Skip to main content
My Trade Talent
FREE INDUSTRY RESOURCES

Built for the people who run firms like yours.

Sixty industry-specific resources covering hiring strategy, compensation benchmarks, and trade-specific labor market analysis. All free. All written by people who do this work every day.

Industry Whitepapers

20 industry-specific guides. Real strategy from real placements.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
HVAC AND MECHANICAL
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 18 pages
⏱ 25 min read

Definitive Guide to HVAC & Mechanical

Practical, no-nonsense strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in HVAC & Mechanical. Compensation benchmarks, role-specific recruiting playbooks, and a candid look at what works in this trade.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 18 pages
⏱ 25 min read

Definitive Guide to Commercial Construction

Practical, no-nonsense strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in commercial construction. Compensation benchmarks, role-specific recruiting playbooks, and a candid look at what works in this trade.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
COMMERCIAL ROOFING
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 18 pages
⏱ 25 min read

Definitive Guide to Commercial Roofing

Practical, no-nonsense strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in commercial roofing. Compensation benchmarks, role-specific recruiting playbooks, and a candid look at what works in this trade.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
FIRE PROTECTION
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 18 pages
⏱ 25 min read

Definitive Guide to Fire Protection

Practical, no-nonsense strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in fire protection. Compensation benchmarks, role-specific recruiting playbooks, and a candid look at what works in this trade.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
PAVING AND ASPHALT
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 18 pages
⏱ 25 min read

Definitive Guide to Paving & Asphalt

Practical, no-nonsense strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in paving & asphalt. Compensation benchmarks, role-specific recruiting playbooks, and a candid look at what works in this trade.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
COMMERCIAL LANDSCAPING
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 18 pages
⏱ 25 min read

Definitive Guide to Commercial Landscaping

Practical, no-nonsense strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in commercial landscaping. Compensation benchmarks, role-specific recruiting playbooks, and a candid look at what works in this trade.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
COMMERCIAL ELECTRICAL
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 18 pages
⏱ 25 min read

Definitive Guide to Commercial Electrical

Practical, no-nonsense strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in commercial electrical. Compensation benchmarks, role-specific recruiting playbooks, and a candid look at what works in this trade.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
COMMERCIAL PLUMBING
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 18 pages
⏱ 25 min read

Definitive Guide to Commercial Plumbing

Practical, no-nonsense strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in commercial plumbing. Compensation benchmarks, role-specific recruiting playbooks, and a candid look at what works in this trade.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
COMMERCIAL FLOORING
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 18 pages
⏱ 25 min read

Definitive Guide to Commercial Flooring

Practical, no-nonsense strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in commercial flooring. Compensation benchmarks, role-specific recruiting playbooks, and a candid look at what works in this trade.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
COMMERCIAL PAINTING
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 18 pages
⏱ 25 min read

Definitive Guide to Commercial Painting

Practical, no-nonsense strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in commercial painting. Compensation benchmarks, role-specific recruiting playbooks, and a candid look at what works in this trade.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
COMMERCIAL CLEANING & FM
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 17 pages
⏱ 22 min read

Definitive Guide to Commercial Cleaning & FM

Practical, supervisor-tier strategy for hiring and retaining commercial cleaning and facilities maintenance talent. Compensation benchmarks (incl. CIMS/BOMI premiums), role-specific playbooks, and what actually works in 2026.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
WELDING AND FABRICATION
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 5 pages
⏱ 8 min read

Definitive Guide to Welding & Fabrication

Practical, no-nonsense strategy for attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent in welding and metal fabrication. Certification-verification tactics, role-specific recruiting playbooks, and a candid look at what works in this trade.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
MASONRY AND CONCRETE
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 12 pages
⏱ 18 min read

Definitive Guide to Masonry & Concrete

A focused guide on hiring, vetting, and retaining masons and concrete finishers in a small, referral-driven labor pool. Role-specific recruiting playbooks and a candid look at what works.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
PHYSICAL SECURITY
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 12 pages
⏱ 18 min read

Definitive Guide to Physical Security

A focused guide on hiring, vetting, and retaining security systems installers and integrators — not guard staffing. The 10 roles that matter most and a hiring playbook built around the dual electrical-and-IT skill set this trade actually requires.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
INSULATION
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 12 pages
⏱ 18 min read

Definitive Guide to Insulation Hiring

A focused guide on hiring, vetting, and retaining mechanical insulators, building envelope installers, and specialty technicians in a credential-driven labor pool. Role-specific recruiting playbooks and a candid look at what works.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
COMMERCIAL PEST CONTROL
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 12 pages
⏱ 18 min read

Definitive Guide to Commercial Pest Control

A focused guide on hiring, licensing, and retaining pest control technicians and applicators in a referral-driven, license-gated labor market. Role-specific recruiting playbooks and a candid look at what actually works.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
ELEVATOR MAINTENANCE
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 12 pages
⏱ 18 min read

Definitive Guide to Elevator Maintenance

A focused guide on hiring, licensing-verification, and retaining elevator mechanics and inspectors in a small, credential-gated labor pool. Role-specific recruiting playbooks and a candid look at what works.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
LED AND SOLAR
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 12 pages
⏱ 18 min read

Definitive Guide to LED & Solar

A focused guide on hiring, certifying, and retaining solar installers and LED retrofit electricians in one of the fastest-growing labor pools in the trades. Certification-verification tactics and a candid look at what works.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
COMMERCIAL TRUCKING
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 12 pages
⏱ 18 min read

Definitive Guide to Commercial Trucking

A focused guide on hiring, licensing-verification, and retaining CDL drivers and fleet staff. Role-specific recruiting playbooks and a candid look at what actually works in a licensing-bottlenecked labor market.

INDUSTRY GUIDE
COMMERCIAL IRRIGATION
Definitive Guide to Attracting Top Talent
By Michael Carter, President, My Trade Talent
📄 12 pages
⏱ 18 min read

Definitive Guide to Commercial Irrigation

A focused guide on hiring, vetting, and retaining commercial irrigation technicians, designers, and PMs — including what CIT, CIC, CID, and CLIA credentials actually verify, and a hiring playbook for a market where hiring-intent search outpaces salary research.

2026 SALARY GUIDES

Compensation benchmarks across all 9 U.S. Census Divisions.

Built from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics data, supplemented by our own placement records. The 10 most-recruited positions per industry, with salary ranges by region.

Browse all 60 downloads →

PDF. Updated annually.

Every hire from zero is a tax on your team.

Every week a seat sits open, the rest of your people are covering for it. Every contingency fee you pay is money that didn't go toward growth. There's a better model. Let's build your pipeline.

Call Schedule a Call