeah. And that was definitely the draw to this was that, you know, this market has many electricians and many plumbers and and carpenters, but you get down to it. I mean, depending upon the size of the building, it might just be two people putting in an elevator, and I was like, holy cow, and I’m the other person, and we’re going to do all this, yep, we’re going to make it work. And, and that’s been, the best part is that, and it is a well kept secret, because of that, you don’t need a lot of people to do it, just the time and the material to do it and the right tools. And that’s been, that’s been the greatest thing is that you don’t, it’s not like you’re just putting 100 people on it, and you don’t know what part you did or anything else. I mean, we need you to show up. We need you to do your part, be thinking, you know, actively engaged, thinking safety, looking out for your safety, for each other’s safety, and the proper tools and and get that flow. So, yeah, it’s, it’s amazing to be able to do that with such lower overhead per se of personnel doing it.

Matthew Allred 27:25
That’s cool. So you talked, when we talked before, a little bit about being an educator, right in the NEIEP program, how did you kind of get into, into that, to teaching classes and training?

Shannon Drezek 27:38
I just kept on asking and asking because I had the passion for it, and I thought I, you know, would take the time to explain and, you know, do a temperature check. Did it? Did that, you know, make sense, or anything else, and, you know, get the feedback of just like when I was, you know, working on the job. And people say, hey, thanks. You have the patience for it. Or, you know, you explained it to me a different way than another mechanic did at one time. I’m like, okay, great. Well, maybe I can, you know, do this more broad and doing that and so, and then I like a mentorship part of it too. So I like having the apprentices right away. I like to do the the lower semesters, the entry level things, because that’s all about the safety and the skill set, and it’s active in what I’m doing, and it’s it’s practical those to instill those qualities right away. So I like to do what’s now semester 100 we kind of change our curriculum, but that’s the lessons in CPR, which is important on a construction site. And then again, especially if you’re working with two people and it’s not a big, active job site. You might be the only trade on the job that day, but the reliance that you know, your teamwork, you need to rely on each other in case of emergencies. Have somebody minded that way building scaffolding, which is kind of a dying art with the technology that’s going on. But if you’re going to do a repair or something. It might, it might come up, so you need to be able to do that safely. But it’s earning those degrees. And then, of course, OSHA. I’m passionate about OSHA. I try to do that because out in the community and some of our like pre apprenticeship programs that some of the states can put on, and I participate with one in our state. It’s trying to get people that are thinking about a career in the trades, whatever trade it is, and they really steer them towards the union trade. So that’s a priority for me personally, but it’s to teach them that safety of you know what needs to happen, reinstilling these these things, because there are too many incidents that are happening, they went up before COVID, and we’re coming back down to it. But then, of course, just the dynamics of our society also is that reaching out, that there’s a language barrier, that there’s still accidents, and, you know, we have people from, you know, every everywhere, every culture and the Melting Pot in the US so to take the time to teach about safety, make sure they understand it, you know, allow opportunities that if you get down to anybody in the trade, and it’s universal, whether it’s the elevator trade or any of the other trades, that those basic safety that even if people don’t have access to that education themselves, that hopefully somebody else I try to teach them on the job is to look out for other people that are on there. Just because they’re not your trade doesn’t mean it’s not your business, because we’re all working in the same space eventually. So it’s a very a community thing that I like and drive. And so that’s the thing, is to give them a chance my opportunity, and then again, to never say that this has never happened to me, or I always do it safe. I don’t think that’s practical, and I have scars all over my body to prove it, but I’ve learned from my mistakes. I can identify those hazards, and if I choose to do something, I understand the risk associated with it. So to really let people know and find a common ground, I definitely don’t like to talk down to people. I just want to find their interest and what interests them and find that correlation so that they learn some way, somehow and and take some skill or knowledge that they didn’t have, and, of course, receive that in return.

Matthew Allred 31:15
Very cool. How long had you been in the trade before you got got an opportunity to teach the NEIEP courses?

Shannon Drezek 31:22
For me, personally, I was in 15 years before I got the opportunity. But that also, you know, depends on, you know, what’s going on in the local area, if we have enough teachers doing that. And then, of course, you know, NEAP updating their curriculum, updating computers, you know, became a bigger necessity during COVID and distance learning for our students. But it’s definitely it’s better to learn hands on, and they try to do that in the classroom. And then, of course, depending upon the type of work somebody’s doing in the trade, it depends on, you know, how you can move in and move through it. But a phenomenal training facility, all the instructors are, you know, taken out to Rhode Island to do that top notch. So it’s consistent, as consistent as you can be, because everybody’s different. Everybody picked up a key, you know, thing that their interests are passionate about, and that’s the great part. But it all comes together and all that access, but I could, you know, still jump on a computer program that if I need to fill in, you know, for a class that needs to do distance learning, I could still be talking to a group in Texas in my time zone, or if I had to pick it up. So it’s great again. It’s not the same thing all the time. There’s variety, and I thrive on variety.

