Construction trades are not just a solid career choice for those who want job satisfaction and opportunities for lifelong learning—they’re the closest thing today’s job market has to guaranteed employment. These industries are facing enormous growth alongside a dwindling labour workforce. If you’re interested in working in fields from construction to mining to electricity, learn what skills you’ll need to succeed and sketch out your blueprint for a career in a high-demand construction trade.
The job outlook
In the last 15 years, construction industry employment has grown by 80 percent, making it one of the leading industries in Canada. The majority of this growth is being seen in three areas:
- Heavy industrial construction, which involves building automotive plants, refineries and oil-sands installations that can take several years to complete.
- Institutional and commercial construction, where stadium, school, hospital and grain elevator building projects allow for long-term career building and advancement.
- Civil engineering construction, in which a tradesperson can work or maintain highways, bridges, dams and sewer lines.
Residential construction is expected to lag behind non-residential growth until at least 2014.
According to a Construction Sector Council (now BuildForce Canada) report, there will be a demand for around 250,000 new workers over the next several years. Of that number, 210,000 will be replacements for retiring workers. This will bring significant opportunities for students interested in the construction trades, says Rosemary Sparks, executive director of BuildForce Canada.
“It’s not going to all happen at once, but over 10 years we’re going to see this sort of loss of skilled workers through the aging demographic,” she says. “It’s going to be a fairly competitive job market and young people will be in demand, so construction is certainly interested in attracting young people to its workforce.”
Construction trades in other sectors
Although people may consider the construction trades to be limited to the construction sector, other industries can be found employing skilled tradespeople—and they’re just as eager for new workers.
“Mining shares a lot of occupations and skill sets with the traditional construction sector,” says Ryan Montpellier, executive director of the Mining Human Resources Council (MiHR).
“Both industries use large equipment and move a lot of earth. Both use the skilled trades for electricians, for millwrights, for the equipment mechanics, for engineers. So there are a lot of commonalities between the two,” he says. “In fact, a lot of the skill sets in one industry can be mobile—an individual can work in more than one sector with these transferable skills.”
Like the construction industry, the mining sector needs more young tradespeople to replace its aging workforce and keep pace with the projected growth.
According to Montpellier, there is $140 billion going into new mining projects that are currently in the permitting or environmental assessment stage. He says that these mines will start construction sometime in the next few years, creating both immediate and future jobs.
However, according to MiHR, the industry could have upwards of 11,650 jobs available for people in the construction trades.
“So [construction] is certainly, in some cases, a competitor to the mining industry,” Montpellier says, “but in many cases, the mining industry and the construction sector and the oil and gas sector are all contributing to increasing and building the labour pool. I think it’s important that these industries … continue to collaborate to attract more people to the sector.”
Another industry busy attracting youth to its construction trades is the electricity sector. It too has an aging workforce—the average retirement age is 57 in an industry with a large number of baby boomers—as well as sizable anticipated growth.
Most of Canada’s electrical infrastructure is between 30 and 50 years old, according to Michelle Branigan, CEO of Electricity Human Resources Canada. This means that more construction workers will be needed to expand, replace and refurbish most of Canada’s electricity infrastructure, from hydro to nuclear plants.
The electricity sector will also need to replace almost half its existing workforce due to both retirements and the new infrastructure build, which will stress the need for more building tradespeople. Construction makes up the largest group of “nonelectrical” occupations required to build the next generation of infrastructure. According to Branigan, the pressure for workers will come from other industries facing very similar issues who will also be competing to attract skilled and experienced workers.
How to Get There
“The mining industry today is not the mining industry of 30 years ago,” says Montpellier, and the statement applies as well to building trades in all sectors. Although there are still some jobs where it’s possible to become a tradesperson with a Grade 8 or 10 education, most employers prefer some form of post-secondary education.
There are many different types of programs available that will lead to construction trades jobs, ranging from 16-week courses in roofing fundamentals, to longer programs like the two-year renovation technician program at Conestoga College.
However, most students choose to complete an apprenticeship, which includes working in the field for 44 weeks, then returning to school for three eight-week blocks of theory.
There is also the option of going to college before entering an apprenticeship. “Post-secondary trade programs at colleges open the door for people to obtain an apprenticeship with an employer,” says Greg White, chair of trades and apprenticeships at Conestoga. “Employers know these folks are coming to them with knowledge and skills about the career and come ‘work ready.’ Very often their post-secondary training will exempt them from portions of ‘trade school.’ ”
After 6,000 to 10,000 hours of paid work experience, completion of on-the-job competencies—having someone in the company confirm in writing that you have proven your abilities—and successfully passing the school portion of the apprenticeship, you are able to write your certificate of qualification.
Each province and territory has its own standards for certifying apprentices, meaning that a qualified journeyman in one province may be unable to work in another. However, the Red Seal program uses national standards that allow the apprentice to work anywhere in Canada. Most construction trades are Red Seal certified, and an apprentice can write the Red Seal exam at the end of the apprenticeship.
White says that students need to be prepared for the new world of trade education.
“The reality of it is, to get involved in any construction field … you would need at least a Grade 12 education, including maths and English or communication skills, because the world is certainly getting to be a lot more of a complex place in terms of the building materials people use, in terms of safety requirements, and in terms of following instructions on new procedures,” he says.
“Unfortunately we’ve gone through an era where trades have been looked upon as a place to put people who are not good at the academics,” he says. “So there’s still this misconception … that if little Johnny’s not good with maths or good academically, then he’s good with his hands. So our biggest stumbling block is the math component.”
Branigan, Sparks and White all consider mathematics to be a key component in an apprentice’s success. Not only does math allow tradespeople to accurately decide how many shingles to order for a roofing project or measure the length of one side, but it also teaches logic and problem-solving skills.
However, skills like math are not the only reason White says education is important. Safety is a major concern that is stressed both on the job and in the classroom.
“The key is to make sure you get home every night with all the appendages that you left with in the morning,” he says, “and I think an education can really ensure that that happens.”
Is a Construction Trade Right for You?
Although skilled trades will be in demand over the next few years, it’s important to consider how you would fit into the world of the construction trades.
“Construction, like every other industry, is not right for everybody,” Sparks says. “You have to decide on the kinds of things that you like and the environment that you want to work in… Doing some research and exploring the opportunities is the way to go.”
One effective way to find out if a trade is right for you is to talk to people working in the trade that interests you. Another way is to participate in a co-op that will expose you to different trades.
Branigan explains that it’s hard to tell if you’ll enjoy a trade until you actually try it. For example, someone might think they want to be a power line technician, she says, “but [then] they go up in a bucket truck for the first time and realize they’re actually afraid of heights. They don’t realize that maybe that’s not the job for them.”
However, others discover that the daily demands of a construction trade are exactly what they’re looking for—and that they’re in for a rewarding career. Not only do most trades command an excellent salary and benefits, but they also allow for advancement and constant discovery.
“Construction techniques continually change, so you’re entering into a field that is not stagnant,” White says. “Lifelong learning will be there; methods of construction will change, safety requirements will change, so that makes it exciting from most of our perspectives.”
There is also the satisfaction of working in a tangible industry. “People in construction will tell you that there’s nothing better than driving by a building that they worked on five or 10 years ago,” says White. “If they’re with their girlfriend, grandson or whatever, then they’ll say, ‘Hey, I helped build that.’ I liken it to the Egyptian tradespeople likely go by the pyramids and say, ‘You know what, my great-great-great-grandfather built that.’ And so I think there’s a lot of satisfaction in everything we do.”
