Construction trades target women for apprenticeships

Gesche Olsen didn't even know how to read a tape measure two years ago when she became an apprentice with Carpenters Union Local 971. Today Olsen spends her days installing metal studs on the exterior of Renown Health's multi-floor expansion.

Women such as Olsen are targeted by the third annual Building Women Career Fair, hosted by Western Apprenticeship Coordinators Association. It's scheduled for March 23 at the TMCC/IGT Applied Technology Center, 475 Edison. The event offers women the chance to try hands-on demonstrations in construction fields and talk shop with industry professionals.

Although Olsen, 36, didn't grow up playing with tools like toys as did the majority of her male counterparts, the carpenters apprenticeship and tons of on-the-job training are giving her hands a big boost of dexterity training. Her schedule for KHS&S Contractors five 10-hour shifts during the week as well as Saturdays is certainly not for the timid.

"It's not easy, but we can do just about anything what a man does," she says. "If you enjoy working hard, it is the right place for some people.

"I absolutely love my job," adds Olsen, a single mother. "I have been able to make money, have benefits and support myself. A lot of women don't even know this could be something we like to do. Most guys do stuff like this when they are growing up because of their dads."

Northern Nevada's need to increase and diversify its workforce led to the first Building Women Career Fair in 2005. About 40 women signed up the first year, and more than 100 participated in the event in 2006. Registration deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, March 9.

"We need more bodies in the field, and women have been somewhat of an untapped source," says Bob Alessandrelli, trades apprenticeship recruiter for WACA, an association that sponsors apprenticeships through organizations ranging from trade unions to Sierra Pacific Power. "If more women were exposed to these traditional fields and their benefits, they could say, 'This is a career opportunity for me.'"

Olsen agrees.

"This gives women the opportunity to try what they would be doing out there," she says. "It is really amazing what I have accomplished and the stuff I have learned. It feels good to go out there and build something. I am not sitting in an office with a bunch of women talking about other women. You've got to be able to go work hard and they (men) will respect you, and that is the positive thing about it."

The Western Apprenticeship Coordinators Association oversees 14 trade programs that sponsor 38 apprenticeships. Registration forms for the career fair can be found at both Reno and Sparks JobConnect offices, or by logging on to www.buildingtradejobs.org. Participants are asked wear work-related clothing with little or no jewelry.