A job board gives you the people who apply on job boards. Some of them are good. Alongside the boards there are public pipelines built to move people into trade work, most of them free to an employer: registered apprenticeship, the military's SkillBridge, Helmets to Hardhats, the American Job Centers and the trade programs at local colleges. Here is what each one is, who it brings you, and what it asks of you in return.
The competition for those people is real. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects about 587,000 openings each year, on average, in construction and extraction occupations from 2025 to 2035, from growth and from workers who leave the occupations for good. The median annual wage for the group was $59,540 in May 2025, against $50,980 for all occupations.
Registered apprenticeship: grow your own
A registered apprenticeship is a program registered with a registration agency, which 29 CFR 29.2 defines as the Labor Department's Office of Apprenticeship or a recognized State Apprenticeship Agency. The same section defines an apprentice as a worker at least 16 years old (older where another law sets a higher minimum age), employed to learn an apprenticeable occupation. The federal standards in 29 CFR 29.5(b) say what the program must contain:
You do not have to write it alone. Apprenticeship.gov's employer tools include Express Interest in Starting a Program, List Your Apprenticeship Jobs, an Occupation Finder, a Partner Finder and a Standards Builder, and CareerOneStop's Apprenticeship Office Finder lists the apprenticeship offices in your area, which work with companies to develop registered apprenticeships. Ask that office two questions first: whether an existing program in your trade will take you on as an employer, and who delivers the classroom part near you.
Two things to know before an apprentice starts. If you take on a 16- or 17-year-old, check first what work the child labor rules allow; see summer help under 18. And veterans can use GI Bill benefits in an approved apprenticeship or on-the-job training program: the Department of Veterans Affairs pays them a monthly amount for living expenses, which makes your opening worth more to them. The VA says to use its GI Bill Comparison Tool to check that an employer's training program is approved.
SkillBridge: service members in their last 180 days
The Defense Department's SkillBridge program (its site now calls it DoW SkillBridge) lets service members gain civilian work experience through industry training, apprenticeships or internships during their last 180 days of service. Service members can be granted up to 180 days of permissive duty to train full time with an approved provider, once their chain of command gives written approval. They keep receiving their military pay and benefits while they train with you. For providers, the program describes itself as access to a highly trained and motivated workforce at no cost, with the chance to evaluate the service member's suitability for a job afterward.
Becoming a provider is paperwork, laid out on the SkillBridge site as steps: attend an information session, prepare the required documents (including your Secretary of State business verification), complete an ethics brief, submit an application, and sign a memorandum of understanding sent by DocuSign. The site adds that it is an advantage if your organization offers a registered apprenticeship and appears in the Labor Department's apprenticeship finder, which is one more reason to start with the section above. Treat SkillBridge as a hiring channel, not free labor: plan the job the person will step into when the window closes.
Helmets to Hardhats: for union contractors
Helmets to Hardhats is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, run jointly by labor and management, that connects transitioning service members, veterans, National Guard members and Reservists with careers in construction through registered apprenticeship programs, in partnership with 15 international construction trade unions. Its FAQ is specific about employers: all job and apprenticeship postings come from its construction trade affiliates, and employers are checked to make sure they are in good standing with their union contract agreement. If your shop is signatory to a union agreement, register and post. If it is not, this channel is not built for you; SkillBridge and the job centers are.
American Job Centers: recruiting help and training money
There are nearly 2,300 American Job Centers nationwide, according to CareerOneStop, the Labor Department-sponsored site that lists them; the comprehensive centers serve employers as well as job seekers. Its employer pages point to public workforce resources to help you recruit, hire and train. Ask your local center about job postings, hiring events, and a program worth knowing by name: on-the-job training.
Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, on-the-job training is training by an employer, given to a paid participant while doing productive work, through a program that reimburses the employer up to 50 percent of the participant's wage rate for the extraordinary costs of the training and the extra supervision (29 U.S.C. 3102(44)). The governor or the local workforce board may raise that to up to 75 percent, considering among other things the characteristics of the participants and the size of the employer (29 U.S.C. 3174(c)(3)(H)). The law speaks of a participant, a person taking part in the workforce program, so talk to the center before you hire, not after.
A worked example. Say a landscaping company hires a worker referred by the job center at $18 an hour, under a training contract that covers 240 hours at a 50 percent rate. The reimbursement is 240 × $18 × 50%, which is $2,160. The contract with the local board sets the hours and the rate, and whether money is available this year is a question for that board.
Trade schools and community colleges
The students in an HVAC, electrical, welding or construction program are people who already chose the work. CareerOneStop's site includes a Community College Finder for the colleges near you. Get past the general placement office to the instructor, who sees the students every week. Offer a shop visit, say what you pay and what tools you supply, and ask when the next group finishes, so your opening is ready the week they are.
What makes any of these work
Whatever channel sends people your way, CrewFunnel™ gives you one screening link, and a printable Now Hiring sign with a QR code, that runs your questions in the applicant's browser and hands you a scored one-pager. Its texting side is not live yet.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and vary by state; check with the agency named above or a professional for your situation.