I forgot to mention the experience part. Everyone I know in any trade got their job/experience-
1. through a family member/family friend in the trades who hired them as a helper when they were highschool age
2. persistently calling shops until one of them "bit the hook" and hired them, kinda like #1 above
3. as part of a formal apprenticeship program
it is a bit of a fallacy to think anyone gets a job "with no experience".. everyone I know in the trades grew up in a family where their dad worked in the trades, or an uncle or a cousins, and it was something they just had around them all their lives- like speaking french if you grow up in france- it isn't something you really question, it's just there and always has been. I started by sweeping floors and cleaning up for my dad when I was 10, during summer vacation or on weekends. Everyone starts at the bottom and gradually you learn more and more, bit by bit, until you go from doing the grunt work to doing bigger things. If you are having trouble getting a job, or are discouraged by what the experience requirements are for a particular job, maybe it is a sign that you are aiming too high too fast. There is a sort of iron law in the trades that everyone starts at the bottom and claws their way up (nothing gets handed to you- ever), but the beneficial side of this law is that what you know, you know absolutely.
By the way, what sort of 1-year training was this? Local univerisities here don't really cater much to the trades, unless it is the light blue collar trades like autocad or CNC machine operators..
