Laying the bricks on the foundation of career success

Morgan Illsley, a bricklayer with RHI Canada in Burlington, reflects on the measured success of his decision to enter the skilled trades. Click for bigger.

Morgan Illsley has had a lot of jobs in the past decade. Fresh out of school, he was never really sure exactly what he wanted to do. Bouncing around, he worked in places as diverse as McDonalds to a Carpet warehouse. The one constant through all these occupations was a feeling that something was missing - Morgan was not finding a job that fit.

"All I knew was that I wanted to do something different," Morgan says.

That something different turned out to be the skilled trades, as Morgan just happened to find his way into the Bricklayer trade, after hearing from friends that it might be the right fit for his unique skill set. "I was never very good at sitting still, or doing the same things over and over," he says. "A lot of the other jobs I had just drove me crazy. They didn't fit."

Morgan's story is not uncommon, and is shared by a number of people in Ontario and across Canada today. For many, there is no lit path to a satisfying and successful career. The trial-and-error approach to joining the workforce is as frustrating as it is unsatisfying, and though Morgan doesn't regret the path he took to the skilled trades, he does think it's important for young people to know about the benefits of apprenticeship and the skilled trades from an early age.

"I didn't really have anybody telling me what to do and where to go," he says. "I just had to go out and beat the bushes. I went out there and talked to guys involved, got connected to other people, and eventually found myself pointed in the right direction."

Morgan has only been a Bricklayer since December of last year, but already he's found it offering more to him personally than any of the other jobs he had.

"It fits me better," he says of the day-to-day work. "There's a lot of variation. In the past few months alone I've been to Stelco, I've been in kilns, in reheat furnaces - each job is a new kind of work, so you're always learning."

For Morgan, the constant learning is one of the most rewarding parts of the trade. He's thankful that his current employer, RHI Canada - a manufacturing company in Burlington --, has allowed him to not only learn on the jobsite, but also in the classroom at the Ontario Masonry Training Centre (OMTC).

Morgan shows off his apprenticesearch.com T-shirt while on the job. Click for bigger.

"It's up to me to learn. It's very independent," he explains, "but they make sure I get out to school, so I keep getting better."

 It was at the OMTC that Morgan met Tim Norris, who works as an instructor at the Centre. Like most of his friends in the skilled trades, Tim was quick to invite Morgan out to the racetrack, looking for ways to put his skills to work in the pit.

"I can't believe how much I've learned in such a short time," says Morgan, of those transferable skills he's picked up. "It's like every day is a behind-the-scenes factory tour."

Morgan has some simple advice for people considering the skilled trades: "It's not for someone who doesn't like work."

While his experiences have worked for him, the job is demanding, and he emphasizes that you can't make it in the skilled trades without a great deal of hard work and effort. "You'll go home sore at the end of the day," he says, "but it is well worth the investment of your time if you like it."

-Matt Elliott

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