Visit ejco.com or call 519 448 3395 Keep your covers where they belong. Check out our new website at ejco.com or call 800 626 4653 Made in the USA Find out how the STORMSURGE® Access Assembly protects you from missing manhole covers after a major rain event. The_Undergrounder_2018_OSWCA_EJ_Third_Page.indd 2 5/30/2018 4:34:06 PM But, as Pariser puts it, “parents don’t want their kids to have ‘dirty jobs.’ The gold standard is to have your son or daughter go to college or university instead.” Like most stereotypes, this preju- dice is inaccurate and outdated, but persistent. While educators and career counsellors are doing better these days in representing occupations that were once viewed as second best, it’s still hard to eradicate biases that up until recently were held pretty much universally throughout society. That’s why the construction industry is increasingly taking proactive measures to show people making career choices – as they come out of high school, but also those who have decided on a mid- career change – that construction has a lot to offer as a first choice. “Construction today isn’t your old traditional trade where you’re on the shovel or the broom,” says John Mandarino, executive director of the Labourers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Canadian Tri-Fund. “It’s very technology- driven these days, which can be more enticing for millennials. The pay is fantastic and there’s a lot more room for growth. The pioneers who started as simple labourers moved their way up and created a channel for someone to build a career in the construction trades, right up to – if you have the entrepreneurial spirit – being your own owner.” LiUNA’s own training centres, which are co-trusteed with the union’s management partners, employ staff whose mandate is to do outreach at career fairs, in schools and through liaison with community groups, spreading the word about construction as a career choice and building awareness of the huge number of career options it offers. In large part, building that awareness is the prime challenge the construction industry faces. “Someone who’s young will say they want to be a teacher or a doctor,” says RESCON’s Pariser, “not that they want to be a boring machine operator or work a grader on a road crew or be a pipe layer – because they don’t even know those jobs exist. They’re just not familiar with them. So it’s a matter of creating that awareness.” Moreover, in creating that aware- ness, one of the first challenges lies in making people aware of the wide spectrum of opportunities in construction. “It’s a huge spectrum. When people say ‘construction,’ they think, a ‘dirty job,’” agrees Giovanni Cautillo, executive director, Ontario Sewer & Watermain Construction Association (OSWCA). FEATURE – EDUCATION “WHEN PEOPLE SAY ‘CONSTRUCTION,’ THEY THINK, A ‘DIRTY JOB’. THEY DON’T THINK ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY NEEDS ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF, ESTIMATORS, SCHEDULERS, SURVEYORS, DISPATCHERS, ENGINEERS, PROJECT MANAGERS AND ACCOUNTANTS. UNFORTUNATELY, PEOPLE OFTEN HAVE A VERY CLOSED VIEW OF CONSTRUCTION.” UNDERGROUNDER Fall 2018 19