Tens of thousands of workers have jobs in home appliance repair. Like any job, applicants want to set themselves apart from other job seekers. There are several ways to get appliance repair training that will help achieve that goal.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were over 33,000 jobs for home appliance repair technicians in May of 2010. About 73 percent of them are salaried employees, while the other 27% or so are self-employed individuals with their own appliance repair centers. Most of these jobs tend to be in bigger cities because the demand for maintenance and repair of home appliances is small in rural areas.
Some employers provide their own appliance repair training or send their repair technicians to classes. You may wish to seek a job first in your area and see if you can get training. If you are having difficulty finding a job because employers say you are not qualified, you could get some training on your own.
While some technicians have a specific goal of getting a job or opening a home appliance repair business, others would like additional career options. These students can consider taking classes in electronics and electronic technology. Modern home appliances have many electronic parts, so this field is partially relevant to appliance repair. Getting this training would also open up possible additional avenues of employment as compared to specific training for home appliance repair and maintenance. For example, if a job as a home appliance repair technician does not present itself, it may be possible to get a job as an electronic engineering technician or a similar job if you have such training.
An example of such an electronics training course is the degree program offered by Bramson ORT. Students may earn an Electronics Technology Associate Degree (A.A.S.). This is a course requiring 60 semester hours for graduation. Students who own such a degree would have a variety of options for getting jobs. Examples would be an electrician’s assistant or a thermostat repair technician. Of course, this would also be good training for appliance repair jobs.
For those seeking a more concentrated education and training on home appliance repair, there are some land-based and online training schools for appliance repair technicians. Penn Foster is an example of an online training course. This could be enough for someone who learns well from books and videos. Others may find it necessary to attend live appliance repair training for a fuller experience and understanding of how to repair major appliances. An example of a live school is Fred’s Appliance Academy. Links to those programs are below, but you should do your own research, find other schools, and collect references before deciding to purchase or attend a training course for home appliance repair.
Resources:
Bramson ORT: Electronics Technology Degree Program
Fred’s Appliance Academy
Penn Foster: Appliance Repair