Why soft skills and a clear career path are becoming the trades' best recruiting tools

Skilled trades employers are fighting on two fronts at once. There is the talent gap everyone talks about, and underneath it, a quieter shortage of people skills. Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute project that U.S. manufacturing alone could need about 3.8 million new workers between 2024 and 2033, and warn that roughly 1.9 million of those jobs could go unfilled if the skills and applicant gap holds. LinkedIn's 2026 Skills on the Rise report points the same direction: communication and other people skills are among the fastest-growing capabilities employers are hiring for.

So what happens when the technical work is largely standardized, but the human side of the job is the part you cannot script? And how do leaders build teams that can fix the problem and earn the customer's trust while they do it?

That is the question at the center of this episode of Straight Outta Crumpton. Host Greg Crumpton sits down with Josh Zolin, CEO of Windy City Equipment, to talk through Zolin's path from Hollywood stunt work to running a service business, why soft skills have become a real advantage in the trades, and how an honest career roadmap, not a vague promise, changes who you hire and who stays.

From stuntman to CEO

Zolin describes how performing under pressure, where an inch can be the difference between a clean take and a serious injury, carried over to running a service operation. That discipline and precision built credibility with technicians, who tend to respect leaders who have done hard, exacting work themselves.

Soft skills are the job, not an extra

Crumpton and Zolin make the case that customer interaction, clear communication, and everyday leadership often matter as much as turning a wrench. As crews skew younger and customers expect a better experience, the technician who can explain a repair and leave a customer confident is worth as much as the one who can diagnose it fastest.

The roadmap advantage

Zolin's recruiting edge is a visual, leveled career path: the skills at each stage, what is expected, who a new hire shadows, how they progress, and the pay bands attached to each step. It works because it answers the question every recruit is actually asking, which is where am I headed and how do I win here.

Josh Zolin is the CEO of Windy City Equipment, a multi-state commercial foodservice repair company and three-time Inc. 5000 honoree, where he rose from field technician to executive leadership. He is the founder of Blue Is The New White Academy, an online training platform focused on leadership, communication, and business skills for the skilled-trades workforce, and he hosts the podcast Everything They Don't Tell You, where he talks with entrepreneurs and industry leaders about growth, leadership, and building durable companies.