W.W. Williams is a sprawling, multi-faceted company serving a variety of industries, all of which require the skills of professional technicians. A lot of them.
The list of the segments of the economy served by the Dublin, Ohio-based firm includes:
- Construction and mining
- Government and the military
- Municipalities
- Hospitals
- Recreational vehicles
- Data centers
- Marine vessels
- Locomotive and rail
- Commercial entities including trucking, power generation and logistics and packaging
It takes some 1,200 W.W. Williams employees at 50 locations in 23 U.S. states and Mexico to meet the product and service needs of the companies in these industry segments. Jennifer Van Arsdale, talent acquisition supervisor for the company, said more than 75% of that number are professional technicians.
She said most managers are currently seeking technicians who can be productive quickly with minimal initial training. Those technicians also generally stay longer, with most turnover due to retirement or dissatisfaction with the work environment rather than pay, according to Van Arsdale.
However, that does not mean newly graduated entry-level technicians shouldn’t consider applying to W.W. Williams. She said hiring depends on the specific needs of the location, with some branches hiring more entry-level trainees for refrigeration and transmission technician roles due to higher demand.
The Southwest is one area where professional technicians are in high demand because of that region’s strong economy.
“We're trying to amp up our business out there just because it is a good market and I think everybody's doing the same thing,” said Van Arsdale. “So everybody's trying to hire technicians now to kind of increase their business. And it's just a tough market because we could come to them and we could offer them $25 and the guy across the street's going to offer $27 and they're going to obviously take the $27.”
Van Arsdale said W.W. Williams has no absolute requirements for the types of certifications they like their technicians to have. However, she said ASE certifications and any certifications from schools are valued and can lead to higher pay. While some positions like Allison transmission repair may prefer specific certifications, they are generally not mandatory.
According to Van Arsdale, W.W. Williams does have in-house trainers who provide field and classroom training. The company also utilizes manufacturers’ programs for specific training, like that provided by Detroit Diesel.
W.W. Williams has a technician career roadmap process with varying levels from apprentice to journeyman, requiring specific skills to advance with increased pay. This is an ongoing process evaluated during yearly reviews to determine training needs. While some technicians start at the apprentice level, others can enter at higher levels based on their skills.
“We have different levels of technicians that go from apprentice up to journeymen, and we have a roadmap laid out where upon hire they would sit and have a discussion with their manager and our trainers to decide what their roadmap is gonna look like for that specific tech,” said Van Arsdale. “So each level of technician within our organization is required to have certain skills, and once they acquire them via on the job training, classroom chain training, whatever training they get, that's when they can move up to the next level. And, obviously as they move up throughout those levels, they get an increase in pay.”
Filling the company’s need for the wide variety of professional technicians for W.W. Williams requires a recruiting team of four people, each one serving a different section of the country.
The company also maintains close working relationships with major colleges like Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan and Ohio Technical College in Cleveland.
You can find W.W. Williams career opportunities here.
