If you are considering a career in the skilled trades, but you have no idea which trade may be right for you – you are not alone. Many people who consider a career in the skilled trades would like to work with their hands, work outside of an office environment, or work to create something. The only problem is that they have difficulty identifying exactly which trade — among over 200 possible trades — would best suit them. So where do you begin?

Valerie Overend is a Red Seal journeyperson carpenter and the Executive Director of Saskatchewan Women in Trades & Technology (Sask WITT). She also works as a WITT facilitator at the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology and represents women on the Board of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum — Forum canadien sur l’apprentissage. Valerie counsels young people, especially girls and women, about careers that might be right for them. She also helps them to discover the many rewarding careers that the skilled trades offer. We asked Valerie to share with us the most important tips she shares with the people she regularly counsels.

Figure out what naturally appeals to you
“I tell people to look at their own strengths, skills and abilities when they’re making their career choices, because that’s how they’re going to find satisfying careers. I work with them to help them listen to their own messages: ‘What is it that you want to do?’, ‘What are you able to do?’, ‘What makes you happy?’, ‘What satisfies you?’ This is where you’ll find ultimate satisfaction.” Although you may be constantly bombarded with well-meaning suggestions from your parents, family members or friends, listen to yourself. In the end, you — not they — will be doing the work, so why not do work that pleases you?

Make three lists
“I ask people to make three lists: What do you really want in a career? What don’t you want? and What’s negotiable? ‘Negotiable’ might be something like ‘where do you want to train?’, ‘in what location?’, ‘are you willing to travel or do you need to stay in the same city?’ And some people say ‘Well, I can travel within the province, but I don’t want to leave the province’. ”

Consider a wide range of trades
Next, log onto the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum — Forum canadien sur l’apprentissage’s one-stop source of apprenticeship information at: www.apprenticetrades.ca. Here you will find an “Information Finder” searchable database with over 6,000 links. It is a catalogue of information about over 200 skilled trades in Canada, all of which have been grouped into approximately 12 categories (depending upon your province/territory). The Information Finder includes information taken from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)’s National Occupational Classification system (NOC). The NOC is a catalogue of information which describes the work involved in over 520 occupations in Canada.

Narrow your choices down to 5 or fewer trades
If you are interested in a career in the trades, the Information Finder helps you to focus specifically on skilled trades occupations. Using the first three drop-down menus of the Information Finder, simply select the province/territory where you wish to work at your skilled trade; then select a trade category; and browse all of the trades related to that category. When you have found a trade that interests you, select it, hit the “Submit” button, and read more information about that trade. Eliminate all of the trade categories or trades that do not interest you. Valerie usually recommends that her clients narrow down their choices to no more than 5 trades. Using your own three lists as a reminder of what is important to you, eliminate the remaining trades that no longer interest you. And don’t stop there.

Observe a trade or take an exploratory trades workshop
“Realistically I don’t think people can make a decision based on written information from a website but I think they can narrow it down in some way…” suggests Valerie. To get a more real-world feel for the trade, spend some time observing a training program at a technical institute or ask tradespeople about their trade. She also thinks it’s a good idea to observe the workplace of a family member or friend who is a tradesperson. “Typically people explore some trades because their neighbors are in that profession and they might want to do it, so I suggest to them to ask them to go and work with them for a day. That helps a lot.”

“I also run exploratory trades and engineering extension classes. They are for all those women who call me and say, ‘I want to go into a trade’. And if I ran them every day of the week I’d tell everyone to take them, but I only do them twice a year. They’re 36 hour exploratory courses, usually 2 nights a week in a machine shop, 2 nights in a welding shop, 2 nights in automotive, 2 nights in carpentry; you get a taste of them all. During those programs I hire different instructors who work in those occupations to work with me, and we take women into the machine shop and we put them on tools and say “here, try this’ or “make this’. If only everybody would do that — guys too — choosing an occupation would be much easier.”

“We have people who sign up for automotive and they may be on a wait list for 2 years, and on the first day of class they come out after waiting and getting their student loans in order, maybe moving to town, and they say ‘I have a headache, there’s fumes in there’. I don’t want people to get into that course without knowing that there are fumes in there. There are so many environmental concerns — maybe noise, maybe lighting — where people have sensitivities. Maybe they’re afraid of fire; well they should not be welding. Afraid of heights; they shouldn’t be a scaffolder. With this exploratory course they’ll find out quickly that this may be another trade to eliminate. Just as quickly, they may find out that they have an affinity for a certain trade.”

Talk to people like you who work in the trade
Furthermore, Valerie has advice for women: “If they’re women, they should talk to women in their trade. If you talk to, say, my colleague Ron about being a Pipefitter, you’re not going to hear what you’d hear if you talked to my friend Rhealene. You’re going to see a difference in gender perception. And then in each community, depending on the dynamics, you’ve got different resources. You want to talk to like-minded people. I give people names of women from Sask WITT because that’s one of the things we do. I’ll say, ‘Yeah, I know a couple machinists’ and I’ll put them in contact. I don’t tell females not to talk to men; I’ll just say to talk to women also”.

Become more assertive
Finally, we asked Valerie whether or not there is anything ‘extra’ that a woman may need to learn or do in order to be able to cope with working in a predominantly male environment? “The most important thing, out of everything, is they have to learn not to take the joking personally. There’s always this edge of teasing. It’s all done in good fun. They all know it; it’s just that for new women that go there, unless someone tells them, they don’t know how to interpret it. The best way to cope is to assume that none of the jabs are personal, they are a normal part of a male work environment.”

