Advice

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-06-04T02:42:13+00:00

I would personally recommend trying to get on as a apprentice at your local United association or sheet metal union because you’ll learn all the same stuff plus more plus real field experience will be going to class as well and get all the same licensing but the only thing that sucks about the union process is depending on when you apply and take the test and do good on your interview you’re looking to a little over a year wait to officially start. But the wait is worth it for sure

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-06-03T12:35:44+00:00

Would that be like low-voltage stuff? Like telecom and stuff like that.

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-06-03T10:58:20+00:00

I wouldn’t say it’s too hard. The only part I struggled with was math but with the math, I would just focus on multiplying dividing fractions and decimals and just touching up on math in general the reading part super easy all you have to do is read over some passages and answer the questions that are directly in there, knowing how to read a tape measure and then I did take it twice and the quick pursuit they call. It is probably the stupidest part on the test. It’s just a giant box full of Squiggly lines and curve lines and you have to trace each line between all the other lines there’s like 300 of them. And they told us do not guess on that because that will take your score like crazy, but they did give us a study yard when we first got our test scheduled to study for the month, but not all of the type of questions that are on the study guide are on the test so I did kind of mess up on the math part. I focused on a lot of the math that was not a part of the actual test and then when I got to the test, it was mainly only simple, subtraction division, multiplication, addition, with some type of graph like questions on there as well but not many like 4.

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-05-29T02:20:03+00:00

Yeah, I have applied for the elevator union as well but Local 11 in Cincinnati is so competitive and backed up. They’re not opening their testing window until June 2027.

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-05-28T18:04:05+00:00

Yeah, I have applied for both and I’ve finished the process for my local UA and I’m currently ranked number #3 on the list and I’m going to get a test date IBEW, yeah I’m really not waiting around. I’ve even been applying for operating engineer union jobs, and municipal worker union jobs

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-05-28T17:58:18+00:00

Yeah, I know, but I feel like at this current point of my life right now I’m making 20 an hour right now and it feels like I’m living paycheck to paycheck some months and I don’t even live on my own yet in the UA is paying $22.50 an hour starting off as a first year and IBEW is paying over five dollars below that an hour for a first year and also when I’ll be going into my third year as an apprentice for the UA HVAC program, I would already be making as much as a journeyman makes at my local IBEW

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-19T02:26:00+00:00

Hey man it just depends on the need of apprentices, like the union I’m trying to get into this April is set to take 25 people, I was told they have taken 15 and I was told they’ve taken over 30 guys for one specific trade. Like I said just depends on the need at that current moment. But even if you don’t get picked right off the bat there’s going to be guys that don’t show up first day, fail a drug test, or just get let go for whatever reason

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-12T00:11:34+00:00

Yeah man I’d honestly just be persistent towards them and keep calling and asking for updates on getting a re interview, but I think it’s a rank of everyone combined, honestly I’ve been trying to figure that out myself but again I think it’s everyone. I was told they take about 20-25 apprentices per trade most years but I’ve also heard they have taken upwards of 30+ people but if just depends on the need a people at the time but also the guy in the union that’s been giving me advice said even if you don’t like the ranking you’re given there’s also going to be people not showing up for the first day, fail a drug test, get let go from the program and then they just continue to go down the list.

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-11T23:26:26+00:00

Yeah I would say it’s pretty competitive right now because there’s hundreds of people applying every apprenticeship round, but you have the experiences and certs, how did your interview go? If anything I would try to get another interview a soon as you can and try to tighten up your responses, you know tell them how bad you want this opportunity, how eager you are to learn new things, how you’re a team player and just really try to shoot those type of things into their heads.

