{"id":32675,"date":"2021-03-08T08:30:42","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T07:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/?p=32675"},"modified":"2022-09-28T14:59:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T12:59:43","slug":"women-hvac-journey-jessica-bannister-brand-ambassador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/women-hvac-journey-jessica-bannister-brand-ambassador\/","title":{"rendered":"Women in HVAC: the journey of Jessica Bannister, Errecom Brand Ambassador"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\tWe could all agree that some fields, such as the trades, are mostly dominated by men ...        \t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Women in HVAC:
the journey of Jessica Bannister, Errecom Brand Ambassador<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWe could all agree that some fields, such as the trades, are mostly dominated by men: it\u2019s a matter of fact.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In Canada, for example, women\u2019s representation in many trades<\/a> is less than five per cent and, even though numbers can lightly vary depending on the specific country considered, the trend is pretty much the same everywhere.<\/p>

Times and things are luckily changing, and we couldn\u2019t be any prouder to celebrate International Women\u2019s Day by introducing to you Jessica Bannister: the first female HVAC Technician to become Errecom Brand Ambassador.<\/p>

Too often we let life deciding for us because it takes courage to choose what others consider an uncommon path. But this was not Jessica\u2019s problem. An educational background in Business Administration and 10 years of experience in a corporate office, downtown Vancouver, haven\u2019t stopped her from chasing her dreams.<\/p>

We interviewed her and decided to share her inspiring story today, with the aim of showing that dedication and self-confidence are the most powerful weapon for a woman to succeed and be pleased.<\/p>

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Hi Jessica! I am very excited to know more about your career and I believe we should start from the very beginning of everything. Where does your vocation come from?<\/strong><\/h2>

I would say my vocation comes from my family, but the truth is that it comes from myself.\u202f My dad has always been a refrigeration mechanic and my brother followed in his footsteps right after high school.\u202f The trades were never offered to me as a career option, even when I joined my dad\u2019s company, Cam Cool Refrigeration, I worked in the office for about 9 months. It was only after I asked to spend a few days out in the field with them that I realized that I had a passion for the trade myself.\u202fI registered to be an apprentice in the Province of British Columbia, Canada in March 2018 and I\u2019m proudly making my way through the program. I start my Level 2 of trade school on March 1.<\/p>

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What do you like most about your job?<\/strong><\/h2>

What I love about my job are a few things. One is that I learn something new every day.\u202fNot only because I\u2019m at the beginning of my career, but even my dad sometimes runs into something he\u2019s never seen before! Mechanical equipment seems to have their own unique personalities! Second is that every day is different.\u202fWe are lucky in our small family business to have such a variety of equipment to work on.\u202f We specialize in commercial and light industrial refrigeration and air conditioning.\u202f One day we could be working on a small condensing unit underneath a mobile catering truck on a movie set, the next we could be working on a rooftop unit, replacing filters and performing a maintenance service. We work on industrial air dryer units; walk-in, reach-in and display coolers and freezers for various food services. Every day is different and that\u2019s amazing: you never get bored! A third thing I love is that almost every job is some kind of challenge or problem to solve.\u202fIt can sometimes be mentally and physically exhausting, but the end result is always worth the rewarding feeling.<\/p>

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HVAC is definitely a male-dominated industry. Would you like to share with us some of the misconceptions you\u2019ve met about\u202fFemale HVAC Technicians?<\/strong><\/h2>

I would say it does take a certain kind of female to enter the trades, particularly HVAC.\u202fIt is a hard job, both physically and mentally, but it\u2019s so worth it. I think certain professionals still have strong stereotypes about them (you know, the plumber with the big belly and pants that are too small?!) that need to be broken. It\u2019s very important for women currently in the trades to put themselves out there, to share what they do so that young girls can see this and perhaps consider a career in the trades. Blue collar professions are still heavily marketed to boys only. Which is why I\u2019m so active on my Instagram account @HVACJess<\/a>.
I want to show that an ordinary woman like me can enjoy the HVAC trade so much.<\/p>

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Are there some female traits that you believe make women great HVAC Technicians?<\/strong><\/h2>

Women and men think differently.\u202f We are also built differently.\u202fIt\u2019s important for males and females to work together as a team to balance their strengths and weaknesses. I think women are able to approach things differently, to problem solve in a different way.\u202fFrom a customer service perspective, half of the population and therefore client base are female! We need more female technicians out there servicing our female clients!<\/p>

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What are the challenges and rewards that come with a job like yours? Do you think they are different from the ones a man has to face?<\/strong><\/h2>

Sometimes it\u2019s challenging not having the same physical strength as the males I work with (even though I\u2019m at the gym every day!).\u202f When I work alone, I have certain tools that help me overcome my lack of physical strength.\u202fTechnology has made it a great time to be a woman in the trades! Also, because there are so few women in HVAC, I am often seen as a novelty. More attention is paid to me just because I am a woman and therefore, I feel a lot of pressure to perform better than my male counterparts. Having said that, I haven\u2019t personally been faced with any harsh diversity, most people are intrigued to see a woman climbing up the ladder.\u202fThey are interested in seeing me there, sometimes offering to carry something for me.<\/p>

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Do you have any advice for all the women out there willing to start a career as HVAC technicians?<\/strong><\/h2>

Yes, I say go for it!!\u202f Don\u2019t let anyone tell you that you can\u2019t or that you shouldn\u2019t.\u202fIf you have the drive or the curiosity to start as a Woman in HVAC\/R then you should definitely do it.\u202fIt\u2019s a great career that will challenge you and reward you with a great feeling of accomplishment and\u2026 money! Find someone that you work well together with.\u202fDon\u2019t let a bad employer give you bad feelings toward the trade in general and if you\u2019re having trouble with your apprenticeship, try to find someone else to work with.\u202fI am very lucky to work with my brother and my dad, who has had a few apprentices before me.\u202fFind other women in the trades and support each other.\u202fWe can do it!\u202f<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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We could all agree that some fields, such as the trades, are mostly dominated by men …         Women in HVAC:the journey of Jessica Bannister, Errecom Brand Ambassador We could all agree that some fields, such as the trades, are mostly dominated by men: it\u2019s a matter of fact. In Canada, for […]<\/p>\n Read more<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32714,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-32675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behind-the-scenes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32675"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60707,"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32675\/revisions\/60707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32675"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.errecom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=32675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}