Skilled Trades Blog

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow, The Skilled Trades Academy is working to protect the health and safety of students, faculty and staff. While we have been enacting a series of measure to safeguard student, faculty, and staff wellbeing, we have come to the conclusion that it is essential to temporarily suspend all in-person classes for the time being to protect our community.

On March 8, the Niagara Skilled Trades Academy joins the world in celebrating International Women’s Day. If you know us, you know that this day is very important to us as we recognize the value of female trades workers and encourage young women to pursue opportunities in the gas technician industry. Since World War 2, when women were a critical part of the skilled trades industries, the number of women entering our field has dwindled, but in recent years we are happy to report that the number of female workers in the trades has once again started to rise as more women are embracing the trades as an exciting and rewarding career opportunity!  

The skilled trades industry is an important part of our society and economy — tradespeople touch almost every aspect of our daily lives. They build our homes and our cars. They work in manufacturing, mining, oil and gas. Canada depends on the skilled trades, they keep our country going.

Whether you are just leaving secondary school to pursue the trades or are making a career switch, skilled trades training can be expensive. However, it isn’t impossible. There are skilled trades funding options available specific to trades women to help encourage a more diverse workforce in the skilled trades.

Women are more commonly being recruited into Ontario skilled trades training as the trades workforce continues to become more diverse. By 2020, it is expected that the need for skilled trades labourers will rise to almost 1.8 million workers Canada-wide.

We’ve talked before about why it is important for women to join the trades, but it isn’t just important for the industry, but valuable for the women themselves to join the trades. Many young women overlook the trades because they feel it isn’t a viable option for them, and don’t realize that choosing gas technician training can lead to all of the things they want out of a career. We’ve listed some of the reasons why gas technician training is an attractive option for young women when deciding their career.

The skilled trades in Canada is a predominantly male-dominated field, with only about 5% of trade jobs being performed by women. But here at the Skilled Trades Academies, we strongly believe that we are about to see this number rise dramatically. With current trades people getting closer to retirement age, there is about to be a gap in the workforce, and it would be amazing for that shortage to be filled with women in the trades.

When you’re choosing which school to attend for Gas Technician training, all of the information available about each trades school can be a little overwhelming. If you’re more of a hands-on learner, you may find that it’s easier for you to actually visit the schools rather than reading pamphlets and websites. This can help you get a feel for the school, and determine if this is somewhere you would like to study. There are a number of perks to booking a tour at a career college.

Education fairs and trade shows are unique opportunities that allow people who are interested in a career in the skilled trades an opportunity to connect with schools and potential employers face-to-face. They are great events for anybody looking to learn more about the facilities that teach the skills that they are interested in and explore career options.