Why Consider a Job in the Trades?
Careers in the trades offer excellent wages, health benefits, and retirement earnings. The average starting wage for an apprentice is $19 per hour. Once you’ve finished your apprenticeship (3-5 years, depending on the trade), you can look forward to much higher wages, with journey workers on average, earning $37 per hour plus full health care and retirement contributions..
Equal Pay
On average, women earn less than men, despite over a hundred years of demands for equal pay for equal work. Women earn 82% of what men earn, and that wage gap widens for women of color, with Black women earning just 62% and Latina women earning 54% of men’s annual earnings. But that wage gap narrows when it comes to construction. Women working in the trades take home, on average, 96% of what men earn. Women in the trades bridge the wage divide more than an in any other field.
Underrepresented, Not Undervalued
Unions and construction companies alike know how important it is to have women working in construction, and are actively looking for women to join their ranks. Yet women make up just 3% of field construction work nationally. It’s not unusual for tradeswomen in Rhode Island to be the only woman on a jobsite, or among a very few women, and that can be challenging, especially for women apprentices first going to work.
““My advice to women starting in the field: know what you’re doing it for. Because as a woman you have to have a certain mind frame and a certain focus… you have to be extremely focused and know what you’re there for. Show up. Do your job. And do it ten times better than anybody else has ever done it.””
A Rewarding Career
Despite the challenges, for so many women, working as a skill trades person is a rewarding career path.
““I’ve always been a hand-ons type of person. I’ve always wanted to be a thinker. I always wanted things to be different, to challenge me every day. I could never see being a behind a desk, dealing with papers. In the trades, you’re always learning. It’s always something different.
“I like being able to walk into a building or anywhere, and know so much about the process. Like even the Pawtucket Bridge, when I ride by it. I was there from the first footing going in to the groundbreaking at the end. So I built that bridge, and when I drive by it, I remember that. The FM Global building, when I go by there, I remember all the fun that we had. And I was in there from the demolition, so when I go back by and see it now I’m able to see the proces of how we built it. And to know that you had a part in it.””
Supporting Women Graduates
At Building Futures, we’re putting best practices from around the country to work. We know that women working in nontraditional fields need spaces to connect with one another to avoid burnout and to stay working in the field. We also know that it takes extra effort to encourage more women to consider the trades as a career path, women need to be able to see themselves succeeding. Our female graduates meet regularly, taking time from their schedules to support one another as apprentices and journeyworkers and to share their experience with women considering a career in the trades. If you’d like more information about how to build a career in the trades, Contact Us.
Contact Us
Build Your Future with Us
Apprentices in the building trades learn skills that lead to rewarding careers- and get paid well to do it. At Building Futures we help qualified candidates get the training, support, and certifications necessary to begin a career as an apprentice in the building construction trades on large-scale project like highways, bridges, schools, and commercial projects.
Our graduates who go on to pursue an apprenticeship earn money while they learn a trade and they enjoy great pay, full benefits, a pension and paid education and training.
If a career in construction is the right fit for you, you’ll have far more than a “job.” You’ll have a career that will support a family, fill you with pride, and take you higher than you ever dreamed.
We Are Actively Seeking Women
Women who work in the trades earn great pay and benefits while enjoying a rewarding career transforming our cities and towns. Learn more about how women are building their careers in the trades.
Certifications
At Building Futures you’ll earn:
Aerial Lift Certification;
Adult CPR, AED, and First Aid Certifications;
OSHA 10;
Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3) and,
RI State Apprenticeship Council Certification.
Building Futures is the only construction pre-apprenticeship program that is certified by the State of Rhode Island.
If you choose to take our optional welding course you’ll be able to add American Welding Society Certifications to your accomplishments.
Throughout the 5-week training, you’ll also get hands-on training, technical instruction, academic tutoring including support in preparing for your apprentice exam if necessary, emergency and supportive services, career counseling, and more.
How do I get started?
We have updated our application process to protect interested applicants and their families during COVID-19. Learn more here.
Individualized services to help overcome employment barriers
Evaluation of participants’ employment readiness and whether their interests, goals and skills are a good match for the commercial construction industry
Hands-on basic construction training to prepare you for quality, registered apprenticeship in one of more than a dozen different skilled trades
Support in entering and succeeding in apprenticeships
We help build careers.
Participation in Building Futures is a long term investment in your career. Building Futures is not a job agency. We help women and men build the foundation for a career in construction that starts in a first year apprenticeship. Apprentices learn while they earn working on a construction site. Your construction employment starts when you successfully enroll as an apprentice.