Editor’s Note: This is inspired by career oriented advice from Forbes, adapted specifically for the high visibility world of HVAC and BAS.
Finding your next opportunity in HVAC or building automation shouldn’t be about applying to as many jobs as possible.
For experienced professionals, a successful career move is usually about finding the right combination of responsibilities, company, compensation, culture, leadership, and long-term opportunity.
Whether you’re a BAS technician considering your next step, an HVAC sales professional looking for greater responsibility, a project manager ready for larger projects, or an executive evaluating your next leadership opportunity, taking a strategic approach can help you make a better career decision.
Here are several ways HVAC and building automation professionals can make their job search more intentional.
1. Know What You Want Before You Start Looking
One of the biggest mistakes professionals make is beginning a job search before determining what they actually want from their next position.
Start by identifying what matters most to you.
Is it:
- Higher compensation?
- Greater responsibility?
- A stronger leadership team?
- Larger or more complex projects?
- Better technology exposure?
- More opportunity for advancement?
- A better work-life balance?
- Less travel?
- A stronger company culture?
- More autonomy?
- The opportunity to lead a team?
- A path toward ownership or executive leadership?
Your priorities will be different depending on where you are in your career.
A BAS technician may be looking for an employer that will help them develop into a programmer or engineer. A project manager may want to move into operations leadership. An experienced sales professional may be looking for a larger territory or a leadership opportunity.
The clearer you are about your goals, the easier it becomes to identify the opportunities worth pursuing.
2. Target Companies, Not Just Job Titles
Don’t limit your search to job boards and specific job titles.
Instead, identify the types of companies where you would genuinely want to build your career.
For HVAC and BAS professionals, that could include:
- Commercial HVAC contractors
- Building automation contractors
- Mechanical contractors
- Controls manufacturers
- Energy-service companies
- Building technology providers
- Engineering firms
- Equipment distributors
- Facilities organizations
- Industrial companies
Once you know the types of organizations you’re interested in, research their leadership, projects, technology, customers, reputation, and growth.
You may discover that a company is a great fit even though it doesn’t currently have a job posting with your exact title.
3. Make Your Resume Tell the Story of Your Career
Your resume shouldn’t simply list everything you’ve been responsible for.
It should demonstrate the value you’ve created.
For example, instead of:
Managed commercial HVAC projects.
Consider:
Managed a portfolio of commercial HVAC projects totaling more than $15 million while maintaining project schedules, customer relationships, and targeted margins.
Instead of:
Responsible for HVAC sales.
Consider:
Generated more than $3 million in annual HVAC service, retrofit, and replacement revenue while developing long-term relationships with commercial customers.
The more measurable your accomplishments are, the easier it is for an employer to understand what you could bring to their organization.
4. Quantify Your Experience
Numbers can make your experience much more compelling.
Think about the measurable impact you’ve had throughout your career.
For example:
BAS Technicians & Engineers
- Number of buildings commissioned
- Number of controllers installed
- Size of systems
- Number of points
- Platforms and technologies used
- Projects completed
Sales Professionals
- Annual sales volume
- New business generated
- Gross margin
- Territory growth
- Account growth
- Service agreements sold
Project Managers & Estimators
- Project volume
- Project size
- Margins
- Number of projects managed
- Backlog
- Change orders
- Completion rates
Service & Operations Leaders
- Revenue
- Gross margin
- Technician headcount
- Service agreement growth
- Callback reduction
- Customer retention
- Productivity improvements
Executives & General Managers
- Revenue growth
- EBITDA/profitability
- Headcount
- Market expansion
- Acquisitions
- Operational improvements
- Team development
Don’t underestimate the power of numbers. They turn general responsibilities into evidence of performance.
5. Don’t Ignore Your LinkedIn Profile
Your LinkedIn profile should support the professional story you’re telling on your resume.
Make sure your profile accurately reflects:
- Your current position
- Your previous experience
- Your technical specialties
- Your industry expertise
- Your geographic experience
- Your leadership experience
- Your major accomplishments
For BAS professionals, specific technologies matter.
Don’t simply say “Building Automation.”
If applicable, identify your experience with technologies such as Niagara, Johnson Controls, Distech, Automated Logic, Siemens, Honeywell, KMC, AutoCAD, Visio, DDC, commissioning, and controls programming.
Likewise, an HVAC sales professional should clearly communicate whether their background involves service, replacement, retrofit, equipment, construction, design-build, plan-and-spec, or owner-direct sales.
Specificity helps employers understand where your experience fits.
6. Use Your Network Before You Need It
Some of the best career opportunities never make it to a public job board.
That’s particularly true in specialized industries such as HVAC and building automation, where reputation and relationships can carry significant weight.
