Top in Trades seeks shining stars

While B.C.’s annual Top in Trades awards were established to celebrate unsung stars in our local trades, they are also a means of highlighting the trades as an exciting and rewarding career choice for students and young adults at a crossroads in their lives.

Don’t under estimate a career in the trades, says Lisa Dooling, Executive Lead, Communications and Marketing with the Industry Training Authority (ITA), the organization that manages B.C.’s apprenticeship programs for the provincial government – and also coordinates the annual Top in Trades awards.

"There are more than 120 apprenticeable trades in B.C. right now," says Dooling. "And you talk to tradespeople and they’ll tell you that because they have that ticket or that skill, they can always find work."

Meanwhile, the Top in Trades team is on the hunt again for B.C.’s best in trades, tradespeople and apprentices who have gone above and beyond in their work or contributions to their communities.

The ITA wants readers like you to recommend someone who’s top in their trade by filling out a nomination form online at www.theprovincecontests.com/topintrades.

Dooling says she is also trying to inspire young people – and their parents – to look at the trades as a gratifying career path with potential for growth, even in these tough economic times.

"Young people, you talk to them and they can travel with their trade, there’s a lot of labour mobility across Canada and also Internationally," she explains, of young B.C. residents she has seen turn to the trades for their livelihoods.

"Some of them like the fact they can find meaningful careers in the towns where they’ve grown up," she adds. "They’re building homes and families in their own hometowns."

Additionally, says Dooling, not everyone is cut out for the purely academic path.

"Though of course, there is a lot of math and science in the trades these days," says Dooling. "But some of the students I’ve spoken with, trades training has made school relevant for them, it made they want to stay in school."

This year, the Top in Trades awards has added three new nomination categories – Environmental Sustainability, Aboriginal Tradesperson and Immigrant Tradesperson, bringing to 14 the total number of categories.

Last year, says Dooling, there were over 200 nominations across 11 categories.

"We get a real mix," explains Dooling. "There’s families, husbands and wives and mothers and fathers and girlfriends and boyfriends nominating someone.