Heavy Equipment Careers Services Include Soft Skills Training

When undertaking a heavy equipment training program it is helpful to have career services provided by the training company. However, there are some career services that are really nothing more than point and shoot offices – they point you at the vacancies and tell you to go and apply. Like ATS, some heavy equipment career services offer a little more. We offer a full range of career services including the most important of them all, soft skills training.

What are soft skills? These are the skills allied to a career. They don’t always help you out in the job itself, but they are essential if you want to land that job. Soft skills training includes teaching people how to put together a decent resume; how to write an effective application; and how to handle oneself when attending an interview. These skills are becoming more important, particularly now that many employers are college trained professionals.

Years ago, the person you applied to for a job as heavy equipment operator was probably either another operator or a former operator. I won’t say they were illiterate, but 20,30 or 40 years ago, having a resume and applying for a heavy equipment operator’s job was unheard of. The typical application back then went something like this:

“So you can drive a bulldozer, can ya?”
“Yep.”
“Okay, get in and show me.”

“That’s good enough for me; when can ya start?”

And that was it. Now, of course, prospective employers want to see proof of training, perhaps certificates or licenses (or both) and probably a couple of references or referees as well. At ATS, our career service can help you put together job applications that can at least help you get to the interview stage. From there, it’s up to you. Having said all that, don’t be surprised if a prospective employer says “Okay, get in and show me what you can do.” Some habits just never die!