Thousands of Windsor residents may be looking for work or considering a new career, but there are thousands of positions in the skilled trades just waiting to be filled.
In a bid to fill those spots, Workforce WindsorEssex and LiUNA! Local 625 have launched "WEexplore Trades", a new project that not only informs would-be employees about the opportunities that exist but also offers an upcoming tour of worksites.
Project Coordinator and Lead Researcher with Workforce WindsorEssex, Tashlyn Teskey admits the skilled trades have a stubborn, but undeserved reputation.
"There's always been this stigma around skilled trades that they're kind of dirty jobs, or it's for the people who didn't do well in school, but that's not true," she explained. "It's for those people who just want to do more hands-on work -- It's very stable employment. It pays very well."
LiUNA! Local 625 is currently running training programs for concrete finishers, and construction craft workers.
She told BlackburnNews.com the Gordie Howe International Bridge project alone is seeking 2,000 workers in the skilled trades. However, skilled trades does not just mean construction work. There is a cornucopia of careers waiting to be explored.
"Beyond those large infrastructure projects, the manufacturing sector alone is looking for thousands of people, but then also the service industry so there's a demand for qualified chefs, cooks, auto service technicians, qualified auto body repair, all of those trades," said Teskey.
Workforce WindsorEssex has released a guide of 26 in demand trades on its website, and on March 5 will take high school students and interested job seekers to worksites to talk to those who work in the skilled trades.
"They are able to go into a manufacturing facility, or into a construction site, or an autobody shop," Teskey said. "Speak with people that are actually doing the work; ask their questions, see how they got interested and what school or education pathway they can follow to get into that position."
The agency is also releasing four videos profiling apprentices and journeypersons workers in the industrial, construction, motor power and service industries.
https://youtu.be/SIoZSKS4mvQ