Sheet Metal Institute

APPRENTICESHIP BEATS COLLEGE.

Why spend years paying to learn a career when you can get paid to learn one?

A union sheet metal apprenticeship gives you a different path forward. No tuition. No student loan debt. You start working, learning, and earning a paycheck while building real-world skills that can lead to a lifelong career.

You’ll learn in the classroom and on the job, developing hands-on skills in one of the most diverse trades in construction. Sheet metal training can open doors to fabrication, welding, HVAC installation and service, detailing, testing and balancing, and more.

Earn while you learn. Build skills. Start your career without the college debt.

Applications are being accepted now through October 31. Apply to our program today. Visit our website: https://f.mtr.cool/o5fc8pioz8

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!

The Sheet Metal Institute is accepting applications for our apprenticeship program throughout October, beginning October 1.

Earn while you learn. Build hands-on skills. Start a career with real opportunity.

Visit our website to learn more and apply. Know someone who would be a great fit? Send them this post.

ONE TRADE. SO MANY POSSIBILITIES.

October is Careers in Construction Month, and we’re putting the spotlight on sheet metal: one of the most diverse trades in construction.

We design. We fabricate. We weld. We install. We troubleshoot. From architectural metalwork and HVAC service to detailing, and testing, adjusting, and balancing, our work takes brains, skill, and precision.

Like working with your hands? Technology? Solving problems? There’s a place for you in this trade.

At Sheet Metal Institute, our apprenticeship combines paid on-the-job training with classroom and hands-on lab instruction. Earn while you learn, receive scheduled wage increases, and develop skills you can build a career on.

Explore our program and apply on our website. We are accepting applications throughout October, beginning October 1.

Know someone looking for their next move? Share this post with them.

Great perspective on where our industry is headed.

Recruiting more women into sheet metal and HVAC matters, but recruitment is only the first step. The bigger job is creating workplaces where people are trained, supported, challenged and given a real path to grow.

That’s how we build the next generation of the skilled trades.

Leading Without Limitations Across the country, women are becoming an increasingly visible force on sheet metal and HVAC jobsites and within SMACNA committees. These professionals talk about what it took to get in, stay in and start pulling others in behind them.

This is an amazing apprenticeship training center, right in the heart of Atlanta! Everything is so brand new. They were very excited to give us a tour. They have 300 apprentices in their program. The classes are held at night and are taught by 20 part-time instructors.

Built to win. Ready to grow.

Training Director Ben Wood and Instructor Jason Leslie have joined more than 400 attendees in Atlanta for the inaugural Sheet Metal Industry Institutes Conference, bringing together Sheet Metal Occupational Health Institute Trust (SMOHIT) , National Energy Management Institute (NEMI) , and the International Training Institute (ITI)

Hosted at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel & Convention Center , the conference focused on the issues shaping our industry and workforce. Sessions explored indoor air quality policy, cross-generational collaboration, workplace culture, substance use and human performance, emerging technology, and new training tools and resources. Ben, Jason, and fellow attendees will tour the SMART Sheet Metal Workers Local 85 JATC and TAB lab this afternoon.

They'll return to the Sheet Metal Institute with new information, fresh ideas, and plenty of inspiration to keep moving our training center forward.

The conference theme said it best: Built to Win.

Staff Highlight: Lisa Bloker

Lisa Bloker joins the Sheet Metal Institute team, bringing with her years of experience supporting SMART Local 16 members.

Her connection to the union spans more than 25 years, and the sheet metal trade runs in her family. Her husband, brother-in-law, and son all completed the apprenticeship and worked as journeymen with Local 16.

Today, Lisa helps members schedule classes, navigate their training needs, and find the support they need.

We are proud to have Lisa on our team!

Read the rest of Lisa’s story on our website: https://f.mtr.cool/929ki72j7z

Cool shot of the crew working hard on our Portland campus expansion! Thank you!

Members Please Share!

25 YEARS LATER. WE REMEMBER.

Twenty-five years ago, 2,977 lives were taken on September 11, 2001.

Members of our own union family were there that day to help, and in the many days that followed.

Immediately after the towers collapsed, construction and sign members of the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association working on job sites across Manhattan rushed to Ground Zero to join fellow building trades members searching for survivors.

Below the towers, members of the United Transportation Union, whose union later became SMART’s Transportation Division, were operating PATH trains beneath the World Trade Center. They kept the trains moving and waited until they were filled so they could evacuate as many people as possible.

On a day of unimaginable loss, working people did what working people do. They showed up. They helped. They stood together.

Today, the Sheet Metal Institute remembers those we lost, honors those who answered the call, and keeps their families in our thoughts.

To our union brothers and sisters, if September 11 touched your life, your family, your work, or your community, we invite you to share your story with us in the comments. Twenty-five years later, remembering also means keeping those stories alive.

25 years later, we remember. We will never forget.