Find your place on a crew.
Trades Match shows you how a career in the trades actually builds, and where you stand in it today. It doesn’t pick a trade for you. It shows you how the whole thing works first.
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.
Free. Around 30 questions. About seven minutes. Your answers stay with Trade Smart.
Try the first one
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You'd rather be the one who...
- Does it exactly right, starts Trades Match with this answer saved
- Keeps it moving, starts Trades Match with this answer saved
Both are good answers. Pick one to start.
- Eight quick choices between two good answers
- Twenty short situations about what you’d actually do
- Where you stand your crew role, your starting stats, and your next move
What you’ll take away.
Four parts, on screen and in your inbox, and yours to keep. They stay sealed until you finish.
Trades Match // Your read
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- 01 // Your crew role
Your crew role. One of six: the part you’d naturally play on any crew, in any of the trades.
- 02 // Your starting stats
Your starting stats. Where your instincts sit on the eight things companies decide on, what you already bring, and the one to build first.
- 03 // Your level, and your next move
Your level, and your next move. A trades career builds through five levels of trust. You’ll see the whole ladder, where you start, and what moves you to the next one.
- 04 // Your first move
Your first move. One thing to do this week that starts your answer to the first question every company asks.
Every good crew has a mix.
Your read names yours: the part you’d naturally play on any crew, in any of the trades.
- The Builder, starts Trades Match The one who turns a plan into something standing.
- The Planner, starts Trades Match The one who sets the day up so it goes right.
- The Technician, starts Trades Match The one who gets it exactly right.
- The Collaborator, starts Trades Match The one who makes the crew work better.
- The Troubleshooter, starts Trades Match The one who says the problem out loud while it's still small.
- The Navigator, starts Trades Match The one who can be sent somewhere alone.
Find out which one you are.
Start Trades MatchHow it works.
- About seven minutes Answer around 30 short questions. Situations, choices, and a few about what things cost on a crew. Most have no right answer.
- When you finish Get your read. Your crew role, your starting stats, your level and next move, and your first move, on screen and in your inbox.
- When you’re ready Talk it through. Thirty minutes, on campus or by phone. Bring whoever’s helping you decide. Book a conversation
How a trades career actually builds.
Trades Match is built on five principles of how a career in the trades actually builds. Your read shows where you stand on each.
- Your first priority is to become trustworthy. Companies do not hire, keep or promote people unless they trust them. read it in full on How It Works
- Trust is built from eight things. Companies weigh the same eight in every trade, and most have nothing to do with tools. read it in full on How It Works
- The trade comes third. How you work is the basis of every trade. read it in full on How It Works
- The more trust you build, the more opportunities you get. Each time you succeed, you add facts to your record, and that record becomes the starting point for the next, better opportunity. read it in full on How It Works
- Facts over feelings. At work, how something felt and what actually happened are two different things, and only one of them counts. read it in full on How It Works
144 designated trades, per Skilled Trades Ontario.
Common questions.
Is it a test?
No. Most questions have no right answer, and it isn’t an application. It’s a starting read, so that anything that follows starts from you instead of from scratch.
Do I need to be sure I want the trades at all?
No. Plenty of people take it while they’re still deciding, and the read is useful either way. Principle three is that the trade comes third; so does the decision.
Do I need to know which trade I want?
No. That’s principle three: the trade comes third. Trade Smart College is approved to place students across Ontario’s 144 designated trades. The program is built for people who haven’t picked one.
Why does everyone start at Level 1?
Because a level is earned with facts, and a quiz can’t give you any. Your read shows your instincts, which is where everyone starts building.
Who sees my answers?
Trade Smart’s student success team, so a follow-up conversation starts from your read. Your answers stay inside Trade Smart’s own systems.
What happens after?
You’ll get your read on screen and by email. Then the Trade Smart team will reach out to talk about creating your successful first start and launching point in the skilled trades.
Can I take it again?
Yes. If your answers change, your read changes with them.
I’m a parent. Can I take it for my son or daughter?
It works best answered by the person deciding. Send them the link, and book a parent conversation of your own.
Helping someone decide
Start where every trade starts.
About seven minutes, and your read is yours to keep. Rather talk it through first? Bring whoever’s helping you decide.