A woman with a diploma in a recognized trade may obtain, upon request, a competency certificate that is valid for two years without needing a job guarantee or a letter of commitment from an employer. She must, however, fulfil the other general conditions for issuance of the competency certificate. To renew this certificate, she must have worked at least 150 hours in two years for one or more employers, rather than 150 hours in three months for a single employer. She may take advantage of this issuance criterion only once per trade for which she holds a diploma.

If she does not perform 150 hours of work for one or more employers during the two-year period, she may provide a letter of commitment from an employer to obtain another competency certificate for the same trade. She will then have two years to perform 150 hours of work with one or more employers. She may take advantage of this issuance criterion more than once in her career.

A woman without a diploma may obtain an apprentice or occupation competency certificate when an employer guarantees her 150 hours of work in three months if the state of the labour pool is 30% or less (for the region and the trade or occupation requested). She must, however, fulfil the other general conditions for issuance of the competency certificate.

When her job guarantee is completed, she must then, among other things, comply with the training obligation.

For each female apprentice assigned to work on a construction site by an employer, that employer may have one apprentice more than the normal apprentice–journeyman proportion work on the site, up to a maximum of 20 extra apprentices, as long as the journeymen and apprentices are:

• Its employees
• In the same trade, or the task performed by the apprentice is part of the practice of one of the journeyman’s trades.

A woman who wishes to obtain an occupation competency certificate as a line worker, welder, or pipe welder, and who registers for the Cours de connaissance générale de l’industrie de la construction (CCGIC) during the first registration period (planned) is automatically selected if she has not been chosen by random draw.

For the second registration period (remaining openings), a woman who registers for the CCGIC is automatically admitted throughout the open period, even if all of the estimated places have been filled.

This program expresses the desire of the partners in the construction industry to support women who have just joined the industry with learning their trade or occupation. In addition to training women, the program provides their work teams with tools. Finally, the goal of the program is to encourage women’s access to, integration into, and job maintenance in the industry, and to diversify what they learn on construction sites.

The program offers major benefits, including:

• Participation in the training course Sensibilisation à l’intégration des femmes au sein d’une équipe de travail
• The support of a training consultant in the implementation of a training plan for adapted and diversified learning
• Financial incentive to the participating company on the order of 30% of the salary of the woman benefiting from the program, up to $10,000 for a 52-week period

To find out more about the on-the-job training program for women, visit the Fiers et compétents website. The promotion agent at your union association may also be a good source of information.

When the CCQ refers workers to employers, it systematically prioritizes all women corresponding to the employer’s criteria.

To be referred even though she has a job, a worker must check this option in the “Statuts d’emploi et de référence” online service. The number of times she has been referred will also be indicated.

To maximize her employability potential, it is important for a woman to update her professional profile regularly. She must make sure to enter her new work experiences, new upgrading courses completed, new skills developed, and all other information that will highlight her employability.