Choose Your Trade: 5 Tips for Deciding Which Trade You Want to Pursue

Finding the right trade to pursue is vital for many reasons. However, the most obvious is your personal satisfaction and fulfillment with your role. Trades are often high-intensity jobs, so to avoid burning out, you must find one that suits your aspirations and desires. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of tips for deciding which trade is right for you.

Understand Your Administrative Commitments

If you’re going to be running your own show once qualified, one of the first things you need to do is understand the administrative commitments of the trade you’re considering pursuing. They can vary greatly. For example, workers comp insurance for electricians is very different from the coverage you would need as a mechanic, as the risks you’re dealing with daily are worlds apart.

Think About What Got You Interested in a Trade in the First Place

Many people choose a trade because they’ve seen adults they look up to following such career paths. However, this doesn’t necessarily help you narrow down which industry you want to pursue. An effective way to narrow down your ideal field is to think about the moment (or moments) that made you want to take on a trade in the first place. Find the source of your inspiration, and  you may well find your ideal career trajectory.

Do a Skills Audit on Yourself

Passion is crucial when selecting a career path, but you also need to be realistic. Trades are demanding jobs, and if your skills don’t align with your goals, it will take some serious work for you to get where you want to be.

While everybody needs to complete an apprenticeship in their chosen trade, and nobody knows everything, having natural talents that lend themselves to your chosen trade will be highly beneficial. This is why it’s essential to do an honest skills audit. Once complete, your audit should reveal where your talents lie.

Consider Earning Potential

Depending on where in the world you’re located, you could discover that certain trades are either very lucrative or severely underpaid. Of course, not everything is about money. However, when you’re working a physically demanding job, you’ll probably not have much energy left over for a side hustle or building additional income streams. This means that the income you’ll be able to earn purely from your trade needs to cover the lifestyle you wish to have.

Interview Tradies You Know

One of the easiest ways to find out what life is like in a particular industry is to talk to someone who already works within it. The easiest way to interview tradies is to start with people you know. However, you shouldn’t stop there. A surprising number of people are happy to talk about their careers when asked. Many tradies are passionate about what they do and open to helping newbies.

We suggest asking the same base questions to each person you interview to get a fair comparison. Of course, you should also ask trade-specific questions to get a complete picture.

Building a career is a lifelong pursuit, so you must choose one that suits your wants and needs in life. This is especially true with demanding roles such as trades, as you may not have the time or energy to upskill or re-skill once working. Do your research before selecting your industry, and feel free to try a few different paths before making a final decision. We wish you the best of luck on your path to success.

Jeff Campbell