Younger People Entering Skilled Trades

"We're getting a lot of people coming in at 18, 19, 20 years old where for the last 30 years, our average age would have been about 29 or 30," said Rick Adams, VP of HiMark, an occupational skills training centre with various locations across the province.

St. Joe’s student Maxxim Thibault shared his perspective, saying, "It's one of the better things I go into right now instead of going in to start trying to be a doctor where there's not many people that can actually get into it, you know, and then it takes a lot of time to do it."

Students from local Catholic high schools, along with adults, participated in a skilled trades boot camp hosted at St. Anne Academy and Learning Centre by Support Ontario Youth. The event offered hands-on experience in five trades, with participants working on projects as potential employers observed.

"We'll teach people that are interested in the skilled trades, in that particular trade, about all the different aspects of the trades," said boot camp Manager Mike Morrison.

Brandi Ferenc, who entered the trades later in life, served as a mentor and highlighted the value of apprenticeships, saying, "My license, A313A refrigeration mechanic, it's equivalent to a master's degree. I spent 9,000 hours to get my ticket and, you know, we're saying that the apprenticeship pathway is the third and equal pathway [of] post-secondary."

Half of the day focused on essential employability skills, emphasizing traits like integrity, collaboration, and a willingness to learn—qualities employers value. "Most of the employers that do come out, they spend a lot of time in our employability skills workshops because they're seeing participants act and interact, and they're imagining those participants on the job site and going into people's homes,” added Morrison.

Support Ontario Youth holds around 25 of these boot camps annually across the province, helping participants take the first steps toward a skilled trades career.

Read the full article on CTV Windsor to learn more!

The Employment Ontario program is funded in part by the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario.