Young people are often asked to choose a career before they have had much chance to discover what fits. Dr. Candy Ho, Chancellor’s Chair at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and an internationally recognized career development scholar, argues that uncertainty can be useful when it keeps us curious and moving forward.

Chapters
00:09 Meet Dr. Candy Ho

01:09 What Origami Taught Candy About Her Career

03:07 Take the Pressure Off Career Planning

04:20 Why a “Wrong” Internship Can Still Be Valuable

06:34 Stop Asking Kids What They Want to Be

08:37 Meaningful Work and Making a Living

10:05 The Wisdom of Indecision

12:15 What Young Workers Bring to the Job

13:19 What Employers Should Teach

15:56 What Work-Integrated Learning Adds

18:25 Who Are Career Influencers?

22:40 Skills for a Green Workforce

24:33 The Skills Awareness Gap

26:38 Careers Were Never a Straight Line

28:58 Would You Rather?

Links

Discovering Careers

An Organisational Guide to Skills for Green Workforce Transformation

Curricula for Change

Dr. Candy Ho at Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Challenge Factory

Canadian Career Development Foundation

Candy Ho on LinkedIn

For too long, the skilled trades have been treated as a fallback. Mike Holmes Jr. and Ian MacFayden want to change that.

The co-founders of Point Load Media and hosts of The Trade Life join Stacey and Jacquie to talk about why young people are still pushed toward university, what it will take to put the trades on equal footing, and just how many career paths can open up once someone learns a trade.

Ian shares his own unlikely path from university and accounting to carpentry and entrepreneurship, while Mike reflects on growing up with one of the most recognizable names in construction and building a professional identity of his own.

They also dig into what employers should expect from young people entering the trades, whether Canada has a shortage of workers or a shortage of skills, and why mentorship and craftsmanship matter as much as recruitment. Plus, Ian introduces Project Network, a professional networking platform built specifically for the skilled trades.

Along the way, they tackle construction’s resistance to new technology, building better homes, a 135-kilometre ultramarathon and, naturally, whether Mike would rather build a house with Ian or spend a month filming television with his dad.

Chapters

00:44 Meet Mike Holmes Jr. and Ian MacFayden

01:40 The Kelly Ripa Construction Question

03:42 Growing Up with the Holmes Name

05:53 What a 135-Kilometre Race Teaches You About Business

08:56 How Mike and Ian Met

10:26 The Birth of Point Load Media

11:33 Life in the Skilled Trades

12:34 Why the Trades Are Still Treated as a Backup Plan

18:03 What Should Come After High School?

19:20 Changing Perceptions of the Skilled Trades

21:11 Where a Career in the Trades Can Lead

24:24 Learning the Business Side of the Trades

25:59 Introducing Project Network

31:15 Building a Network for the Trades

37:26 Making Tradespeople Easier to Find

40:19 What Young People Should Expect on the Job Site

44:26 Worker Shortage or Skills Shortage?

46:47 Building Better, Not Just Building More

49:24 What Would You Ask the Construction Industry?

51:27 Technology and Women in Construction

51:55 Why Construction Resists New Technology

54:46 Would You Rather?

Learn More:

Point Load Media

Project Network

The Trade Life Podcast

Alberta’s collegiate model is giving students an earlier, more hands-on look at career pathways, and helping employers build the skilled workforce they need.

David Pye, Dean of the School of Trades and Technology at Red Deer Polytechnic, joins Stacey and Jacquie to explain how collegiates bring K–12 schools, post-secondary institutions and industry together. They explore how the Central Alberta Collegiate Institute is helping students test-drive the skilled trades, build confidence and move into apprenticeship with a clearer sense of where they want to go.

David also challenges old assumptions about trades careers, explains how apprenticeship credentials can open doors well beyond the jobsite, and shares why giving young people permission to explore, and even fail, can help them find the right path.

Chapters

00:00 What Is a Collegiate?

02:05 Building the Central Alberta Collegiate

03:06 Beyond the High School Shop Class

05:10 Building the Skilled Trades Pipeline

06:49 Bringing Industry into the Classroom

09:47 Changing Parents’ Perceptions of the Trades

12:58 Where a Trades Career Can Lead

14:42 Why David Is Passionate About Trades Education

16:44 From High School to WorldSkills

20:02 What Collegiate Could Mean for Alberta

22:00 Advice to David’s Younger Self

23:14 Would You Rather?

Red Deer Polytechnic

Red Deer Polytechnic Dual Credit programs

Central Alberta Collegiate Institute – RDP overview