Construction/Trades
 

I'm trying to get into the skilled trade as a plumber or an electrician. I have no experience in either trades. Would finding a job with a company as a laborer be easier to get myself a first year apprenticeship, or going to school at BCIT?


TIA

LAbourer. Taking the course will be a waste of money.

^+1
Good luck

Make sure you get indentured and have your hours sent in to the ita before you leave a company.

^+2

Yeah Leon, start as a laborer then apprentice on something, you'll only move up from there. Like I said try welding dude, here in Fort Mac, they get paid top dollars and BARELY work. 12 hour shifts for 14 days sounds amazing bro.

Been looking around, seems like a lot of places want at least your 1st apprenticeship courses done or have some kind of experience as a larborer.

http://ragegenerator.com/images/rage...t-feel-bro.png

having this thought for past few months, with many other trades now. :fuckthatshit:

^ hav you looked around? I want to get out of the security business asap.

^ security guard?

Yep. Dead end job.

Yup, I was just about to post to inform you of that.

If you have no experience in construction then you should start off by finding a position as a basic laborer. Whether it be working for an electrical company, a general contractor, as an insulation helper or anything else you'll acquire the general basic skills and familiarize yourself with the way the industry works. You're competing against many other young guys all gunning for positions with the better paying trades and the majority of them will have at least some construction experience already, so it would be difficult to even get an interview without having some yourself. Even if you have a great cover letter, manage to get an interview on those grounds, do a great job in person and show passion, if the other guy has the same passion and construction experience you know who they'll hire. Hit craigslist and send out 25 emails a day to every construction company that's hiring, before you know it you'll be on your way.

Entering a program at BCIT, Kwantlen, VCC, et cetera and going the school route is a worthwhile consideration, if for no other reason than that it helps you get a foot in the door of the industry.

It doesn't help. Waste of money. What they teach in school vs how the real world works is so different it's sometimes hilarious.

Anyone have any hookups?

Check out craigslist in the trades section, there's usually a bunch of postings for laborers. Once you get onto job sites you can start talking to guys there in the various trades and see what it's like and if they're hiring.

PM me LC21 if you're a hard worker and serious about getting work in the trades. I'm an electrician and our company is so crazy busy we're hiring all sorts of peeps these days. We do mostly high rise work and wood frame construction. But don't bother wasting anyones time if you're lazy, cuz we need hard workers. I don't ming helping out a fellow RS member :D

Looked on craigslist for the past 2 weeks or so, no emails back whatsoever.

J.Bell, pm sent! THANKS!

It sounds like J.Bell might be able to hook you up, but for reference..

When I was hiring construction labourers, warehouse workers and security guards with no construction experience were a dime a dozen. I never even gave any of them an interview, because the guy with construction experience is obviously who I want to hire.

A great cover letter that explains that you're looking to establish a career in the construction industry would be enough to outweigh the lack of experience though.

Exactly.

I deal with this on a weekly basis. Kids dropping off resumes, and only have Save On Foods as their work experience. Theres a big difference between stocking shelves, and packing 80+ lbs of 20m rebar

well since you are in the security business, why not become a security systems technician/installer.

jobs can vary from residential alarms, cctv systems, to high end access control, home automation, home theatres/audio, integration etc

basically anything low voltage/ electronics

BCIT : : Security Systems Technician: Full-time, Certificate of Technical Studies

I was in the program last year april to oct, and i got a job right out of school, even got 2 to 3 offfers towards end of classes.

on a side note, bcit is holding open house tomorrow and sat, maybe you can check out some of there programs

Thanks for the advice! Right now, im just trying to gain some basic construction experience. When i have a feel for it, i'll start looking further into the trade i want to do.