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Parsippany, NJ, Oct. 06, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ: LINC), a national leader in specialized technical training for more than 75 years, recently celebrated the 20th graduating class from the Hussmann TechX Center located within Lincoln Tech’s Grand Prairie, TX campus. Lincoln is entering its fourth year partnering with Hussmann, the leading global provider of commercial refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, and is helping the company build its workforce of field technicians at a time when the HVAC industry overall is projecting 385,000 job openings nationwide by 2030*. Since opening the Hussmann TechX training facility in 2018, Lincoln Tech has helped Hussmann hire more than 200 new technicians across the country.
“My career at Hussmann has changed my life,” says Matt Dube, a 2019 TechX graduate. Dube began his training at Lincoln Tech’s East Windsor, CT campus and now works for Hussmann as a Biolife Lead Technician. “I can’t thank Lincoln Tech and TechX enough. I’ve put a lot of hours into advancing myself professionally, and with their support it has really paid off.”
“It has been an exciting time helping one of the industry’s top employers build their workforce while also launching successful careers for dozens of our graduates,” says Scott Shaw, Lincoln Tech’s President and CEO. “We were honored to have been chosen by Hussmann to host the TechX facility in 2018, and all sides have been enjoying the fruits of this partnership since day one.”
The most recent graduating class from the TechX facility was the 20th cohort to complete their training and move on to Hussmann careers. Outlets such as supermarkets, restaurants and pharmacies all depend on Hussmann equipment to keep produce, medications and other perishables safely cooled. So do blood plasma centers, as Dube discovered early in his new career.
“The FDA regulates that plasma must always be kept at minus-38 degrees or colder, otherwise it’s unusable,” he says. “So I spend a good part of my workdays in freezers that are minus-40. For other clients, I may be on a tar roof in the Texas sun working on air conditioning units. The variety of work keeps it interesting.”
Dube recently marked three years working in the field, and has spent the last nine months as Biolife Lead Technician based out of Hussmann’s North Texas branch. Biolife Plasma Services operates eight plasma centers around the Dallas-Fort Worth region, and Dube is consulted on 98% of their service calls. “I take a lot of pride in that,” he says. “In addition to technical skills, the ability to effectively communicate is a must. The Biolife technicians all communicate through me – there can sometimes be as much as $2 million worth of plasma at a site, and we need to make sure no information is ever lost or overlooked among our team members.”
When Lincoln partnered with Hussmann in 2018, a central component was the construction of the TechX training facility in Grand Prairie. At the time, Fred Gentry – Hussmann’s Technician Development Leader – described the possibilities for the partnership as “endless.”
“As we begin to fill our greatest need – bringing young technicians into the field – we’re also looking forward to educating our existing techs and doing more advanced training,” Gentry said. “The possibilities here are literally endless.”
Graduates from Lincoln Tech’s HVAC program at any of its campuses across the country may apply for acceptance into the TechX training program. Trainees accepted into the program bear almost no added expense for the additional training. Hussmann pays tuition and fees, as well as relocation expenses, and provides a pathway-to-work following graduation. Dube says he jumped at the chance for advanced training when he learned about the Hussmann opportunity.
“It was too good to pass up,” he says. “Hussmann offers a guaranteed job up to five years faster than if you didn’t come through TechX. It meant the chance to make more money quickly. If your goal is a career that’s financially rewarding, you can be very successful.”
The Connecticut transplant says he was able to buy a house on a Texas lake thanks to his Lincoln Tech training and Hussmann career, and because of the commitment he put into learning as much as he could, as quickly as he could. His career was taking off at an age when many four-year college graduates are still juggling debt and arduous job searches.
“TechX is an amazing opportunity,” he says. “I love this trade and I take new TechX classes on tours of some of the supermarkets we serve: Costcos, Krogers, Wal-Marts, Sam’s Clubs and more. I want new students to be excited and motivated by the opportunities that are out there for them.”
For Dube and more than 200 graduates like him, Lincoln Tech’s partnership with Hussmann has paid life-changing dividends.
*National figure cited above is based on projected annual job openings which refers to the average annual job openings due to growth and net replacement. This data was compiled from the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, onetonline.org, for the years 2020-2030, onetonline.org., captured on September 26, 2022.
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About Lincoln Educational Services Corporation
Lincoln Educational Services Corporation is a leading provider of diversified career-oriented post-secondary education. Lincoln offers recent high school graduates and working adults career-oriented programs in five principal areas of study: automotive technology, health sciences, skilled trades, information technology, and hospitality services. Lincoln has provided the workforce with skilled technicians since its inception in 1946.
Lincoln currently operates 22 campuses in 14 states under four brands: Lincoln Technical Institute, Lincoln College of Technology, and Euphoria Institute of Beauty Arts and Sciences. Lincoln also operates Lincoln Culinary Institute in the states of Connecticut and Maryland.
For more information, visit lincolntech.edu.
Peter Tahinos Lincoln Educational Services PTahinos@lincolntech.edu