Putting yourself “out there”

The following story was posted on the Skills Canada – Ontario Alumni Facebook page. Jennifer Stuber was a Photography Competitor in the Ontario Technological Skills Competition in 2009.

Before participating in the Skills competition, I was terrified of putting mysel ‘out there.’ When my teacher first suggested it, I almost turned her down out of the fear of competing against other photographers.

After constant encouragement I found myself wide-eyed in front of a computer screen with a man giving me instructions on what to do for the day. During the competition I could see other students work and immediately began to feel self-conscious. I thought to myself, “I have no chance at winning, look at these people!” Some people had much more expensive cameras than I did, I had only bought mine  a few months before after saving for what seemed like forever in order to afford it. continue reading »

Past-present & future

I entered WorldSkills, or the IVTO (International Vocational Training Organization) as it was known then, as Technical Delegate for Sweden at the General Assembly meeting in Portugal during the 50 year celebrations in 2000. I met a paper bound and well organized IVTO. As new Technical Delegate I tried get a picture of the upcoming Competition through the Technical Description. I found them organized in a disorganized way especially regarding important deadlines. The IVTO decided later to start a Secretariat to support the organization and its members instead of buying this service from a private company.

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Technology Trends

All major companies forecast what the next technology trends will be. These companies must also plan to recruit the skilled workers that will advance their companies position in the use of these technologies. In order to predict these trends we must first understand the technologies that will be involved. During an economic downturn, competitive businesses must carefully weigh the value of any technology investments they make. The most savvy companies are positioning themselves for recovery. They will adopt the technologies that will bring them the most value.

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Modelling Vocational Excellence

We wanted to know about how young people experience WorldSkills so that WorldSkills has the information it needs to help make that experience as positive as possible.  We also want to know how young people become skilled at their trade and what happens during the training, work and competition stages of the journey towards skills excellence.

By having the competitors, employers, judges, trainers and family share their experiences we will understand more about skills, excellence, training and work and how or where to make improvements.

Already the competitor’s stories are providing a rich vein of data:

There is nothing to lose. All competitors are winners. Just to be selected as one of the top young people in their trade category they win the opportunity to meet and work beside the best in our nation. As well as seeing all the different ideas, approaches and outcomes.

In my category I am sure everyone will be taking someone else’s ideas home to further their wealth of knowledge and experience.

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Manufacturing Team Challenge

Manufacturing Team Challenge (MTC) is an exciting team based WorldSkills skill competition reflecting what happens in a typical manufacturing environment where a solution to a problem has to be developed and then manufactured to meet specifications while working to a budget.

The MTC team (three Competitors) is able to prepare a solution for a problem before the competition, given some required design and performance specifications, and then during the competition the team works together to create the solution.

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