I run a small HVAC-only job board (findhvacjobs.com) and part of maintaining it is reading a lot of listings. Two patterns jumped out after going through about 6,000 active postings that I figured this group might find interesting:
Way more employers bring up your driving record than your EPA card. Makes sense once you think about it — the insurance carrier decides who drives the van, and a bad MVR takes years to fix while a shop can send you to sit the Universal in a weekend. But I didn't expect the gap to be that big.
The "entry-level jobs that secretly require 5 years" thing is mostly a myth. I went looking for it and found hard experience requirements in only about 1 of every 12 apprentice/helper listings.
The board itself leans entry-level (apprentice/helper) since that's who the big boards serve worst. If anyone here hires: curious what would actually make a niche board useful to you versus just posting on Indeed.
And for the techs — what do the big boards get wrong that a trade-specific one should fix?