NAAI - What does it take to "get into" the pipe trades?

Question: What measurable results might one expect to attain ten months after an initiative calling for the following administrative positions?

1.  Apprenticeship Program Coordinator
2.  (2X) Program Operators
3.  (2X) Apprenticeship Support Coaches
4.  Administrative Assistant / Bookkeeper

Answer: A desperate sounding 4X4 classfied ad in the regional newspaper.

Really I don't know the whole story here, but can you not admit it appears as though someone is grasping at straws prior to a major deadline? I looked-up the Northern Alberta Apprenticeship Initiative (NAAI) on Google, and all I could find, apart from a Provincial Government website entry, was a Facebook page entry dated from April of last year. I get the impression that there's a hell of a lot more "programming" going-on than coordinating!

The wording of the classified ad itself is sadly amateurish with it's paragraph-long introductory sentence. Was it written by the bookkeeper? The operator? The coordinator? Maybe one of the coaches? At any rate, it really doesn't reflect well on the overall functionality of this initiative. I wonder if I could find some work writing copy around these parts. 

A brief stint in the oil patch was enough for me to realize from my general observances that the road to becoming a journeyman of whatevertrade is no walk in the park. While you might think it's all downhill after the red seal, the work doesn't get any easier, you're not getting younger, and your performance expectations and responsibilities will generally get tougher.

Imagining myself as an applicant to this program, I might just be thinking, "Fuck this trades shit, I'd rather get into a career path that demands little to no work for a respectable salary.  Why would anyone want to crouch under pipes for hours at a time, scraping at metal, risking their neck, and getting screamed at every time their boss screws-up? All that headache, when they could be inside an air conditioned office surfing the internet all day under the esteemed title of Program Coordinator for a cool $40K - $90K / year?"

Whatever. I have no idea what the pay scale looks like for bureaucratic flunkies running shit like this, but I do know what contractors in the oil and gas industry are primarily looking for in their prospective employees:

• "How would you feel about working weekends?"

• "Do you have a problem working ten hour shifts six days in a row?"

• "Can you pass a drug test?"

• "Are all your safety tickets up to date?"

• "Can you repeatedly lift a hundred pounds over your head?"

• "Do you have a criminal record?"

See? Complimentary, solid advice for "getting-into" the trades. If you have any doubts about being able to meet the above requirements, there's little point to sitting through day after day of "ground school" to learn how to identify obvious hazards, choose the right pair of work boots, and be told not to ogle the only three females on your job site. Unless of course you're being paid to be in class... then it's easy money to simply appear as if you're not sleeping, and who's going to fail an open-book test?

In other words, these are jobs requiring a considerable constitution, dedication, and a committment to succeed... and even then, you shouldn't be surprised to show-up at work one day, only to find your position has  been summarily handed to a fast-tracked temporary foreign worker!

If you're deadly serious about achieving gainful employment as a recognized tradesman or tradeswoman, you've got to show-up and show interest. Don't go against your own grain. If you're clumsy like an absent-minded professor, find technical work uninteresting, or you're just one of those lazy-sort of slacker-types like myself, it's doubtful you'll get any kind of satisfaction in the skilled labour sector. But if you're mechanically inclined and enjoy getting down to the nuts and bolts, the wages are generally well above average. If you think you've got the mustard to git 'er done, get on that phone and don't make yourself scarce!