The 32BJ Training Fund offers about 150 different courses at more than 40 locations throughout the Northeast and Florida. Because of our size and scope it can sometimes be difficult for members that are new to the Training Fund to figure out what classes they want to take, where they should take them, and how to register.
Ways to Register
Our registration system lets you search for the course you need in many different ways. If you know the course title or a keyword you can do a search. You can look at our courses by subject, by course length and format, and by location.
Once you find the right course you can login and enroll for that course on the spot. All eligible 32BJ members already have accounts in our system. If you have never logged in before you can learn how to by clicking here.
You can see all the locations where we offer courses by looking at our area maps. Remember that we don’t offer every course we teach at all of our locations. In general, we have Computer and English as a Second Language courses at almost all of our locations. Our Industry and Green classes tend to only be offered in Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens, and New Jersey.
What are Career Tracks?
The 32BJ Training Fund has developed several Career Tracks intended to provide students with the essential tools and mechanical abilities needed to achieve the next level in their career path. Each Career Track is composed of both required and elective courses/seminars developed to give students the fundamental structure necessary to meet the challenges and changes in today’s building service industry. Career Tracks are designed to give students a well-rounded practical and theoretical knowledge of their field. Please note that courses may be taken at any location where they are offered.
When do I Register for Classes and what are Trimesters?
Most students enroll in our classes during our pre-defined request periods which happen before our Fall, Winter, and Spring Trimesters. Our yearly course offerings are divided into three trimesters. Depending on how the calendar looks each year, our Fall trimester generally occurs between September and December, our Winter Trimester goes from January to March, and our Spring trimester closes out the school year from April to June.
To make sure you are requesting courses from us at the right time check our calendar on the home page. This calendar will let you know when we are accepting course requests. These timeframes are known as request periods. By contacting us during these periods you’ll maximize your ability to get into all of the classes you want to take.
Even if these request periods have already happened it doesn’t mean you can’t get into class. We often have many extra spots available in classes. It is not uncommon for members to call the day before the first day of the trimester and still get into all the classes they want to take. Just remember, you need to have an 80% attendance record (see policies) to finish a class. This means we stop members from enrolling in classes late once they have missed too many session to be able to successfully complete it.
Lastly, we offer dozens of one to four day seminars at various locations which start at different times during each Trimester.
What are Prerequisites?
The content of many of the classes we teach assume that a student already has a certain body of knowledge. Because of this, many of our classes require you to have taken other classes to verify that you have that body of knowledge or take placement tests to ensure you are qualified to enroll.
We have two types of prerequisites: Course and Educational. A Course prerequisite means that you have received credit for the course(s) required for enrollment in a given class. For example, you will not be able to take Locksmith II until you have credit for its prerequisite, Locksmith I. Many of our industrial classes have the course prerequisites of Electricity Basics and/or Plumbing Basics, because they require students to have those basic shop skills.
The other type of prerequisite we have is Educational. Many of our classes require a certain level of reading comprehension and mathematical skill. To meet educational prerequisites students have two options. First, they can submit to us a College Transcript, High School Diploma, or GED. Note that these documents must come from an English speaking country.
Second, if you do not have a valid diploma or transcript, we also administer basic math and reading tests to allow members to meet our educational prerequisites. Math and reading placement tests can be taken at anytime at our Manhattan Headquarters or by scheduling an appointment with our site managers at our other locations. These tests have 75 questions and generally take a little more than one hour to complete.
Contact us for more information or to submit documentation
How Does the Lottery Work?
Popular Classes
Some of our popular classes do fill up. Because we want to ensure that everyone has a fair and equal opportunity, we have a registration lottery to determine who gets enrolled into certain classes. This lottery is NOT first come first serve. It doesn’t matter if you are the first or last to request a class as all members will have an equal opportunity to enroll.
How it Works
We hold a request period for a few weeks before each of our three trimesters: Fall, Winter, and Spring. During this request period members can request classes on this website, can come into the office, or give us a call. During this process we will make sure you meet the prerequisites of the class and are qualified to take the courses you are interested in. Once the request period is complete we “run the lottery” in our registration system and equitably enroll members into these classes.
Should I Worry?
No. In a normal trimester the vast majority of our classes never reach the lottery and every member that is qualified to take a class gets enrolled. Courses that do tend to be part of the lottery are our introductory industry courses like Carpentry Basics, Plumbing Basics, and Electricity Basics. Less than 3% of requested courses end up going to the lottery.