Design Corner: Outdoor and Spa Furniture Worth Mentioning

Photo courtesy of S.E. Design, Toronto, ON, Canada

As a general rule we do not give our support to products, but recently we came across a line of outdoor and spa furniture which is worth mentioning. Designed by Sabrina of S. E. Design the furniture pieces have great detailing and elegant design.

Check out Sabrina’s website at www.sabrinaliving.com

We met Sabrina through our search for women in the skilled trades and, interestingly, she combines training in woodworking and interior design to create her furniture pieces. Her furniture shows that she is excellent at her craft and in addition she wants to help women enter the trades. A great role model for women in the skilled trades.

She has also kindly agreed to contribute an article or two about her experience as a mill worker. So, stay tuned for interesting stories.

Martina Ernst
CEO
Wo-Built Inc
_______________________________________________
S.E. Design's contact information: info@sabrinaliving.com, S.E. Design is located in Toronto, ON, Canada

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Design Corner: Outdoor and Spa Furniture Worth Mentioning
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Interesting Reading: Perceptions of Barriers to Apprenticeship

Accessing and Completing: Apprenticeship Training in Canada
Perceptions of Barriers: A Consultation Report
January 2004
Credit: Canadian Apprenticeship Forum

I just came across an interesting consultation report, published by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum in January 2004 on the 'Perceptions of Barriers' which prevent young people in particular to view the trades as a viable alternative to other careers.

The report states the following barriers:

1. Negative attitudes to apprenticeship and a poor image of trades
2. A lack of information and awareness of apprenticeship
3. Difficulties with unwelcoming workplaces or training environments
4. Costs of apprenticeship to individuals, employers and unions
5. Concerns over the impacts of economic factors on work and apprenticeship continuation
6. Concerns about the lack of resources to support apprenticeship
7. Concerns about apprentices' basic and essential skills
8. Shortcomings of workplace-based and technical training
9. Issues regarding regulations governing apprenticeship
   

The report is fairly long, but if you are interested in encouraging people to go into the trades I recommend it as good background reading. Here is the link to the report.

Accessing and Completing Apprenticeship Training in Canada: Perceptions of Barriers.
Consultation Report 2004.

Martina Ernst
CEO
Wo-Built Inc

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Interesting Reading: Perceptions of Barriers to Apprenticeship
http://wobuilt.blogspot.com/2007/05/interesting-reading-perceptions-of.html

Wo-Built’s First Radio Interview

The Small Business Big Ideas Show is a weekly radio show in that is geared towards helping Small Business Owners.

The show can be heard on Sunday morning at 9 am on Oshawa's Oldies 107.7 FM and 1580 CKDO or on line at WWW.CKDO.CA.
Visit the show's blog at http://small-business-big-ideas-radio-show.blogspot.com/ for the latest news and info.

On Mother’s Day I was interviewed on the Small Business, Big Ideas Show by the creator of the show David Cohen. It was a joint interview with Zack Steel of Careerfinger, a company that helps placing more people in the skilled trades.

We talked about women in the trades and how both Careerfinger and Wo-Built help women and men in the trades. For more information just visit http://www.careerfinger.com/ and http://www.wobuilt.com/.

We also talked about how there is no reason for women to be kept out of the building trades. Modern tools and building materials have made the work a lot easier than before. So you don't have to be strong, big and tall to do the work and anyone who wants to be in a good paying job can be. The trades are a great opportunity for both men and women. For more on the show, look out for the future audio or transcript posting.

And lots of thanks again to David Cohen for having Wo-Built on the Small Business, Big Ideas Show.

Martina Ernst
CEO

Wo-Built Inc

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Wo-Built’s First Radio Interview
http://wobuilt.blogspot.com/2007/05/wo-builts-first-radio-interview.html

Wo-Built's "Your Dream House" Program at a Glance

The Wo-Built's 'Your Dream House' Program at a Glance

This is our new 'Your Dream House' Design and Build Program which starts with a 90-minute 'Your Dream House' Assessment session.

The WO-BUILT 'Your Dream House' Assessment helps you formulate your ideal home and your ideal home renovation and enables you to communicate your visions to your contractor. Created by Wo-Built Inc, the assessment, is an important tool in you achieving your 'Dream House'.

"Wo-Built Inc developed the 'Your Dream House' Assessment to provide home owners with an invaluable tool which will enable optimum understanding of their dream house. By exploring their individuality and their unique problems and situations home owners can really determine what they want and what will suit them ultimately. Communication will be so much more effective between all parties and the results so much more satisfying," says Martina Ernst, CEO of Wo-Built Inc. "The 'Dream House' Assessment will enable home owners to voice their vision so much better than just showing the contractor magazines articles, pictures or design references from home improvement shows. This is seldom effective as the shows and magazines represent someone else’s taste and situation. So the concept is the same, but different and the difference is left to the interpretation of the contractor. Hence, often the results will fall short of expectations and disappointment is possible as everyone envisages similar things differently according to his or her own experience."

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For a 90-minute 'Your Dream House' assessment in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario please contact Wo-Built Inc.

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Are Preconceptions About the Skilled Trades Stopping Women to Become Apprentices?

Image: MS Office

Keywords: construction, industry, occupations, tools, women

I started off this week wanting to write about two topics:

1. Wo-Built’s "Your Dream House" Design and Build Program – our new service package
2. My meeting with the Pre-Apprenticeship Training Institute (Patinstitute for short)

But while I was writing about the Patinstitute and their aspiration to attract more women to their training programs, I started to wonder why so few women think of the trades as a viable alternative.

These are the questions:

"Do we (as a society) have misguided preconceptions about the skilled trades and their suitability for women? Is this the reason why so few women think of the trades as a viable alternative? Or is it just a matter that the training and job opportunities are not known? And regardless of reasons, how can we attract more women to enter the skilled trades?"

I would love to have your opinions on this and I guess the two other articles will have to wait.

Martina Ernst
CEO
Wo-Built Inc

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