From welding to nursing to hairstyling to electronics to agriculture, Saskatchewan is a province with hundreds of employment fields just waiting to welcome young people into the fold.
More than 600 high school students from Prairie South School Division (PSSD) visited the Moose Jaw Exhibition Grounds’ convention centre on May 3 as part of the division’s Try-A-Career Expo. Students checked out booths to learn more about a field, and in most cases, became hands-on with equipment or technology.
“We have about 73 (vendors) in total. So a pretty good mix of trades and health care and insurance (and) military (and) all kinds of people,” said Jeff Feeley, a PSSD career counsellor and event organizer.
“So we try to make a fairly wide variety as much as we can, but knowing that a lot of things are limited by the hands-on aspect,” he continued. “So you can’t do hands-on for a history degree or something like that.”
Almost all employers are looking for workers to fill their jobs since many can’t find anyone, Feeley said. The trades are particularly desperate, while the health-care field “is screaming for people” because of a shortage of bodies.
Many jobs today incorporate technology, but students don’t necessarily need that training beforehand, he added. Instead, many employers are willing to teach them afterward.
PSSD hopes to make the career fair an annual event.
The plumbing and pipefitting industry is in “dire need” of workers because there is a massive amount of work happening in the next five to 10 years, said Mitch Grenier, business agent for Local 179 UA Pipe Trades, which represents sprinkler fitters, refrigerator techs, plumbers, pipe fitters and welders.
There is a shortage of workers because there has been a lull in construction lately, while historically, there is usually a boom of work for a decade before a slowdown occurs, echoed Brad Funk, training director for the Saskatchewan Piping Industry Joint Training Board.
The slowdown is nearly over because major provincial projects are coming — such as new hospitals in several communities, enlargement of potash mines and major upgrades at Regina’s Co-op Refinery — so more apprentices will be needed, he continued.
There are already 260 registered apprentices provincewide, but the industry must double that number to support these projects.
“I’ve never seen it where our industrial sector and our commercial sector have been running full tilt at the same time,” said Grenier. “I’m not gonna lie — it’s making us a bit of a nervous wreck within the office trying to fill the calls with the lack of manpower we have.
“But also, we’re excited that our organization … (has) a lot of stuff going on and it’s all going to happen at the same time.”
One selling feature of this industry is it doesn’t require a ton of education, while wages are “amazing” and there is plenty of work available, he added. The association will also reimburse a worker who acquires training — another ticket — in a related field.
Saskatchewan Polytechnic had a large presence at the event as it showcased many of its courses, including the computer automated systems program.
Instructor Matthew Bespalko gave youths the chance to control vehicle robots as he discussed wireless communications, coding, electronics and how networks operate together.
“The goal behind this is just to understand how the robots work, and then you can modify and change them however you want … to solve whatever problem you need,” he said, pointing out grabbing clamps can be attached and the vehicles can be trained via code to distinguish an object and pick it up.
Courses featuring technology are a “huge” drawing feature for students, especially with where the world is going today, said Chelsey Kostal, student recruitment advisor. Meanwhile, the educational institution has a long waitlist for other programs, such as nursing, dental, health sciences, and engineering.
“The government tells us what is required right now, in this moment, and we put through the courses,” she added.
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