Who's behind EIAT Prep

A pre-apprenticeship instructor's honest take on getting into the elevator trade — the test, the tool assessment, and the interview that ranks you.

Michael Briglio

Federally Recognized Pre-Apprenticeship Instructor · Licensed Illinois Teacher

What I actually do

I teach a federally recognized pre-apprenticeship program in Chicago, and I’ve helped hundreds of students get accepted into union apprenticeships. My whole job is the part of the trades nobody teaches: the application windows, the aptitude tests, and the interviews that decide who gets a slot and who waits two more years.

My own trade background is electrical — I came up through a union apprenticeship and worked as an IBEW journeyman electrician before becoming a licensed Illinois teacher and moving into pre-apprenticeship instruction full time. Living the union selection process myself, and then coaching hundreds of students through it across trades, is the experience this site is built on.

Why I built EIAT Prep

The elevator trade is the highest-paid construction trade in the country — $106,580 median pay per the Bureau of Labor Statistics — and one of the hardest to get into. Recruitment windows open roughly every two years per area and can close in days. Meanwhile, most prep material out there guesses at the test format or copies folklore from forums.

So this site does two things, and does them honestly: it tells you what’s actually on the EIAT (straight from NEIEP’s official study guide — 35 reading, 35 mechanical, 30 math, 70% to pass), and it emails you when a recruitment window opens so you never miss your shot. And because the test is only a pass/fail gate, it keeps pushing you toward the thing that actually determines your rank: the interview.

What students get from me

The same thing my pre-apprenticeship students get: no invented statistics, no fake urgency, and a clear map of the process — window, test, tool assessment, interview, ranked list. When NEIEP doesn’t publish something (like a time limit for the test), I tell you it’s unpublished instead of making a number up.

Questions, corrections, or a recruitment window I should know about? Email support@eiatprep.com.

Facts on this page trace to primary sources (NEIEP’s official study guide, BLS data) — see sources & methodology. Independent — not affiliated with or endorsed by the IUEC, NEIEP, or any union or testing organization.