The sign industry has a workforce problem, and it’s not a secret. Recent industry data puts a number on what most shop owners already feel day to day: 42% of sign companies now cite labor shortages as their single biggest operational challenge, and the pipeline of people entering the trade — sign fabrication, installation, and design — is thinner than it’s ever been. There’s no formal degree path into sign fabrication the way there is for, say, electrical or plumbing trades, which means most of the workforce has historically come in through apprenticeship, on-the-job training, or sheer curiosity about how things are built.

That’s a real problem for an industry that depends on hands-on craft: reading a fabrication drawing, running a CNC router, wiring a channel letter correctly, or safely installing a sign forty feet up on a commercial building isn’t something you learn from a video — it’s learned on the shop floor, over time, from people who already know how.

We’re not waiting around for that pipeline to fix itself. We’re actively hiring for our shop and install team here at Innovative Sign Systems — Sign Installer and Shop Technician roles, with real room to grow into more specialized fabrication and electrical sign work. You don’t need a sign background to start; you need to be mechanically inclined, comfortable with hands-on work, reliable, and willing to learn a trade that’s more interesting — and more in-demand — than people realize.

If you’ve ever driven past a commercial sign install crew and wondered what that job actually involves, or you know someone who’s good with their hands and looking for a trade with real growth potential, this is worth a conversation.

We’re hiring. See our current openings or reach out directly if you know someone who’d be a fit.