Pandemic drives many to seek training for new job opportunities

ORLANDO, Fla. - The pandemic has left a lot of people out of work. Now, they’re going back to school and getting re-trained so they can find new jobs. Technical schools are among those making a play to recruit new students.

According to the Aviation Institute of Maintenance, in Casselberry, the average salary of aircraft technicians in Orlando is over $76,000. That's the pitch in an advertisement for the Institute.

"We actually, at the end of last year, had a higher enrollment than we did at the beginning of the year through the pandemic," said Dr. Joel English, Executive Vice President for the Institute.

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When the pandemic started, the school wasn’t sure how they were going to make this all work. Everything is so hands-on. But once they figured it out, they had more and more students enrolling.

"People trying to find a new job opportunity. COVID kind of shook them a little bit. Some of them got furloughed. They got let off," said Jerry Moore, the executive director of the Casselberry location for the Aviation Institute of Maintenance.

That includes Daniel Perez, who enrolled at the school in July.

"I was at home. I was bored. I was like I’m tired of being at home and being, it was just bad being at home all the time. I hated it."

It also includes Cody Jackson, who enrolled in January after the apprenticeship he had with another aviation company in Missouri was canceled.

"The company had taken a massive hit whenever people stopped flying places. They were a relatively small company and they ended up just going out of business," said Jackson.

The Casselberry campus enrolls 20 to 25 new students every five weeks. They graduate in 21 months with an FAA certificate, finding jobs with SpaceX and airlines as airframe and powerplant mechanics, making between $58,000 and $65,000 a year to start. They also graduate with jobs as ride technicians at theme parks, with a starting salary of about $50,000 a year.

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"Theme parks operate pretty much a lot of the concepts, a rollercoaster ride. The hydraulics, the electronics, the troubleshooting," said Moore."There’s a lot of jobs out there so I know when I come out, I’ll have a fairly high chance of getting a job," said Perez.

The Institute is not the only school seeing rapid growth in rapid credential programs. Valencia College says its short-term technical programs trained almost the same number of students in the last six months as it did in all of 2019. Seminole State is also thriving. IT, health sciences, engineering and construction are all hot career fields.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, IT specialists can make around $63,000 a year to start. Health educators make $60,000 to start. Civil engineer technologists start at about $51,000 a year. Construction and building inspectors start at about $58,000 a year.

Students in these programs at Seminole State can graduate with a certificate in one or two semesters.

"We’ve been offering those through a variety of CARES funding at no cost to the student through the end of the spring," said Seminole State College President Georgia Lorenz.

That’s quite a deal. But that’s just for Florida public colleges right now. At the Aviation Institute, it’ll cost about $45,000 to complete your certification. For some, it’s worth it.

"I figured that when I come out of the school with my certification, I want to know that I can go into the field and get a job with a decent starting wage."

And know they can make some money back in just a few short years.

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