Becoming an Apprentice and Training Tomorrow's Labour Force

16/07/2025 50 min
Becoming an Apprentice and Training Tomorrow's Labour Force

Listen "Becoming an Apprentice and Training Tomorrow's Labour Force"

Episode Synopsis

Training is one of the most crucial elements to consider when selecting the right people to build a project. An unqualified worker installing material or equipment will lead to costly errors or long-term warranty issues. When you have a highly skilled tradesperson you can bet they have the skills and know how to complete the task on-time and on-budget, while providing you with something that will last.

Most people are familiar with the college and university streams of education, but how many know about trades training centres throughout the province. There are over 100 of them, and they are geared towards guiding an apprentice through a full apprenticeship with the goal of achieving their certificate of qualification in their chosen trades. One of the best parts is that they earn while they learn. You won't find that in any university or college. With trades training centres you won't go deep into debt, but you will get a great education and a great job, and you'll be setting yourself up for a really strong retirement.

In this episode of OCS Talks we have Scott Wood, Provincial Training Director of the Ontario Sheet Metal Workers Training Centre and we're examining trades training centres and how they foster an apprentices journey to becoming a highly skilled journeyperson.



Chapters:

0:00 - Intro

03:18 - Becoming an apprentice

08:35 - Earn while you learn

11:48 - Funding model for the training centres

16:23 - Innovation in training

21:30 - High level of education and apprentices

25:00 - Learning styles

29:15 - Sheet metal competition

33:40 - Community outreach

39:00 - A career in the trades43:15 - The value of unions

48:28 - Final remarks
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