Stay connected with:
- Former coworkers
- Customers
- Vendors
- Manufacturers
- Contractors
- Engineers
- Subcontractors
- Industry peers
- Former managers
- Industry recruiters
Networking shouldn’t only happen when you’re looking for a job.
Maintaining relationships when you’re happy in your current position makes it much easier to have productive conversations when you’re eventually ready for your next move.
7. Prepare Your Career Story Before the Interview
Experienced HVAC and BAS professionals often have impressive backgrounds but struggle to explain their experience clearly during interviews.
Prepare a concise explanation of:
Where you’ve been → what you’ve accomplished → what you’re looking for next → why you’re interested.
Be ready with examples of times when you:
- Solved a difficult technical problem
- Won an important customer
- Rescued a struggling project
- Improved profitability
- Developed an employee
- Resolved a customer conflict
- Improved an internal process
- Took on additional responsibility
- Led a major project or initiative
Your goal isn’t to memorize answers.
It’s to be prepared to demonstrate how you’ve performed in real-world situations.
8. Focus on Results, Not Just Responsibilities
Employers don’t hire people simply because they have performed certain tasks before.
They hire people because they believe those people can produce results.
This distinction is especially important for experienced professionals.
A BAS project manager shouldn’t just explain that they manage projects. Explain how you’ve managed complicated projects, protected margins, solved problems, and maintained customer relationships.
A service manager shouldn’t simply explain that they oversee technicians. Explain how you’ve improved service operations, increased revenue, reduced callbacks, or developed a stronger team.
Your responsibilities explain what you were hired to do.
Your accomplishments explain why an employer should hire you again.
9. Continue Developing Your Skills
A strategic job search doesn’t begin when you submit your first application.
It starts months or even years earlier by continually increasing your value.
Consider what skills will make you more marketable in the future.
For BAS professionals, that might mean learning another controls platform, strengthening networking knowledge, or developing programming and engineering capabilities.
For sales professionals, it could mean improving business development, financial, or leadership skills.
For project managers, it might mean developing stronger estimating, contract, scheduling, or financial-management capabilities.
For executives, it could mean strengthening strategic planning, M&A, financial, or organizational leadership skills.
The strongest candidates don’t wait until they need a new job to become more qualified.
10. Be Strategic About Recruiters
A specialized recruiter can provide insight that isn’t always available through an online job search.
For HVAC and building automation professionals, an industry-focused recruiter may know about opportunities that aren’t publicly advertised and can provide additional context about a company’s leadership, culture, compensation structure, project backlog, or growth plans.
That doesn’t mean you should work with every recruiter who contacts you.
Look for someone who understands your industry and can explain why an opportunity makes sense for your specific background and career goals.
A good recruiter should be helping you evaluate the opportunity—not simply encouraging you to take the job.
11. Don’t Make Compensation Your Only Measure
Compensation is important, but it’s only one part of a career decision.
A position offering more money isn’t necessarily a better opportunity if it comes with:
- Poor leadership
- Limited advancement
- Excessive travel
- Unstable workload
- Weak project backlog
- Poor company culture
- Little autonomy
- No development opportunities
Conversely, a position with a modest initial increase could potentially provide significantly more long-term career growth.
Consider the total career opportunity, not just the starting salary.
12. Don’t Wait Until You’re Unhappy to Think About Your Career
One of the biggest misconceptions about job searching is that you need to be unhappy with your current employer before considering what’s next.
You don’t.
You can be successful, well-compensated, respected, and genuinely happy with your current company while still being aware of what’s happening in the market.
Maintaining relationships, keeping your LinkedIn profile current, developing new skills, and understanding your market value doesn’t mean you’re planning to leave.
It means you’re taking ownership of your career.
13. Be Patient and Selective
A strategic job search isn’t necessarily a fast job search.
The goal isn’t to get the first offer.
It’s to identify an opportunity that makes sense.
For experienced HVAC and BAS professionals, the right move may take time because you’re evaluating more than just a job description.
You’re evaluating a company, leadership team, customers, projects, compensation, responsibilities, culture, and your potential future there.
Don’t allow the pressure to make a move quickly to cause you to overlook important factors.
The Best Career Move Is the One That Fits Your Long-Term Goals
A strategic job search isn’t about sending out hundreds of applications.
It’s about knowing what you want, understanding your value, identifying the right organizations, leveraging your professional network, communicating your accomplishments, and carefully evaluating opportunities.
For HVAC and building automation professionals, this approach can be particularly valuable because experience and industry relationships matter.
Whether you’re a BAS technician, sales professional, project manager, engineer, service leader, construction operations professional, or executive, your next career move should be more than simply another job.
It should be a step toward the career you ultimately want to build.
Source & Attribution
• Forbes — “Strategies For Job Seekers: Best Practices For A Strategic Job Hunt”