Daily Commercial News
In this episode of the Construction Record podcast, Daily Commercial News and Journal of Commerce national managing editor Vince Versace speaks with electrician and Kickass Careers Ambassador Shannon Tymosko.
Tymosko began in the trades in 2018 after completing a co-op program to become a machinist and then entering the YWCA Hamilton Electrical Pre-Apprenticeship program. She has since apprenticed with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 105 and is an ambassador for KickAss Careers, an organization whose mission is to promote careers in the skilled trades to students and those who are underrepresented in the construction industry.
Tymosko explained why it’s important to speak to younger students in order to raise awareness of the opportunities in the trades and the changing nature of an industry where women are finding more positions than ever before.
She also focuses on the problems and challenges facing young people looking to enter the industry including a lack of basic skills at the high school level that hampers some from entering apprenticeships or even conceiving of a career in the trades.
Tymosko also addresses working with KickAss Careers founder Jamie McMillan who has worked as a journeyman ironworker since 2002 and who has been a mentor to Tymosko and other women working in the skilled trades.