From the day you begin your apprenticeship, and all throughout the 3 or 4-year process, you earn a decent income. Even better, you never stop learning!
Apprentices work alongside experienced Journeymen craftsmen and women, people enjoy teaching because they’re proud of what they do and they understand the importance of training the next generation.
At first, the work you are expected to do is pretty simple. But as you gain more and more experience, and as you complete your annual 8-week formal training periods, your responsibilities become increasingly complex…and more financially rewarding!
Apprentices are paid a percentage of the Journeyman hourly wage, plus the same health & welfare and pension benefits as longtime members.
We actively encourage our members to equip themselves with the skills and the knowledge that can take them in any number of career directions that use our trades as a launching pad.
There are so many things you can do in the construction industry when you have experience as a carpenter, a scaffolder or any of the other trades we represent.
Many of our members have built rewarding careers as construction supervisors or coordinators, site superintendents, project managers, estimators, draftspeople, labour relations specialists and other occupations critical to the construction process.
Others have taken advantage of a wide array of educational opportunities beyond their Journeyman and Interprovincial Red Seal training, including programs like NAIT’s 2-year Construction Engineering Technology diploma program and the provincial government’s Achievement in Business Competencies (Blue Seal) program which equips you with skills to manage your own business.
The sky’s the limit!
With solid, ground-level experience in a construction trade and enough on-the-job hours observing the construction process, you may even want to tackle an engineering degree – lots of our Brothers and Sisters have done it before.
More than a few of our members have moved on – and UP! ¬– to become Chief Executive Officers of construction companies, owners of their own construction companies. Lots of them, too, have achieved senior positions in companies that operate all around the globe.
So get started. Go for it!