In the last couple of years, there has been an increase in demand for skilled workers to fill a skilled trade position. A trade job is generally a position that’s pursued by an employee with a specific skill set. Many individuals tend to gain specific skill sets either by schooling or on-the-job training.
One of the trades you can easily land a job in is welding. Although there are several professional welders, they are still not enough. To become a welder, you will need a GED or high school diploma. After completing your GED/high school diploma, you will then need to complete a welding program. Welding programs are usually affordable. Given that welders are generally paid relatively well, choosing to be one would be wise.
Another trade you can easily land a job in is carpentry. Carpenters are some of the most sought-after professionals. In every home, you’re bound to find something that a carpenter can repair or replace. It’s also worth noting that professional carpenters are paid handsomely.
As a result of the high demand, there are various trade jobs up for grabs. This article has all the details that you need to know about trade jobs.
Highest-Paying Trade Jobs
Financial freedom is one of the main reasons people seek education. There are many courses and career paths that you can follow depending on what you study. However, not all these careers guarantee the same returns of investing in education. Trade is one of the best career paths you might follow. Studying a trade places you in a better position to choose jobs in different industries. However, the amount of money you will earn in the job market depends on the institution you work in and your level of education. Enrolling for additional certificate programs as a trade professional increases your chances of being employed or promoted. Promotion to managerial roles in a company means you get paid more than those in lower levels.
What You Learn by Studying Trade
By enrolling in an academic institution to study trade, you will acquire a wide range of skills. These skills will prepare you and place you in a good position for employment. The skills you learn depend on the field you study, especially at a master’s degree level. Here are some of the skills.
- Communication: Trade might be described as the exchange of goods and services for money. There are various forms of trade around the world today that need attention from you as an aspiring professional. To facilitate the exchange process, you need excellent communication skills. Academic institutions that offer training in trade will equip you with the necessary communication skills to survive in the job market. You might also learn how to communicate with people in case of a language barrier when dealing with international trade.
- Record-Keeping: To sustain a business, you need an organized database with all the necessary information about finances. A trade school will equip you with record keeping and organization skills that you might apply in the field. One of the most important things to record in a business is a record of all deals taking place. With the current technological advancement, institutions offer additional skill training on digitizing information securing data systems.
- Financial Management Skills: Any form of trade involves money and other resources. Studying trade will equip you with financial management skills that you can apply while employed. For any trade organization to survive, it needs to have great financial managers who will steer it away from bankruptcy.
Trade Jobs That Pay Well
Many trade-related jobs pay a good amount of money as salaries and wages. However, you should note that high-paying jobs have a lot of responsibilities attached to them. Before you pick up a job, look at the responsibilities attached to it as well as the money being offered. Here are some high paying jobs you might wish to have.
- Business Consultant: Consultants are some of the highly paid professionals in the world. Although it takes a while to become one, you can easily make the amount of money you need while working as a consultant. Business consultants advise clients, individuals, and organizations, on what to do when making critical business decisions. In some cases, consultants create policies and sell them to businesses.
- Managerial Positions in Corporations: The corporate world requires a lot of academic qualifications and work experience to survive. If you get employed in a corporate company as a trade professional, you can advance to managerial levels in your career. In most cases, this is achievable through advancing your education to a master’s or Ph.D. level. These positions require a lot of personal effort as you will have to make critical decisions that directly affect the company you work for. For instance, working as a building inspector means that any mistake could damage the company’s reputation.
- Entrepreneurship: Most billionaires in the world started as entrepreneurs. With skills acquired in trade classes, you can convert ideas into big businesses that will earn you as much money as possible. With these skills, you will unlock the world and create a global market for the product you might be selling. Communication skills acquired in class are critical when pitching ideas and products to potential investors and buyers respectively.
Several other jobs pay well if you have skills in the trade. However, to get these jobs, you need to network with potential employers. To avoid specializing in less marketable areas of trade, you should consult career experts. Doing the right course saves you time and money and makes your time as a student enjoyable.
Trade Jobs that are Most in Demand
Trade is one of the most lucrative careers you can pursue. However, the field of trade is diverse, and you might find it hard to pick the right specialization. If you are studying for a bachelor’s degree, you are likely to cover a little bit of almost all kinds of trade. You specialize in a specific topic or type of trade if you advance to a master’s degree or Ph.D. level.
Although trade professionals are in high demand in the job market, the chances of getting employed depend on your specialization. To secure employment opportunities in the future, you should consult experienced traders on what field to specify in.
Types of Trade You Can Specialize In
While studying trade, here are some areas you might specialize in.
- Domestic Trade: Domestic trade is the exchange of goods and services between parties in the same country. By specializing in domestic trade, you will understand factors affecting the exchange of commodities locally. This allows you to predict potential businesses to invest in, whether working for a company or running your own business.
- International Trade: The exchange of goods and services between individuals in different countries is international trade. Being a professional in international trade means you understand factors that affect trade between countries and continents. This knowledge is essential in formulating trade strategies for multinational corporations.