Matthew Allred 32:36
Yeah, no, it sounds like it. I mean, it sounds very energizing, both the constructing side and the instructing side. And so, you know, it’s, it’s fun to hear your, your passion, you know, your experience. And obviously, by the time you got into instructing, you know, 15 years is you’ve learned a lot, right? You’ve, certainly, you’ve, you’ve, like you said, you you got some, some scars to prove that. Okay, yeah, I learned from this one. Yes. And unfortunately, you know, I know I’m the same way, right? It’s like I have to land on my face a few times before I learn the lesson. Hopefully, though, it’s not, you know, so severe that I that I can’t recover and learn from it, right? And I know that’s a huge part of of teaching safety in the trade, because you are in a high risk environment, you’re in a high risk occupation, and so the cost of not being safe is bigger in that environment. You know, you don’t, you know, don’t want to mess with that, absolutely. So, you know, we’re kind of getting close to the end here. And I’m curious if you had anything that you wanted to, I guess, say before I ask my last question

Shannon Drezek 33:48
Yeah, I just love the passion. There’s great people in the trade to find it and support, and that’s been the great connector that even if we are small and in our own locals and within the state, when you reach out and be active in the Union, in the local, in your community, you just you find so many people to feed off of their energy and make those connections and learn so much more that’s bigger of our trade and how construction works in general, and and both sides of it. So it’s just so important to have a big picture, to understand what your small part may be, that to be open to it, and the willingness to to learn and grow with it. And as we know, technology is taking us in different paths. So it’s it’s best for anybody in the trades, I think, is to do it, to do it well, you have to be willing to continue to learn, because, for sure, you have to keep up with it, with everything. So it’s definitely, you know, a learning environment. It’s not like once you know everything, you’ll never know everything.

Matthew Allred 34:50
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, thank you. Thank you for sharing that. So my last question is, you know, what advice would you give to somebody who’s maybe considering getting into the trade, or maybe they’re brand new. What would, what would make the biggest difference from your perspective?

Shannon Drezek 35:08
The most important thing that seems to be so basic is, you know, showing up, showing up on time, showing up to listen and to participate it. But again, you know you don’t know what your favorite flavor of ice cream is unless you try it. So to not be scared to try for yourself, for the if you have an interest and an opportunity to do it, just try it. You know, if it doesn’t work out for you, you can walk away. If it doesn’t work out with the employer, you know, they’ll let you know and walk away. But just to limit yourself, there it Life’s too short to do that, and there is so much work. And you know, this is the work that’s that can’t be traded outside the US or anything else. Buildings are here to stay. Buildings are going to go up. So it requires all those trades. But to to get the confidence that you need to try it. You won’t know unless you try it. Nobody can do it for you. Like to show up with that willingness to learn something new, and definitely to to get your hands dirty and dive into it. But and even if you don’t like this aspect of it, there is so much more in our career, even if you know your book smart and you like the code and and diving into that, you can be an inspector. We have a great need for inspectors and things like that. But it definitely helps if you’ve had the experience to work in the field, to associate with what’s going on. But you know, if you’re an engineer, you might be, you know, you might be creating the next conveyance that I’m installing. There’s so many aspects and such a need amongst all the companies in all of our trade that I’m sure you could find something so, you know, just show up and give it a try. Give yourself that chance, and come with a willingness to learn and and you might make a successful career out of it. And we can use all the help we can get

Matthew Allred 36:59
Beautiful. Thank you, Shannon, that is one thing I see over and over, is that just getting in learning your part really opens up doors to to other, other things that that I haven’t seen in other career areas. As much right to see somebody move from maybe they’re an ops and then now they’re in sales, now they’re inspecting, and now they’re leading, now they’re owning. Now there’s just exactly all kinds of opportunities that, yes, that will present themselves as you get in, do a great job, learn your stuff, and then, you know, write your own ticket.

Shannon Drezek 37:30
It is, it is that. Just like you said, bet on yourself, and you can carry your way. You make your name, you make your name, and that’s everything in the trades, they’ll hire you, they’ll seek you out.

Matthew Allred 37:41
Yep, absolutely. Shannon, thank you so much for being with me today. I’ve enjoyed it.

Shannon Drezek 37:46
Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity, Matt, pleasure to to meet you face to face on it and and thanks what you’re doing for for putting the word out about elevators and our industry.

Matthew Allred 37:55
Thank you. It’s a lot of fun for me, and I appreciate you being with me today.

Shannon Drezek 37:58
Super thank you so much.

Matthew Allred 38:00
Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting. Please visit our YouTube channel at Elevator Careers, or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net. Please like and subscribe and until next time, stay safe.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai