The IEC Workforce Development Institute reported in 2024 that the job outlook for electricians was projected to grow at 6 percent over the next 10 years, double the average growth rate across all occupations. Updated U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released in early 2025 projects an 11 percent increase in electrician employment from 2023 to 2033, compared to 4 percent for all occupations. The BLS also states that approximately 80,200 electrician openings are expected each year, on average, throughout the decade.
Another IEC research report, Understanding Barriers to Entry in the Electrical Trade, uncovered that there is an opportunity to increase awareness of the breadth of career options within the electrical trade and career progression among contractors, prospective apprentices, school counselors, and parents. In this same report, electrical contractors overwhelmingly agreed the trades career path is viewed as “less than” a college career path, but there are signs that the tide may be turning on that perception.
With this data in hand and a firm belief in the power of the merit shop contractor, IEC continues to work hard to provide a career path for those willing to work hard. Creating awareness, building interest, and educating and training future electricians is evident at the chapter level. Case in point — IEC Pennsylvania and its booming Pre-Apprenticeship Program.
Aspire to Be an Electrician
On first look on the IEC Pennsylvania website, the pre-apprenticeship program seems simple, straightforward, and easy — high school seniors can apply for and complete an electrical career exploratory course through IEC. Entry for the student is relatively painless due to the efforts of IEC Pennsylvania and its work with the state of Pennsylvania and the various school districts and technical schools it has engaged.
“IEC Pennsylvania staff launched a pilot program for the 2017-2018 school year with one high school, Central York High School, and three students,” says IEC Apprenticeship Coordinator Kristi Junkins. “Our then part-time pre-apprenticeship coordinator, Kurt Geisinger, had already been working with that school district recruiting graduates for his company. Three students opted to go through the year one IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship Program curriculum.”
Kristi says Kurt worked closely with instructor and liaison for the school district to be sure the students were understanding the material. As the program moved along, he built additional uploads to support the younger, self-learning students.
“Kurt met with the students on a weekly basis in the evenings for about an hour to an hour and a half to discuss how things were going and provide additional support,” Kristi says. “He did some visits to the school and oversaw the two major labs that we still have our pre-apprentices do — conduit bending in the fall semester and wiring in the spring.”
Build Upon the Great Start
Kristi joined IEC Pennsylvania in the spring of 2019, and the end of the second full year of its Pre-Apprenticeship Program. In that short time, the program had doubled its students and expanded into additional school districts. But IEC Pennsylvania knew they could and wanted to take the program further.
“IEC Pennsylvania wanted to make its small and successful program into a state-approved program, so we completed the application and the paperwork,” Kristi recalls. “In April of 2021, we became a registered, state-approved pre-apprenticeship program.”
That step complete, the team continued efforts to build relationships with more school districts and technical schools, attract additional students, and create a seamless entry from the IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship Program to the IEC Pennsylvania Apprenticeship Program.
“Those in the pre-apprenticeship program in essence are completing the first year of the four-year curriculum, so it’s a jump start for the students,” Kristi says. “When they complete their senior year of high school and graduate, they can move directly into the IEC Pennsylvania Apprenticeship Program. If they are not already connected with a contractor, they become a hot commodity as they’ve already had exposure to theory and skills and the contractor member only needs to pay three years of tuition vs. four.”
Bruce Seilhammer, SECCO Electric, is one of the local contractors involved with the IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship Program since 2018. SECCO has worked with 10 apprentices since then with several becoming journeymen, foremen, and serving as mentors / teachers to new apprentices.
“We are interested in hiring people that are self-motivated and have an idea of what they want to do for their career,” Bruce says. “When a senior in high school has the motivation to do their required curriculum, and also take on year one of our apprentice program, they have my attention! There is nothing easy about learning the electrical trade. It takes a lot of time, effort, and dedication to doing the work and getting through it. When these young adults come out of their senior year, they now only have three more years of schooling to go. The key really is that these young folks come out of school a full year ahead of their peers regarding getting their careers started. That’s a nice feeling for them, and a great way to begin.”