Once you finally decide upon the trade that you would like to learn, you will be starting along the path to becoming a fully-qualified tradesperson. You will find an employer to hire you as an apprentice, complete your apprenticeship training period, and pass your certification examinations. And it doesn’t stop there. Certification in your trade can open up doors to a career as a supervisor, manager, or even as an entrepreneur. A world of opportunity awaits you.

Source: http://www.apprenticetrades.ca/en/articles/askingyourself.asp

Apprenticeship training is different from Co-op education in that as an apprentice:

- You will already be employed and work with an employer who agrees to ‘sponsor’ and train you as an apprentice for a specific skilled trade. Once you and your employer agree to this, you and your employer may enter into and sign an apprenticeship agreement which is then registered with the Provincial or Territorial governmental agency that regulates apprenticeship training

- Furthermore, your employer monitors your progress and validates what you have been learning and the amount of hours you spent perfecting your new skill;

- You receive a wage while you work – you earn while you learn.

Generally with Co-op education:

- You are a student who is not yet employed in the industry of your choice

- Your Co-op term is regulated by an educational institution (high school, college or university)

- You may or may not be paid during your Co-op term.

Source: http://www.caf-fca.org/en/faqs/#B3

The Red Seal Program encourages common standards for trades in all the provinces and territories. It is designed to extend the benefits of training across all provinces and territories. As well, it alleviates barriers to labour mobility for workers in the skilled trades. It also reduces the risk of skill shortages by allowing qualified workers to seek work in other provinces/territories.

Benefits of obtaining a Red Seal endorsement:

1) Your trade certification is recognized in other provinces/territories when seeking work elsewhere in Canada.

2) A Red Seal on your journeyperson certificate confirms that you have achieved a nationally recognized level of competency in your trade.

3) It qualifies you to seek work in other provinces and territories.

Sources:

http://www.red-seal.ca/w.2lc.4m.2@-eng.jsp

http://www.apprenticetrades.ca/EN/displayContent/default.asp?userAction=LOADARTICLE&txtArticleID=1024

http://www.apprenticetrades.ca/EN/displayContent/default.asp?userAction=LOADARTICLE8&txtArticleID=1125

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/goc/apprenticeship/grants/redseal.shtml

The Construction Sector:  The construction industry is one of Ontario’s leading employers. It is not just the building of homes, but also schools, hospitals, and office buildings. These trades are crucial in our society.

These jobs take place either outdoors and indoors. Occupations in this area include: brick and stone mason, carpenter, cement mason, construction millwright, drywaller, electrician, glazier, power lineworker, painter and decorator, plumber, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic, roofer, stone mason, sheet metal worker, welder and steam fitter, stone cutter, and terrazzo, tile and marble setter. There are sub-specialties in many areas too – for instance, a welder can learn the more specialized and higher paying skill of underwater welding. All these skilled trades require know-how and expertise. As a member of the skilled trades in construction, you’ll literally be helping our country grow!

The Industrial Sector:  Some of the trades in this sector are out of the mainstream – how about aircraft maintenance engineer? Love working with wood – how about cabinetmaker? Draftsperson? Machinist? Mould Maker? There’s also pump systems installer, tool and die maker, to name a few. The future of industry directly depends on the skilled trades.

The Motive Power Sector:  Canadians are a highly mobile people! Cars, trucks, motorcycles – we not only love them but our society is dependent on them. And one thing that they all have in common – they need to be designed, built, and maintained!

Some of the trades in this sector are auto service technician, auto body repairer, farm equipment mechanic, marine engine technician, motorcycle mechanic, truck and coach technician, and truck trailer service technician.

The Service Sector:  This sector is the most diverse. Here’s a partial list – arborist (cares for trees), baker-patissier, cook, child and youth worker, early childhood educator, information technology support analyst, horticultural technician, hairstylist, and powered lift truck technician.

Come visit Apprenticeship Career Connections 2012 Fair to discover rewarding careers within the skilled trades on March 28, 2012!

What about compensation? Contrary to popular belief, many people in the trades earn above average salaries, says Skills Canada — plus they complete their training without the burden of massive student debt. In fact, the government offers grants of up to $4000 for completing an apprenticeship.

If you’re already skilled in one of these areas, be on the look out for teaching opportunities. Colleges are looking to hire skilled instructors, and more high schools are offering courses in the trades. (Some faculties of education offer training programs for people in the trades, and teaching salaries can include credit for years worked in the field.)

For more information on careers in the trades, see Skills Canada and Careersintrades.ca

Source: Yahoo

It is easy to see that training as an apprentice in the skilled trades is a win-win situation in which you get the benefit of both hands-on learning with an employer as well as classroom learning, with the added bonus of being paid as you learn on the job.

Sources:

http://www.apprenticetrades.ca/EN/displayContent/default.asp?userAction=LOADARTICLE&txtArticleID=1022

http://www.caf-fca.org/en/apprentices/Factsheet_final_Eng.pdf

http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/goc/apprenticeship/index.shtml

Sources: www.skillscanada.ca

This career fair is an integral component for apprenticeship programs that lead to excellent career opportunities and prepare future workers for success. As in previous years, local businesses, employers, high schools, colleges, universities, associations, unions, government services, community assessment agencies, and other organizations are invited to attend this one day event.

This career fair is designed to network everyone with information about careers in the skilled trades. Area high school students, new grads and their parents, new Canadians, workers looking for mobility or career change, those recently downsized or laid-off, the unemployed, the under-employed and those looking to return to the workforce will have the opportunity to explore options for successful employment in the new economic reality in Ontario.