From Journeyman to Leader of Kick Ass Careers
After many years feeling lost and even depressed in various jobs after high school in Canada, Jamie McMillan ran into an old friend who talked about becoming an ironworker apprentice, and getting paid to learn while training. That story was fascinating to Jamie, so she applied to and got hired for an apprenticeship in the trades. She had some familiarity with construction because her father was a miner and her parents had renovated houses. She picked up some basic knowledge of mechanics along the way, but had never thought about a related career for herself.
Jamie is now the Founder of Kick Ass Careers, a skilled trades advocacy group whose mission is to engage, educate and encourage youth to consider careers in Mechanical, Industrial, Technology and Construction (MITC) industries. We caught up with her earlier this month to chat about careers in the trades, overcoming societal barriers for women at job sites, outreach to young girls in school, and the value of industry events like the EmPower Women Leadership Conference being held on March 9 in Ridgefield, Washington.
The biggest challenge Jamie faced upon becoming a journey person was showing up as “a first generation female in the working environment.” Both well-meaning and dismissive co-workers can throw barriers in your path. Some were “wanting to take care of you and genuinely don’t want you to get hurt…treating you like they might treat their own daughter, or kids or wives.” Those people “try to help you too much or don’t want to let you do the work.” On the flip side of that same bias, others clearly “don’t want you to do the work at all, and don’t want you to be there because it makes them feel uncomfortable.” Jamie explains, “I just wanted to be treated like an equal and a worker on the job site.”
Another challenge is employers not always having the proper tools and personal protective equipment (PPE) in the right sizes for women. Employers who can show that “they have all that stuff ready and set up” are more easily able to recruit girls and women to work in the trades.
Jamie talked about how there are always going to be good people, bad people and naysayers in any work environment, and while she used to let things get to her and feel like she had to constantly prove herself, she learned not to take situations personally. Her confidence comes from knowing “I’m a pretty darn good worker and I love my job, I’m passionate about it, and I know what I’m doing.” Negative messages coming at you can be seen as energizing challenges that push you to improve, because “success is the best revenge.”
When asked where the idea for Kick Ass Careers came from, Jamie spoke of a global organization of which Skills Ontario is her provincial chapter. There are state chapters all across the US. Anyway, somebody from the organization reached out to her by email and asked her to attend a mentorship dinner and sit with schoolgirls and their parents to talk to them about what it’s like to be a woman in this industry. Jamie was up for encouraging girls to take the same pathways she did, only earlier in their lives. As she got invited to more of these events, she started to feel more connected and more passionate about it. One day a discussion panelist failed to show up and she was asked to step in to fill the void. Next thing she knew she was being asked by teachers if she would come and speak to students at their schools.
Then Jamie decided she really needed a brand for this outreach activity. High school students actually came up with the name “Kick Ass Careers” for the mission. She found a business partner in California named Pat Willliams, and now their ambassador team covers outreach to schools and different types of construction industry events across North America. It’s very gratifying when young girls come up and say things like “You were here once before, and I was so inspired because of you that I’m now in this shop class” learning how to x, y and z.
It’s important that youth hear about the possibility of skills training and work in the trades, not just from teachers, guidance counselors or parents, but also from relatable adults who are actually employed in the industry. Jamie says that they can see themselves “being like us -- we become their mentors and role models.” Some have even become ambassadors already.
For example, Dee is a young industrial electrician. She’s going through a college program right now and then she’s going to start her co-op and an apprenticeship. It all began in a woodworking shop class in 12th Grade. She entered a Kick Ass contest where KAC gave them the materials for building chairs to raise money for their school. They sold the chairs to the community and got to keep the profits. It was kind of an entrepreneurial and woodworking skills class mixed together. Dee and Jamie ended up trading phone numbers and staying in touch, often randomly by texting each other. Dee ended up graduating with a scholarship and her parents invited Jamie to the graduation.
Jamie’s looking forward to the EmPower Conference because events like this one make women in the trades realize they are not alone, far from it. Social media has helped with that too, she says, but meeting others in person is more, well, empowering. She described meeting Pat Williams, her business partner, who is a retired stationary operating engineer, at one of these conferences and becoming fast friends. She credits Pat with helping her professionally and making possible much of her own success.
Jamie points out that this type of conference brings opportunities for people to make new friendships and create long lasting mentoring relationships. She compares it to “lighting a tiny fire and it just goes off and starts spreading. You ignite each other.”
Finally, Jamie evangelizes about how employers, labor unions and trade organizations should reach out and engage with girls in school, and with their parents and guardians. Many boys are exposed to working in the garage with their dad or older brothers or neighbors, but most girls are not. She says employers must ‘come to the table’ and not miss what’s happening at high schools skills competitions. If all they do is recruit from colleges and apprenticeships, they may be missing out on some of the “cream of the crop students” who are already passionate about this kind of work at an even younger age. Those youth need to be encouraged and find out what promising career opportunities are available.