Expanding Program Reach
“Aspire to be an Electrician is what we call our program and the title we use to promote its availability to additional schools,” Kristi explains. “For the 2024-2025 school year, we had 24 students in the IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship Program in 9 high schools and technical centers. That’s pretty good growth for a seven-year-old program.”
Editor’s note: There are a half dozen other schools in the IEC Pennsylvania mix, but these didn’t have any students in the program in 2024-2025.
When talking to new school liaisons about the program, Kristi and other IEC Pennsylvania representatives stress not only the benefits of ‘trying out’ the proven career-worthy electrical field before graduation, but also about the types of students who tend to do well in it.
“Candidates who have shown they can do independent work, are self-starters, have ability on the technology side, and those who have done well in math classes like algebra 2, geometry, or maybe trigonometry or physics have great background knowledge to do well in the year one IEC curriculum,” Kristi notes. “Interest in how things work, how you figure things out, and understanding how to solve an equation is huge in year one. The students need to understand this is college-level text book. You want to be very forthcoming with what they would be exposed to, as you don’t want to set your students up for failure. It can be intimidating, and maybe they don’t want to go to that level.”
The IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship curriculum covers:
- Identification of appropriate hand tools and how to properly use those tools
- Demonstration of basic math and metric used by electricians
- Exposure to basic wiring concepts, wiring methods, and installation techniques
- Identification of fixtures, switches, and receptacles
- Understanding the NEC codebook and defining up to 30 electrical terms
- Identification of common electrical symbols
Participants who complete the course successfully with a grade of 70 percent or higher receive a completion certificate from IEC Pennsylvania and the Department of Labor & Industry, as well as the opportunity to apply to the IEC Pennsylvania Apprenticeship Program to continue their electrical career pathway as a year two student.
Kristi says each school or district is different in how they administer the program. IEC Pennsylvania works with each to find the best way to offer the program for them, while ensuring the quality of the training.
Local Contractor Involvement
IEC Pennsylvania electrical contractor members support the chapter Pre-Apprenticeship Program in various ways. While it is not a requirement for the pre-apprentice to have electrical employment like it is in the traditional IEC Apprenticeship Program, Kristi has seen a number of different scenarios play out for the students.
“In any given year, we could have between five and eight contractors involved with the students,” she reports. “A lot depends on the type of business they do and, of course, their location to the schools hosting the programs. Those involved are usually within a 20-to-30-mile radius of the school. Not all contractors can support pre-apprentices’ academic schedules and their ability to only work part-time. This past year, 10 of our students were employed part-time with our contractors and I’m proud to report that all 10 of them are being hired full-time by their contractors!” Editor’s note: see accompanying story on Alana Goodman.
Another way IEC Pennsylvania contractors support the pre-apprentices is by hosting students for a visit to see the operations or allow for a job shadowing experience for a week to get a taste of the real world. The companies also host the Pre-Apprenticeship Program conduit bending and wiring labs. Former apprentices working at those companies are on hand to help run the labs and share their apprenticeship experiences with the young students.
IEC Pennsylvania member company DeRock Electric Co. business partners and master electricians Doug Detwiler and Rock Forry are IEC stalwarts. Career electricians and long-time advocates of proper education, they have appreciated IEC training from day one.
“We both believe you need to surround yourself with the best of the best,” Rock says. “When we started our business, we realized quickly that we needed support. We were already involved in IEC but we started jumping in and getting more active with IEC.”
Over the years, that involvement has included visiting high schools with the chapter team, hosting skills competitions, enrolling apprentices, serving on committees, and doing whatever they can to further the trade. DeRock Electric has grown from a two-man shop to 35 to 40 strong in the field.
