Career fair, skills competition in Cape Breton hopes to address need for trades workers

Hundreds of students attended a skilled trades fair in Cape Breton.

Hundreds of students and skilled trades competitors came to the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) Sydney Waterfront Campus on Friday for a hands-on look at potential careers.

“I’d like to run my own business, but currently I work for Lindsay Construction,” said Cordell Robichaud, a carpenter who lives in Porters Lake, N.S.

Already in the workforce at 23 years old, Robichaud is witnessing the need for more young people in his line of work.

“Because, in my field anyway, a lot of the people are older and they’re all going to start retiring,” Robichaud said. “I hope the young people come back into the work field in order so that knowledge doesn’t get lost.”

“Skilled trades was not something that was ever offered to me when I was a young person,” said Beth Hill, an apprenticeship team lead with Irving Shipbuilding.

Hill said while the company does not have a shortage of skilled workers right now, they often are in need of them. To find them, they typically have to put the word out.

“We usually work alongside of NSCC and some community partners to try and make sure that people know about the opportunities for skilled trades and know what kind of careers they can have,” Hill said.

“I think it’s probably well-known to everyone that we are going to have a massive shortage – that we’re in a shortage now,” said Laura King of Skills Canada Nova Scotia, the main organizer of Friday’s skills competition and career showcase.

King said industries are in a time of transition not only locally, but nationally and worldwide.

“We’re coming to a stage where our infrastructure is going to need to be replaced because it was probably built in the 1970s and 60s and so that requires work,” King said. “We’re in a housing shortage… we’re transitioning to EV (electric vehicle) cars.”

Friday’s event drew more than 800 students and 300 competitors from across the region and wrapped up five weeks of competitions and demonstrations held at 39 contest locations across the province.

While it may have been simply a surface-level introduction to the skilled trades, King said the hope is to speed up the process of engaging the next generation and eventually hiring some of them.

“We don’t have as much time to figure out what we want to do anymore, because it’s so needed everywhere,” she said.

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