NORTHERN ALBERTA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NAIT holds largest-ever event to promote skilled trades to youth and underrepresented people

There's a lot of room for growth in the skilled trades. For one thing, there's no shortage of opportunities, with tens of thousands of baby boomers eyeing retirement.

But that growth isn't just about quantity. Almost 93% of tradespeople identify as men - which means there is a large group of underrepresented people to draw from to meet current and growing needs.

While continuing to educate some 7,400 apprentices across 29 registered trades annually, NAIT has also been reaching out directly to that 7%, organizing and hosting events to position the skilled trades as a career option for anyone and everyone. First held in spring 2023, Next in Trades has been the main draw.

"Next in Trades originally was a way for us to connect with communities that we hadn't necessarily connected as well as we could have," says Matthew Lindberg (Plumber '01), dean of NAIT's School of Construction and Building Sciences. "We focused our first events on 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, Indigenous communities and newcomers to Canada."

This Apprenticeship Day, that program continues with its sixth installment - and its largest yet. On Monday, Sept. 23, more than 180 students will arrive at Main Campus from across Edmonton and area high schools for a day of exposure to 19 unique trades and technologies (the broadest offering yet) that they may have previously overlooked as career possibilities.

Looking at Next in Trades alongside initiatives such as Jill of All Trades, a similar day for young women and women-identifying individuals, Lindberg hopes to see the efforts play a role in workforce growth. Just as importantly, however, he hopes they help that workforce grow as diverse as the communities it comes from.

Successes so far

Excluding the September session, Next in Trades has hosted 644 attendees. Throw in Jill of All Trades and the reach grows to a total of 896 young and underrepresented people. Each installment has led to requests from educators and community members for more, says Lindberg.

The events tackle a range of subjects. Among them are the basic logistics of an educational pathway with which many people aren't familiar.

"Apprenticeship is a complex system," says Lindberg. "A lot of folks don't understand how to become an apprentice or to move into a skilled-trades career. So we answer some of those questions."

They also try to show participants what they may expect once they're in that system. Each outreach event features speakers or panels of people who've done what participants may aspire to do; they've faced the challenges, seen success, and have lived experiences to share.

Facilitators also work to dispel myths, one being that apprenticeship is somehow a lesser form of education. "This is an opportunity for us to raise that level of recognition," says Lindberg. "We have our degrees, our diplomas, our certificates, and apprenticeship is just as strong a pathway. We see it as on par with other programming at NAIT."

He's not alone in that perception. Since their start, Next in Trades and Jill of all Trades have attracted a total of 109 volunteers from industry (and another 171 from among NAIT staff).

"Volunteers are coming to every one of the Next in Trades and Jill of all Trades events that we have - in fact, for some of them, we have more volunteers than we actually need," says Lindberg. "So we're queuing them up for future events."

Building the road ahead

Right now, Lindberg doesn't see an end for the series. Another Next in Trades event will follow the one held on Apprenticeship Day; another Jill of all Trades is set for November.

"This is a long-term investment for us," says Lindberg. "When we look at the skilled trades and the projected shortages across the province, we're going to continue to need to promote skilled trades as a viable career path."

In fact, he'd like to see the program expand beyond NAIT. While the current focus is on bringing participants to campus, "I'd love to be able to see us start taking this on the road," says Lindberg. That means bringing the information and conversation into communities that may have challenges sending students to Edmonton.

But he sees the true indicators of progress as two-fold. First, that 93-7 split will shift to exhibit the diversity that Next in Trades and Jill of all Trades are working to promote. Second, the programs are ultimately discontinued.

"It would be wonderful if we didn't need to offer these anymore because there's enough information around apprenticeship and pathways into skilled trades that this becomes a moot point," says Lindberg.

"But, until we see that, we want to continue to advocate for opportunities to connect with individuals and share the great news around skilled trades as a career."