About Us

Skills Ready provides tools for young people to prove they are work ready, while enabling them to build a real world understanding of the advantages of starting out in the skilled trades and technologies can do for their future.

Skills Ready is an initiative of the Construction Foundation of BC that identifies and promotes the essential soft skills required for success within the skilled trades and technologies.

In 2016, the initiative launched as Construction Ready, with a focus on preparing young people to transition into construction careers.  Since that time, the initiative has grown to encompass support for youth, educators and employers that will enable more young people to transition successfully into the skilled trades and technologies across a number of sectors.

With guidance and support provided by our Career Catalysts, Skills Ready enables industry to connect with educators and young people in order to bridge the gap into apprenticeship and long term careers.

A new approach to workplace readiness.

Through our Skills Ready initiative, we are able to build bridges between industry and the next generation of skilled professionals. By bringing industry members to the classroom via presentations and showcase events, youth are able to begin building their professional networks while still in school. In many cases these connections have enabled young people to land their first job on the way to apprenticeship much sooner than if they had attempted to connect with an employer on their own.

AWARENESS

Skills Ready Presentations explore concepts around employability. From the core attributes of attitude, skills and knowledge that comprise the Industry ASK, to the basics of workplace safety that are explored in our LearnSafe presentations - students take part in guided discussions and activities that develop these attributes and demonstrate that they are employable.

CONNECTION

Skills Ready Showcase events and Opportunity Fairs bring local employers into classrooms and provide students with the opportunity to connect with employers and share their projects. Participants discover first-hand how what they do in school bridges to the world of work. Through our many industry partners, the Skills Ready team facilitates a variety of workplace tours to sites such as manufacturing facilities and construction sites. These tours help students see the amazing variety of careers that exist in our communities. They may also lead to work experience or apprenticeship opportunities.

EXPERIENCE

Skills Ready works with educators to build the bridge to industry for students in high school. From the first experience in industry through to high school apprenticeship opportunities, Skills Ready facilitates the community of industry supporters who are creating the first chance for a student to start on their trades or technology career path. Collaborate with Skills Ready to arrange interactive activities and direct connections to employers for your students.

THE SKILLS READY TEAM

Abigail Fulton B.A. LL.B

Executive Director, Construction Foundation

Abigail Fulton a lawyer by profession, was appointed as the executive director of the Construction Foundation of BC in 2013. She is a strong supporter of trades training and applied learning for youth.

Ms. Fulton has extensive experience working with industry and government on regulatory and policy issues impacting the construction industry. Ms. Fulton has served on numerous boards and committees relating to the industry including the Safety Standards Appeal Board of BC, the Common Ground Alliance, the Professional Builders Institute and Skills BC. Ms. Fulton has been very active in promoting industry training and apprenticeship for the construction trades. She is also very active with foreign skilled workers, assisting them to integrate into the BC industry. Prior to joining the Construction Foundation, she served as the Vice President of the BC Construction Association for 20 years.

Rene Ragetli B.Ed. M.A.

Director of Project Operations, Construction Foundation

René Ragetli is a teacher by profession. Following his years as a classroom teacher, René worked in construction, managing commercial and residential projects. He then brought this education and industry background to Skills Canada where he coordinated the regional and provincial competitions and developed and managed new career exploration programs for five years. René joined the Construction Foundation in the summer of 2017.

René is active as a volunteer and currently serves on the boards of two community groups.

Kim Crevatin RCIC

Director of Operations, Construction Foundation

Kim brings more than 20 years of industry experience to her role as Director of Operations. From receptionist to bookkeeper to executive assistant she understands the importance of being well organized in the workplace. Kim was instrumental in purchasing and distributing more than $3M in shop class equipment to high schools across BC through the Foundation’s Project Shop Class initiative.

Kim is also a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant and a member in good standing of the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council. In the fall of 2013 she organized and managed a Western Canada Construction Job Fair in the UK and Ireland for more than 25 Canadian employers that drew more than 2,800 people.

Being of Cree descent and spending her teen years as a youth in care Kim has a genuine passion for the initiatives the Foundation is currently pursuing.

Dave Lovisa

Career Catalyst – Southern Interior

My experience and skills in construction have enabled me to create a healthy lifestyle with endless opportunities to advance into a rewarding career.

The most rewarding experience I have had in the sector is that I furthered my career to become a trades instructor to help students learn the skills and knowledge to prepare them for meaningful employment and to promote life long learning.

My advice to someone on how to keep a job is to show the initiative to want to learn new tasks, to be willing to put an honest day’s work in and to be punctual.

Colleen McConnell

Director of Communications, Construction Foundation

Colleen McConnell is the Director of Communications for the Construction Foundation of BC. As a strategic leader and team member, she is organized and focused on reaching organizational objectives, while remaining responsive to external influences and change. In her previous experience as an event producer, she had the opportunity to travel and work across Canada and the US. Her first in-depth exposure to the industry came when she traveled to Japan with the World Skills Canada delegation to plan and activate on the event site. In early 2010, she joined the BC Construction Association as Director of Communications where she contributed to the launch of BidCentral, as well as many other initiatives. Before joining the Construction Foundation, Colleen worked for a hospitality group in Calgary Alberta, where she led a high performing event production and sales team.

Jordan Perrault

Director of Strategic Initiatives, Construction Foundation

My skills have enabled me to work anywhere in the world including Europe and the Middle East.

I have a distinct memory of the first time I was on the tools and left alone to install some siding. I made a mess of it at first, but I still point it out every time I drive by.

My advice to new workers is to show up everyday like you want to be there. So much of the successes I've experienced working in the sector have come from me wanting to achieve something and working hard to get it.

If I had used Skills Ready and FutureBuilder when I was in high school, I would have understood what an apprentice is and how to complete an apprenticeship before I started work. I would have asked different questions and spent less time cleaning up the site.

Dean Heron

Career Catalyst, Indigenous Communities

Dean is Kaska/Tlingit and member of the Wolf Clan from Liard, Yukon. He has been a professional artist since 1993. He graduated from the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art - First Nations Fine Arts 2 year program with honours in 2008. Encouraged to teach, he was an instructor and program coordinator for the Freda Diesing School in Terrace, B.C. for 7 years before returning to Victoria in 2017 He has gone on to demonstrate and teach at workshops in the communities and abroad. As a Career Catalyst he enjoys demonstrating access to skilled trades to youth through creating art.

Nicole Underwood

Community Outreach, Construction Foundation

Nicole is the friendly voice you hear on the other side of the phone when you call into the Construction Foundation office. As a recent graduate of Camosun College's Office Administration Program, Nicole's role is multi-faceted and includes providing bookkeeping and administrative support to the team. With an interest in Communications and Public Relations her tasks have grown to include the development of social media content for the Construction Ready initiative. She is furthering her education in communications by continuing her studies on a part-time basis.

CONTACT SKILLS READY

HEAD OFFICE / VANCOUVER ISLAND

215 - 963 Langford Parkway
Victoria, BC / V9B 0A5

T  250 220 5861
info@constructionfoundation.ca

LOWER MAINLAND / CENTRAL INTERIOR

T  604 787 2027

rene@skillsready.ca

SOUTHERN INTERIOR

T  250 300 9208

dave@skillsready.ca

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