- FOREX Trading: FOREX trading is related to currencies and their exchange rates. It is an acronym for foreign exchange, which means how the monetary value of different commodities change as they move from one country to another. In most cases, FOREX trading is carried out by banks. However, some private corporations provide platforms where individuals can trade without involving banks.
Most Demanded Trade Jobs
Trade allows you to work in different industries. You can be employed by companies in the health sector, the manufacturing sector, as well as finance. Here are some jobs with a high demand for professionals in the trade.
- Financial Consultancy Jobs: By majoring in a specific field in trade, you become a resource person in that field. Companies need financial advice from qualified experts, both academically and in terms of work experience. Before deciding which items to produce or where to sell produced items, big corporations contact consultants for advice. As a consultant, you have many income-generating opportunities. Other than working for a consultancy firm, you can be an independent consultant. You get paid depending on the contract terms that you come to with your clients, which could be a one-time payment or a percentage of the revenue generated by an idea you created for the client.
- Managerial Jobs in Financial Institutions: Many financial institutions, including banks, have a high demand for experts in trading. These institutions make investments using money from people and institutions then pay back with interests. Therefore, they need individuals who can make practical decisions regarding what trade they should be involved in to generate higher returns at less risk. Financial institutions pay their senior employees a lot of money. If you specialize in areas that involve such institutions, you might as well get a good return on your investment in education.
- Administrative Positions in Non-Governmental Organizations: Non-governmental institutions such as the United Nations have dedicated agencies that handle trade-related matters. By specializing in international trade, you stand a chance of working in such organizations. The organizations have offices all over the world where you could be posted and paid handsomely. However, to work in non-governmental institutions, you must have a splendid record to justify your expertise. Most of these institutions require previous work experience with the government or any other organization of international repute.
- Tutoring and Lecturing: Being an academic resource person is one of the most beneficial things you can attain as a trade expert. Advancing your education to master’s and Ph.D. levels allows you to offer tutoring services at a fee. Most institutions pay highly for tutors and professors since they are highly demanded but very few. Being a tutor doesn’t mean you are confined to an academic institution. You can be a tutor part-time while working a different job to generate more income. If you are a resource person in an educational institution for a long time, you can be promoted into a managerial position.
Getting trade jobs is not as easy as it might seem. To succeed in the job market, you need to put in effort in your studies as well as networking. Networking allows you to create relationships with potential employers and referees for the future.
How To Start A Career In Trades
Are you thinking about pursuing a career in trades? First of all, congratulations for being brave enough to step aside from the social constructs that a college degree is the only way to make a decent living. We’ve had lots of people who’ve opted out of college and gotten into the trades and gone on to have very successful careers.
The best part about a career in trades is that it is very easy to get into one, and more often than not, it can be a hobby converted to a source of living. Also, most of the learning happens while on the job through an apprenticeship. Instead of accruing debts in student loans, you get to make money while still learning.
Requirements for A Career In Trades
Compared to other careers in white-collar jobs, the trades don’t have that many requirements, so it’s easy for anyone looking to pursue a career to achieve their goals. So, what are some of these requirements?
- High School or Equivalency Exam: The majority of the entry level jobs in the trades will require at least a high school diploma or an equivalent. Examples of equivalents include the GED or HiSET exams. You might be able to get a head start by taking a vocational course or even enrolling in a vocational high school. They improve your chances of getting a better-paying entry level job.
- Career School: A career school is an institution that trains students for work in a specific career, for example, construction, repairs, and maintenance, and dental hygiene, among others. Most of these schools aren’t regulated by the government, and they don’t hold any accreditation from Department of Education approved institutions. Students here are less likely to receive financial aid and that any credits earned may not be transferable. However, most of them work closely with employers to ensure students have good job placement opportunities once they have earned the required skills.
- Technical College: These, too, are institutions that prepare students for a particular career. The only difference is students can graduate with a bachelor’s degree or associate degree. Some of them are accredited by the same organizations that accredit ivy league universities.
- Community College: While it may not be a requirement, community college could go a long way in kick-starting your career in trades. In addition to learning the necessary skills, students have the opportunity to transfer to a four-year institution after they’ve earned their associate’s degree. With this, you can broaden your skill set, which makes you more prepared for the job market.
Skilled trades are occupations that require a special skill or ability which can be obtained through specialized training. Most skilled trades require an apprenticeship so that the students learn how to do the job first hand. There are four main categories of skilled trade.
- Construction: This involves all activities related to building houses and other structures. Some of the trades within this category include carpentry, welding, pipefitting, plumbing, gas fitting and so much more.
- Transportation: This particular category covers a wide range of trades all associated with the automotive industry, for example, truck and motor vehicle mechanics. Other occupations include heavy equipment operators, automotive painters, and automotive technicians among others.
- Service: This includes all service providers. People who use their skills and knowledge to help customers satisfy their needs. For example, nurses, aides, orderlies, therapists, hair stylists among others.
- Manufacturing: This category covers the entire manufacturing industry at the primary level, including metal fabricators, glassmakers, blacksmiths, and also industrial mechanics.
There are hundreds of other skilled trades, and it would be impossible to list all of them down. As long as the occupation requires a specific skill and is mainly performed outside the confines of an office, then it can be classified as a skilled trade.
