What trades do you offer?

Every trade. Same way in.

Trade Smart College is approved to place students across Ontario’s 144 designated trades. Every one of them starts the same way: a company has to trust you before it takes you on.

You spend eight weeks in class on the technical and professional foundations companies hire for. Pass, and we’re committed to finding you a paid internship. The company interviews you and decides.

Book a conversation Start Trades Match

The way in

One route, three sectors

Eight weeks of class lead to one gate. From it, routes fan out to the trades of three sectors: construction, industrial and motive power.

  • Eight weeks in class: the same foundations for every trade
  • Pass, and we’re committed to finding you a paid internship
Have a trade in mind?

Many trades. One starting line.

We work across three trade sectors: construction, industrial and motive power. Every trade in them has its own path, and most of what you’ll read about the trades starts once you’re already on one. We start before that, at the starting line they all share, and build the tools companies told us people need to succeed.

  • 42 trades

    Construction

    Building homes, sites and roads, and fitting them with power, plumbing, heating and cooling.

    Plumber, Electrician, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Systems Mechanic (HVAC), General Carpenter and 37 more.

  • 47 trades

    Industrial

    Making and fixing the machines, tools and metalwork that plants and factories run on.

    Welder, Industrial Mechanic Millwright, General Machinist, Tool and Die Maker and 43 more.

  • 20 trades

    Motive power

    Keeping cars, trucks and heavy equipment running, from the engine to the body.

    Automotive Service Technician, Truck and Coach Technician, Heavy Duty Equipment Technician, Auto Body Repairer and 16 more.

The trades and their sectors are Ontario’s, and Skilled Trades Ontario sets the standards for each. Many are also Red Seal trades, held to one national standard across Canada.

The way in

Who decides
The company, at every step. It chooses who it interviews, who it takes on and who it sponsors as an apprentice. No school can promise you an apprenticeship or a licence, and we don’t.
What it looks for
Someone it can trust: the same eight things every trades company weighs, from safety and punctuality to communication and teamwork.
Where we come in
Eight weeks of those foundations, scored every week. Pass, and we’re committed to finding you a paid internship: six months where a company sees how you work.

Not sure which trade yet? That’s where most people start. Trades Match shows you the role you’d play on any crew.

Start Trades Match
The route

Most people start with the trade.

Pick one, train for it, then look for a company and hope it takes you on. We start where every company starts: with how you work. The trade comes third.

The usual route

  1. The trade First Pick a trade Often one of the few you can name, before you’ve worked in any.
  2. Then Train for that trade In a trade school or a pre-apprenticeship program.
  3. Then Find a company And hope it takes you on.

The Trade Smart route

  1. 8 weeks Learn how to work In class: the technical and professional foundations every trade is built on, scored every week. Not everyone passes.
  2. 6 months Earn a paid internship Pass, and we’re committed to finding you one. The company interviews you and decides.
  3. The trade Then Your trade Chosen from the inside, with a company that has seen your work.
Why it works

How trades careers actually work.

Most people starting out are never taught the hidden curriculum of trades careers. How do you actually get into a trade, earn an apprenticeship, obtain a Red Seal, or become a Master? If you don’t understand the reality beneath these titles, you’ll never reach your goals. Here’s what you need to know, in five steps.

Step 01 of 05

Become trustworthy.

Companies do not hire, keep or promote people unless they trust them. If you can’t be trusted, apprenticeships and Red Seals will not happen. Technical skills can be taught in weeks. Trust takes longer, and is the basis for every decision a company makes about someone. Whether you can build trust decides how your career will go. It happens on five levels:

The five levels of trust

  1. Level 1 Trusted with the basics You show up early, with a great attitude, work safely, and keep your word. Everyone starts here.
  2. Level 2 Trusted on a crew People stop checking your work as often, and the crew counts on you.
  3. Level 3 Trusted with your own work You’re handed a task and left to run it, start to finish.
  4. Level 4 Trusted with other people’s work You lead a crew, a site, or a project.
  5. Level 5 Trusted with customer outcomes You’re who the company puts in front of the customer.

Nobody skips a level, and nobody moves up without justification. You move up on your record.

Step 02 of 05

Trust is built from eight things.

Companies weigh the same eight things in every trade: safety, punctuality, tools and measurement, urgency, ownership, attitude, communication, and teamwork. Most of them have nothing to do with tools. That’s why so many people starting out work hard on the wrong thing, and why the people who get trusted early often aren’t the most skilled in the room.

PREPARED.

  1. 1 Safety and Hazard Awareness TECHNICAL
  2. 2 Tool and Measurement Competence TECHNICAL

FOCUSED.

  1. 3 Sense of Urgency PROFESSIONAL
  2. 4 Sense of Ownership PROFESSIONAL

RELIABLE.

  1. 5 Punctuality, Attendance, Organization PROFESSIONAL
  2. 6 Professional Communication PROFESSIONAL
  3. 7 Exemplary Attitude PROFESSIONAL
  4. 8 Teamwork PROFESSIONAL
Step 03 of 05

The trade comes third.

Ontario recognizes 144 skilled trades. Most people can name five, so they choose from five. But how you work is the basis of every one of them. If your employer doesn’t trust you, deciding you want to be a plumber or electrician is irrelevant because you won’t get the opportunity. Learn how to work first, and learn about the opportunities across all of the trades. Then picking a specific trade becomes more sensible.

Step 04 of 05

The more trust you build, the more opportunities you get.

When you start with trust, you get more opportunities. Each time you succeed, you add facts to your record, and that record becomes the starting point for the next, better opportunity. That’s how a career compounds, and it’s why the foundation of trust matters more than people think.

Step 05 of 05

Facts over feelings.

At work, how something felt and what actually happened are two different things, and only one of them counts. Every decision about someone, whether they move up, stay where they are, move back, or are let go, is made on facts. Who showed up, who took ownership, and who stayed till the job was done. Good companies run on results, not emotions. Most people starting out blur the two. So the ones who get trusted and promoted are the people who stick to the facts.

After the five

Where Trade Smart fits

Trade Smart College is built on these five principles, and calls the whole system the Career Code. The eight weeks in the classroom build the foundation: you learn how the system works, and the same eight things are measured every week from what you actually do. That foundation is what the next one is built on: a paid technical internship with a company partner, for students who earn it. Not every student passes the classroom phase, which is what makes the foundation worth building on.

Come prepared

“We’ll teach you. But come prepared.”

Employers don’t expect you to know their business before you arrive. They expect to teach you their equipment, routines and standards.

But they do want you to bring the basics: working safely, taking direction, showing up on time and eager to earn their trust. Those belong to you. You’ll take them wherever you work, so learning them is an investment in your own career.

That first investment needs to come from you. Before asking a company or union to spend time and money developing your skills, give them a reason to believe you’re worth the effort.

It’s your career. If you expect someone else to make the first investment, don’t be surprised when no one hires you.

Next step

See where you stand.

Trades Match places you inside all five: your crew role, your starting stats, your level and next move, and your first move.

Start Trades Match Book a conversation

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