Pursuing a career as an electrician in Canada can be very rewarding because of the passive income and opportunities for growth. It also comes with job security because professional electricians, among other construction service jobs, are in high demand.
Electricians are in charge of the country’s electrical infrastructure, from residential home wiring to large-scale network and internet cable installation.
To work in this field, you’ll need to follow several steps beginning either at age sixteen or when you’ve finished high school. Here’s how to become an electrician in Canada.
- Enroll In A Skills Trade School Training Program
The first step in becoming an electrician is to enroll and complete a training program at an accredited vocational college or trade school. It’s part of the pre-apprenticeship program designed to equip you with the practical skills and theoretical knowledge necessary to be employed in this field and eventually get licensed. Thus, a higher education degree in electrical engineering isn’t required.
Though the requirements and prerequisites differ between provinces, according to the Trades Qualification and Apprenticeship Act in Canada, you’ll need to have completed a minimum grade 10 education. This will adequately prepare and qualify you to join courses from technical institutions such as Skilled Trades College electrical programs. However, to become part of the electrical industry union, you must have completed grade 12 with math, English, and physics as subjects and have a high school diploma to your benefit.
- Complete Your Electrician Apprenticeship
Since being a construction and maintenance electrician is a regulated trade throughout Canada, you must complete an apprenticeship training program and earn a Certificate of Qualification to work in the industry.
Thus, you can apply for an apprenticeship program in your province which generally take about 9000 hours or four to five years to finish. This is the amount of time the trade allocates the 8,160 hours of on-the-job training and simultaneous 840 hours of in-school learning to gain the necessary experience.
Many apprenticeships divide your school hours into four 8-week semesters depending on whether you enroll in full-time or part-time courses. There are also online and night classes available, and some apprenticeship programs allow pre-apprenticeship training to count as hours completed and deduct the time from your classroom training.
Furthermore, since you will be under the guidance of a certified electrician and part of Canada’s labour force, you will earn an income during your apprenticeship. Your progress will be tracked by a log book and signed off by your electrician supervisor.
- Write The Electrician Certification Exam
After successfully completing your electrical apprenticeship and receiving your apprenticeship certificate, you’ll be qualified to sit for the Canadian electrician license exam. Passing these exams is the final step toward becoming a licensed electrician.
The exam is a multiple-choice test made up of situations that test all the necessary skills areas you would encounter while on a real job as designated by your employer. Furthermore, they are designed to test your knowledge of procedures, codes, and practices you learned during the apprenticeship.
It will cover various topics, including installation, maintenance, and service questions. In relation to this, the exam is structured into tasks and then broken down further into sub-tasks to test your competence and understanding of electrical wiring, control, and communication systems and when to apply the procedures of each, for instance.
You must score at least 70 percent within the four-hour time allocation to pass the exam. So, if you get less than this grade, you can apply to retake the exam after a waiting period so you can restudy and review what you got wrong. Depending on your province, it could be several days, but the general term is about two weeks in places like Ontario. However, if you pass, you will be eligible to register for certification and be licensed as a journeyperson.
Conclusion
To become an electrician in Canada, you must be sixteen or have completed grade 12 with math-focused subjects and enroll in a pre-apprenticeship program at a trade school. From there, you’ll be eligible to apply for a five-year electrical apprenticeship, completing the minimum required hours of practical training and in-class learning to get your certificate.
It will give you the skills and knowledge to perform electrical services that you can expect on some real jobs in the future. The final step in reaching your career is passing the official Canadian electrician license exam and getting your certification. Your license then qualifies you to practice and perform electrical work within your province.