They first dived into the IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship Program four years ago with Mason Bier. Next was Alana Goodman — see accompanying article. DeRock’s third pre-apprentice, Parker Gibson, is just beginning with them.
“Getting involved in this program and getting these youngsters involved a little quicker on their career path has been a really good thing,” Rock says. “We’ve learned that you almost have to teach them how to work before you can teach them to be an electrician. I remind myself that this is likely their first job. I remember the first time I got on a job site and saw all that big earth-moving equipment; I thought it was the coolest thing.”
Rock says he tells his pre-apprentices and apprentices to be sure to question him if they don’t understand something right away as he’s been doing this for 30-some years and it’s second nature. When they ask questions, it helps him to better explain a process to someone who is hearing about it for the first time.
“Honestly, one of the most rewarding parts of the job for me is when I see that light kick on in their heads,” he smiles. “Then I’m sure they got it now, so game on!”
Another area DeRock lends support to IEC Pennsylvania is with the local competition to pick their competitor for the IEC Apprentice of the Year competition, held each year at National SPARK. Rock says they pattern their local competition to be as close to what competitors will see at National.
“We only accept nine folks and the winner goes on to the National competition, and oh boy, there are some pretty heavy hitters out there,” Rock admits. “We do a code test — it used to be a five-question test by now we do a 10-question test and we’ve ramped it up to include more calculations. We have control board, conduit bends, ladder logic, and we give specific directions to judge how well competitors follow directions.”
Rock also commits to helping their local competitor however he can with coaching sessions, answering questions, and offering support before the trip to SPARK.
What’s Next?
IEC Pennsylvania began in 1991 as the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of IEC, representing merit shop electrical contractors in eight counties in Central Pennsylvania. As it grew, it expanded to cover 20 counties in the South Central and Southwestern parts of the state as well. In 2022, it expanded its reach further and became IEC Pennsylvania, now representing contractors in all but three of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.
Kristi says the short-term goal for the IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship Program is contractor member growth followed by building relationships with school districts outside the Central Pennsylvania area.
“We need to make sure we have contractor member growth, because when students complete the IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship Program, we want them to get connected with employment with an IEC electrical contractor,” Kristi explains. “Obviously, we don’t want to tell students ‘Hey, you were great; you did awesome, but now you have to move to Central Pennsylvania to find employment so you can enter year two of the program.’ We need to solidify our contractor base in those other regions before connecting with those local school districts.”
Matt Chubb, vice president of operations at BBEC Electrical Contractors, a division of HB Mechanical Group, says his company has been involved with the IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship Program for about three years.
“We’ve had six students on record last year that were a part of the program that we’ve either hired on full-time or as co-ops,” he says. “One of the larger benefits we see as an employer is that the employees are coming in with more of a grounded foundation in the trade, knowing that this is the true career path they would like to take. We had one student come to us from a public school up in Perry County as a pre-apprentice. He recently graduated, and he’s already running crews for us. He’s a hard worker, he retains a lot of things, and he stands out in many other ways. Due to the IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship Program, he was able to accelerate his career. I think it helped him gain confidence knowing that ‘hey, I can do this; I’m coming out of high school and I have this understanding already.’ It boosted his confidence, his skill set, and his knowledge of the industry.”
Matt, who serves on the IEC Pennsylvania A&T Committee, looks forward to continued interaction with the IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship Program and to continue to learn more about how it works overall. He’d like to see contractor members gaining a clearer insight into the students even before they come to his company as co-op students and see how the program could include more exposure to hands-on opportunities. BBEC Electrical Contractors has about 95 employees on staff and an additional 25 or so temporary employees. Developing the workforce is always top of mind.
“The IEC Pennsylvania Pre-Apprenticeship Program definitely helps students better identify if this is the career path they would like to follow,” he says. “We find the turnover rate to be a little bit higher when students apply for work here that aren’t already in the Pre-Apprenticeship Program or coming from a tech school, mainly because they are still learning if this is the correct career path for them”
