Most of us know where our gifts lie by the time we get out of high school. Some gentle souls are destined to work helping people with anger management in Montreal. Some are bound for the professional hockey rink or baseball diamond. Some will be doctors, some will be managers, some will be skilled trades people.
The great news in Canada is that all high school graduates have the chance to earn a great living, there is no one path that is vastly superior to any other. You might know that there is no likelihood that an executive recruiter will come knocking at your door, but you do know you have always had an affinity for building, for putting things together. That might be a stronger clue than many people receive at any age; the best way to go for you might be to enter a carpentry program in an apprenticeship role.
Applying for an apprenticeship is actually fairly easy, though in some cases more than others. You can enter the program in almost any technical college or university in two different ways. First, you might have already been working for a carpentry business for a number of years. That's great; you are appealing to the college because they don't have to worry about placing you in a job. You've got a lot of experience building real estate in Toronto or somewhere else, and you can build on those skills as well.
If you haven't had the opportunity to hire on with a company, most apprenticeships programs do start at a foundational level. Here, you register for the basic carpentry courses (experienced apprentices have to do this too). You take the course load, enjoy a few hours listening to celtic music during university lunch hours, then graduate the course. Then the university or college works to find you a job with an established carpentry company to hone your skills.
And from there on out, it's just a matter of learning through book knowledge at the school and on the job training. You get to work full time, so you don't have to put off wedding event rentals in Toronto if you don't want to. You do have to worry about tests and other obstacles, but for the most part if you just pay attention to your boss and during class these will be no problem.
Most apprenticeship programs in colleges last between three and five years. Because carpentry does run into aspects of other trades, the apprenticeship times tend to run a bit on the longer side of trades apprenticeships, four or five years. At the end of your apprenticeship and after successful testing, you can strike out on your own and start learning real skilled trades cash.
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