What is a pre-apprenticeship?

- Pre-Apprenticeships. These help to prepare individuals for the trades. And they come in all shapes and sizes but most are going to incorporate trade math, applied, hands-on learning and career exploration. Because of the career exploration piece pre-apprenticeships are a fantastic resource for people who may not know what trade they'd like to pursue. Many pre-apprenticeships are non-profits which serve particular communities. You might find pre-apprenticeships that serve youth or women or individuals coming from incarceration or the general public. - My name is Anjeanette, I work at Oregon Tradeswomen as an Outreach Coordinator. I work and help folks get into the trades. I'll go to job fairs or schools or to events to let people know about our program which is a pre-apprenticeship program. We do everything from fitness training to carpentry to a field trip so that they could get experiences learning about the different trades and then they have the opportunity to actually pick a trade that lines up with their skills or what they love and we help them get into those trades. Our classes are eight weeks long, three days a week and when you finish the class you get a certificate. - So another thing you can do to improve your application packet and your chances of getting into the program is going through a pre-apprenticeship program. So, again, it depends on your state but lots of different areas have pre-apprenticeship programs that either introduce you to a specific trade or to many trades in general. - So you can come from being a housewife or being a waitress or any of the typical jobs women are finding themselves in these days and basically get into our program and be able to strive. And so the requirements are very basic: we have, you need to have your GED or high school diploma and you need to be able to do the work. Well, we have three days that we have our program going throughout the class. One of those days is a classroom day. In the classroom you can expect to learn construction math, you can learn about the basic atmosphere you'll find in the construction world, you'll talk about your diversity, you'll talk about the culture of construction. The second day we'll be going on a field trip. And so the field trips are basically set up in such a way where you'll go to a training center, you'll get introduced to that work and they will have an activity set up for you to do. And then on the third day you're able to, your whole class will have a work site. And so your work site will go out into the community where a build is set up for them and they will build something or they'll tear things down. And that way you'll get your experience using your tools, using your tape measure, listening to your instructor. I saw a video and I really liked what was said in the video. It was actually said by Bridget. And she said, "The trade is not for everyone "but it is for anyone." And so anyone that has a passion to work with their hands, are okay with working outdoors, that loves to use tools, that likes building, that likes to create. So if I want to convince someone to come into our pre-apprenticeship I can give them the facts. And the facts are, is that our program is eight weeks long, it's three days a week and it's free for you. If you're already looking for a career this is a great path because the trades need women and people of color. I hear it all, I hear people saying that they're too old or they don't know if they can start in a new field at this point in their life. Or I went to college and have my Bachelor's or I have my Master's but I need to do something now. The younger folks, they're really geared towards college. They've always been trained and taught that after high school you go to college and so that's kind of a difficult cycle to break. And so I'm happy to see the program's expanding out into the schools and we're being able to talk to the younger generations and let them know that construction is available. And so that's a really difficult, I think it, it'd be great if we talk, when we talk to the parents and we let the parents know how good the trades are and what a good option and how much college money they could save by going into the trades and take this option. And may make a big shift for folks to be able to understand that the trades are a good alternative to college. Even some of the trades you earn a lot of college credits anyway by finishing their programs. And so I just think it's a good program because you'll still get paid, you could still earn some credits and you also get to master a trade. And those are skills that can't be taken away.