How to move from a trades to a management position

Electrician working in the field

Taking time off from your successful skilled trades career to complete a degree isn’t always possible. Juggling upgrading your education with work creates challenges. Do you keep working in your trade or complete your degree? Can you do both? And is it worth it? 

Whether you want to manage a team as an electrical foreman, plan and design industry projects in construction Management, or even start or take over a mechanic shop, you may be closer than you realize to taking that step from skilled trades to a degree. 

One pathway to advancing your career into a management position is the new Bachelor of Business Administrations online program available at Mohawk College. This part-time program recognizes the time you’ve spent working in skilled trades industries as time learning, and is designed to help you build on the experience you’ve gained on the job. 

Completing an apprenticeship takes years of hard work and learning. That learning continues well beyond being an apprentice. The time you’ve spent working in your career as a professional has helped to sharpen your skills and provided you with valuable skilled trade industry experience, and the learning doesn’t have to stop there. The ability to manage a team and start your own business is within reach. 

Knowledge and experience make a strong leader 

There are a lot of skills involved in managing a team, but what makes any of those skills useful is a strong knowledge foundation of your profession. Your work experience in your trade is your most valuable asset when it comes to moving into a management position. 

The Bachelor of Business Administrations program can help you to build on that foundation, providing you with the tools and supplies needed to become a safe and effective leader in your skilled trade industry.  

The planning abilities used and executed every day by skilled tradespeople are the same skills used in management. Instead of measuring twice to make sure you’re following the floor plan, you’ll measure cost codes and make sure the daily report is accurate. 

More than management 

Whether you want to be on site guiding your team as a foreman or sitting at your office desk balancing the budget, your skills can be improved to be flexible and easily transferrable. Your options aren’t restricted to management – you could even be your own boss and set your schedule, too.  

The Bachelor of Business Administrations program courses are designed to help you start managing everything from small-sized teams to large-scale projects, including creating and managing a business of your own.  

You’re already qualified to learn 

The work you’ve done to complete an apprenticeship and the further time you’ve worked as a professional in your career represents a significant amount of time learning skilled trades, and Mohawk College recognizes the value of that time.  

A combination of educational and professional experience as determined by the college may be enough to bypass any certificates or diplomas otherwise required for admission into the program. 

A degree program that works with your schedule 

Skilled trades jobs often demand long hours of hard work, and it can be difficult to find the time or the energy to do anything else. The Bachelor of Business Administrations program is designed to work around your schedule and help to build on your knowledge foundation at the pace that’s best for you. 

Whether you prefer to get your trades degree through online learning, night classes, or need to take it one course at a time, Mohawk College is ready to work with you and do what’s needed for you to succeed. 

The Bachelor of Business Administrations program launches September, 2022. 


The Bachelor of Business Administration (Trades Management) (Honours) degree offers four pre-mapped program pathways to fit your career goals. Select your pathway and apply today!

 

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