Encourage your grandkids to learn a trade
It can be difficult to accept that so many young people today are not seeking out trade apprenticeships or traineeships. There are certainly more options for our children and grandchildren these days, but in my opinion, the importance of being able to call a skilled plumber, mechanic, or electrician in times of need will never be diminished.
Hundreds of different trade types are required to keep our society functioning. However, there appears to be a problem with how our current generation perceives tradespeople and the manual labour, early mornings, and hard work that comes with it.
It’s not as if there aren’t enough government-sponsored or private trade training facilities or apprenticeship programmes being advertised online. It’s perplexing to hear business owners and managers on the radio complaining about how difficult it is to fill vacant apprenticeship and traineeship positions. Particularly since some of them will lead to very high-paying jobs. I’m not sure if it’s a general aversion to getting their hands dirty or a refusal to commit to the years needed to complete an apprenticeship programme. Is it possible that our children and grandchildren now consider doing trade work to be the least desirable career path? Are they paying too much attention to social media influencers who have no idea what they’re talking about?
The availability of Apprenticeships & Pre-Apprenticeships
The good news for today’s youth is that even if you can’t find work as an apprentice in the trade you want to learn right away, there are other options. Pre-apprenticeship programmes are available at the majority of Technical and Further Education institutions. Participants can expect to spend up to 500 hours learning 20 to 30 modules that will introduce them to the fundamental skills and knowledge. These are known as certificate 2 courses, and they will apply for a Certificate 3 course once they have secured an apprenticeship traineeship.
Depending on the learning institution and the trade they are learning, they should be able to receive recognition of prior learning for any modules that apply to the next programme they enrol in if they decide after completing one pre-apprenticeship course that it is not what they are looking for and wish to try something else.
Our kids and grandkids might need more encouragement.
I strongly believe it comes down to our children and grandchildren occasionally needing a push in the right direction. The truth is that they are likely unaware of how diverse some trades can be and what opportunities may arise later as a result of learning a specific trade. It is also likely that they would not understand the value that our society places on certain types of skilled tradespeople.
Ideally the transition from completing school to starting an apprenticeship or pre-apprenticeship should be swift. They are still in learning mode and at this point and are in the habit of doing study and it would be a shame to waste that.
The growing demand for skilled tradespeople should not be underestimated, and depending on where you live in the world, there could be hundreds, thousands, or even millions of opportunities available to young school leavers right now.
There are dozens of trades that are both in high demand and pay extremely well, including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning technicians, electricians, painters, landscapers, carpenters, plumbers, cabinet makers, concreters, and plumbers.
Maybe businesses can do a better job attracting youngsters?
Employers in the skilled trades must understand how values differ between a 16-17 year old today versus a 16-17 year old 20 years ago. Previously, students about to graduate from high school would learn about apprenticeship opportunities from their schools, parents, or newspapers. However, this is not the primary source of influence for young people about to enter the job market in today’s world.
They look for information on YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and occasionally Facebook, particularly YouTube and TikTok. Every day, they will spend hours watching short and long form videos on YouTube. So this is where employers must be; they must create informative videos that are enjoyable to them in order to attract the appropriate amount of interest.
We need to change the way trades are being perceived around the world.
Skilled trade roles provide enormous job
satisfaction through innovation, creation, repair, or improvement of something,
as well as the recognition that comes with doing a good job. A trade can be a long-term career; if they
are good at it, they will always have work (excellent job security). If they decide to branch out on their own,
they can hire their own apprentices and trainees and grow their business into a
very profitable venture.
Carpenter, rigger/scaffolder, plumber, plasterer,
and electrician are critical trades in many towns and cities around the world
and will be in high demand for many years to come. These skills aren’t just needed in the
construction industry, as you might think.
Domestic and industrial maintenance work is just as important to any
town or city as new structure construction.
Tradespeople are sometimes mistakenly undervalued in terms of
intelligence. Many tradespeople will
gain incredible problem-solving abilities, extensive knowledge of sophisticated
systems, diverse technical knowledge, and excellent communication skills.
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