PTC Employer Spotlight: Academy Roofing

The Construction Technology course and the Property Maintenance course at Pickens Technical College prepare students for a job working safely and productively on things that matter to people. When people in the Denver-Aurora area need their roofs redone, for example, they call Academy Roofing, a local company just down the road from Pickens itself.

PTC’s Construction Technology program is headed by Greg Shamburg. He and others at PTC have relationships with many local businesses in the area that regularly hire PTC students. Academy Roofing is always looking for new workers, especially those who have some experience under their belts-an an experience they always get from their instructors at PTC.

Academy Roofing’s Human Resources Manager Robert Ritter participates in PTC’s job fairs to get face-time with potential new recruits. “We always have work,” he says. “I’m trying to hire all the time.” Ritter often finds successful workers at the job fairs PTC puts on. He says that workers from PTC tend to be successful because “they’ve done the hands-on job” for hours before they don the Academy Roofing uniform and got to work on their clients’ houses in the area.

In a job like roofing, which necessitates a degree of trust between the homeowners and the workers in and around that home, Ritter says that “basic human skills” count. “They don’t need a big truck with all kinds of construction tools,” he says because Academy Roofing provides them all the equipment and training they need to be safe on the job site. And safety is another draw for skilled roofers who have cut their teeth at PTC before they enter the workforce.

Aside from some basic abilities to measure and keep numbers in one’s head, Academy Roofing does all the training for new employees, teaching them how to do their jobs safely and efficiently. With the tools to be great, Ritter calls one recent PTC graduate and addition to the Academy Roofing family a “great addition to our staff.”

With opportunities for new roofers at Academy Roofing opening all the time, PTC graduates have an advantage for entry-level positions that can quickly turn into even greater opportunities over time.

Many Pickens students go right to the Construction Technology program for a career with a local company like Academy Roofing after they graduate because of its all-inclusive approach to covering all aspects of construction job sites and how the process works. From blueprint reading to power tool use and safety, students get the skills they need to work for a company like Academy Roofing.

But you don’t need to take Construction Technology to get going at Academy Roofing. Ritter is happy to add hardworking graduates from the Property Maintenance Technician program and even the Heating and Air Conditioning program. These programs require hours of hands-on training and an understanding of how to properly use heavy and sophisticated equipment to get their various jobs done. Ritter and the team at Academy Roofing could always use workers who know how to get various jobs done.