Like any other higher learning institution, a trade school also has a minimum GPA for student acceptance. The difference is that the minimum GPA for trade school is considerably lower than colleges and other higher learning institutions. The generally accepted GPA is 2.0, so anyone with anything above that is clear to pursue a trade career. However, some schools may require a standardized test such as the Career Programs Assessment Test, which measures basic reading, writing, and math skills.
It is worth pointing out that if anyone in the trades career path is looking to advance themselves and get into top management positions, they may be required to further their education, which is where associate’s degrees and bachelor’s degrees come in handy.
Best Trade Schools, Colleges, And Universities
If you’re looking to pursue a career in the trades, then you need to find the best schools. By enrolling in the best schools, you are guaranteed quality training and, consequently, the best opportunities for high-paying entry-level jobs.
For this reason, many high school graduates who want to get into the trades should ensure they do a lot of research before settling for a particular school. Your choice of school could inadvertently decide your career path and affect where you will be in decades to come.
Where to Find the Best Trade Schools
When looking for a trade school, you must use all the resources available to you. The internet has a myriad of information that can be of great help. You can also choose to consult career advisors on the best schools available, depending on your preferred trade. Alternatively, you can also seek advice from people who have been through it and are well established within the industry.
Depending on the trade, certain schools have the resources to offer the best education and training. It would be challenging to find a school that is well suited for all trades, from construction to manufacturing and service. Therefore, you must consider the career you’re looking to venture into when choosing a trade school.
What to Look for In A Trade School
All the top trade schools have a few things in common that make them the best in their respective disciplines. Such things are what you ought to be looking for during your search for a trade school.
- Accreditation: Not all schools are accredited, but there are a few that are, and from the same organizations that accredit the most prominent universities. By going to an accredited school, you have a better chance of getting a well-paying entry-level job. Also, trade school graduates from accredited institutions can transfer their credits to other colleges and further their education to get even more opportunities in the job market.
- Competition for Places: It is typical for the best schools to receive many applications, which is an indication that a lot of people believe in the quality of education offered by that particular school. For example, schools like Harvard and Stanford receive over forty thousand applications every year because they are widely regarded as the best. The same thing applies to trade schools; if a school doesn’t have competition for places, you have to ask why that is so.
- Job Placement Assistance: All the best vocational schools offer job placement assistance to their graduates. They have relationships with employers and can therefore recommend the best students to them. By attending such a school, you have a good chance of landing a job after graduation, meaning there’s more confidence in advancing your career.
- Graduation Rate: The graduation rate is a figure that indicates how many students, out of all those in the program, end up graduating. A high graduation rate indicates a successful staff and school, while a lower one brings a lot into question
How To Select The Best Trade Schools For Your Needs
Now that you know what to look for in the best trade schools, how do you go about choosing the one that’s right for you?
- Narrow Down A List of Favorites: Do your research and find out which schools have the best resources for the trade you’re looking to pursue. After that, you can narrow down the list to about five to ten potential schools based on reputation, accreditation, and other such factors. This way, you can dig even deeper and find out precisely what you need to.
- Ask Plenty of Questions: During your school search, expect to visit different schools. In these visits, ask as many questions as possible. If there is any area where you need clarification, make sure you get it. Questions about job placements graduation rates should be at the top of the list.
- Look at Nature of Facilities & Equipment: Most of the content taught in trade schools involves practice and use of machines. Putting that in mind, a good trade school should have the latest, state of the art machines and equipment for teaching students. This way, students will enhance their skills and have a clear picture of what to expect once they enter the job market.
In a nutshell, anyone looking to pursue criminal justice, construction, psychology, or any other trade career should ensure they choose the best school for them. With the best school, you are guaranteed to broaden your skill set and also have a better chance of getting employed.
In Summary
As noted, there has been a significant increase in demand for specialized employees. If you’d like to be one of the individuals that fill the trade job positions, here’s how you can achieve this goal. The very first step you should follow is to complete your high school diploma, which is vital as most entry-level jobs in the trades will require a high school diploma or equivalent. After completing your high school diploma/GED, you should then join a trade school. Here, you’ll learn all the skills that are required-of-you to excel in your trade-of-choice.
There are several trade schools in the country. However, not all of them offer exceptional programs as they claim. Some precautionary steps will assist you in avoiding joining a trade school that offers below-standard programs. The first step is seeking referrals. Getting references is essential as it saves you a lot of time. After getting the references, you should then look into the suggested schools’ backgrounds while reviewing their past students’ feedback. By doing this, you’ll learn a lot about the recommended schools. Using the information you gather, you can quickly know which of the schools best suits you.
Many people want to know which trades have the highest entry-level wages. Several entry-level jobs are incredibly well-paying, including being a dental hygienist or a boilermaker. Both dental hygienists and boilermakers earn an average of $30 an hour, which is a pretty nice median salary. If neither of those careers is of interest to you, you should consider being a respiratory therapist, elevator mechanic, HVAC technician, or even a diagnostic medical sonographer. As all of the jobs that have been highlighted are well-paying, you should consider making one your job-of-choice.