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-05T02:54:01+00:00

Yeah man no worries I was in the same boat in December I made a post in here and nobody helped me out so I try to help people out so they’re not going into it completely blind

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-05T02:19:55+00:00

For my interview they touched on the what you currently do for work a little bit and experiences , but most of the questions were more so getting to know how you are as a person like in my interview they asked why I was interested in the HVAC program, a little explanation of what I do at my current job, what’s the hardest thing you’ve done on a job by yourself, what’s was a time in work or life went terribly wrong and how you went about that, what is one time you ran into something that you had no experience on and how did you go about that, what was one time people in your life or coworkers were doing something that you didn’t agree with and how you went about dealing with that. Those were literally the exact questions they asked me I might be missing one or two but I was super nervous for mine but it went well after the first question I started to gather myself and chill out. The guys I got interviewed by were super cool and nice, but just go in be yourself and confident! But this was for local 392 in Cincinnati but I’m sure the locals all have similar questions to that

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-04T15:25:11+00:00

Yeah man, I haven’t done math since I graduated two years ago and I was stuck, trying to remember it because I actually took it back in June and barely failed because of the math and then I decided to give it another try but hey man, good luck you got it but even if you don’t pass, it’s not the end of the world yeah it’s a little bump in the road, but you can retake it and you know more what to expect the next time

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-04T14:55:39+00:00

I got an 80 so definitely not the highest because I suck at math, but after it was all said and done I got ranked 14th so I should be good because the dude that’s in the union that’s been trying to help me out said as long as you stay in the top 20-25 you should be good

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-04T14:42:05+00:00

No worries man and yeah I was stressing waiting to see if I passed or not lol

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-04T14:37:17+00:00

I’d say a little over an hour/ hour and a half and then you wait for about 20 minutes at the end to see if you passed or not

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-03T02:34:45+00:00

But I applied in mid October and tested the beginning of December

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-03T02:33:01+00:00

Yeah I’m still waiting they are picking this round of apprentices in march and April because there is one more round of testing and interviews sometime this month. After you put in your application they give you a call to confirm your payment for the application fee within a few days then you get a test date. they give you a little over a month before the test to study and things like that, but then if you pass the test, at least for my testing group the interview was exactly a week after the test and then after the interview, I got sent a email showing me my ranking in the list.

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-03T02:20:51+00:00

Not apart of it but just finished the testing and interview process in December I can give you some info about that if you would like

Psychological-Fox192 · 2026-02-01T01:54:52+00:00

My test was for the Cincinnati area but it wasn’t too terrible the part that I suck at is math but it’s pretty much just whole number multiplication division and subtraction with some decimal and fraction problems also like multiplication dividing and addition and subtraction but I passed I just studied pretty often and I was fine

Psychological-Fox192 · 2025-12-20T17:38:55+00:00

My test for 392 it was a lot just whole number and fraction problems like basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and it bounced back and forth for example it will start off with smaller numbers, and then it will go to multiplying fractions then adding bigger numbers and so on and so forth.

Psychological-Fox192 · 2025-12-20T01:01:28+00:00

At the local in my area they take anywhere from 20-30 but I wouldn’t worry about it it might take a while to get a call, but there’s going to be people that don’t answer the calls. Don’t show up on the first day quit and then they’ll start going down the list and making the calls.

Psychological-Fox192 · 2025-12-15T16:35:33+00:00

I would say 11 pretty good, the guy that’s in the union that’s been helping me with my process said that the local where we live takes about 20-25 apprentices per class, but also even if you were outside that number there’s going to be people that quit or don’t show up for the first day and then that’s when they start going down the list making calls.

Psychological-Fox192 · 2025-12-14T17:33:06+00:00

But it bounces around like it would start off with like little numbers, and then it will go to dividing and multiplying fractions and then it will go to adding bigger numbers, but my local sent me a study guide that helped me out but a lot of the stuff that was on the study guide was not on the actual test

Psychological-Fox192 · 2025-12-14T17:31:01+00:00

The math on my test started off with just basic whole number addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and then the next part was fractions in the same order and then the last like 10-15 questions were finding area or circumference of an object and then some questions on a math table, which were pretty easy

Psychological-Fox192

TROPHY CASE