Reality of getting into a trade after the teens?

[R2D2]

Anyone here have any experience trying to break into a trade a little later on than the typical straight out of school teen?
Been applying for apprenticeships in Heavy Automotive for two years now, pretty seriously just this year applying all over aus, even moved back here from Aus' in the hope that it'd be better for opportunities (might sound funny but the place is fucked job wise at the moment) but am getting nothing back but the old "as all applications were of high quality; we regret to tell you..." emails.

Was considering the option of a pre apprenticeship course until I realised that they are full time one year courses, which wouldn't be a problem, if I was still a stay at home kid with no need for money who could survive on a student wage, or at best one or two days work a week.

Rant over. But seriously... Anyone ever gone through the same thing and have ideas as to how to get a foot in the door? Surely a forum full of bikers will contain a few mechanics, maybe even ones who didn't get into it through a family friend's engineering co by the time they were 16? Any advice no matter how sarcastic will be appreciated

[hayd3n]

get ya foot in the door thru work experience ,
then try for a trade,

[mashman]

Pretend that you're 16.

[Akzle]

print off 50 cvs. Go door to door. Find out who the shop or floor manager is. If theyre unavailable, come back later.

And, Tatoo 'fuck jews' on your forehead.

[unstuck]

Most people are looking for experience rather than qualifications. If you want something bad enough, you will find a way to achieve it.

[Maha]

Emails and sending CV's are (in reality) way to easy to fob off (unless you are fucking exceptional) as in your recent experience.

Best advice...rock on up and introduce yourself, put your case forward in person. I would employ someone with that nouse to do that.
At the age of 18, I saw a carpet layer loading his van one day, I said to him, can you teach me to lay carpet''? the reply was ''bring a cut lunch tomorrow and meet me here at 8am''
That was in 1980 and I still remember it word for word. I am still laying floor coverings 30+ years later and never been with a job since that very first question.

[flyingcrocodile46]

get ya foot in the door thru work experience ,
then try for a trade,

Emails and sending CV's are (in reality) way to easy to fob off (unless you are fucking exceptional) as in your recent experience.

Best advice...rock on up and introduce yourself, put your case forward in person. I would employ someone with that nouse to do that.
At the age of 18, I saw a carpet layer loading his van one day, I said to him, can you teach me to lay carpet''? the reply was ''bring a cut lunch tomorrow and meet me here at 8am''
That was in 1980 and I still remember it word for word. I am still laying floor coverings 30+ years later and never been with a job since that very first question.

Can't give you better advice than that. Other than to add. 'Don't wait for the job to be advertised'.

If they see the potential in you and you put the squeeze on, it'll happen.

Good luck

[R2D2]

print off 50 cvs. Go door to door. Find out who the shop or floor manager is. If theyre unavailable, come back later.

And, Tatoo 'fuck jews' on your forehead.

Emails and sending CV's are (in reality) way to easy to fob off (unless you are fucking exceptional) as in your recent experience.

Best advice...rock on up and introduce yourself, put your case forward in person. I would employ someone with that nouse to do that.
At the age of 18, I saw a carpet layer loading his van one day, I said to him, can you teach me to lay carpet''? the reply was ''bring a cut lunch tomorrow and meet me here at 8am''
That was in 1980 and I still remember it word for word. I am still laying floor coverings 30+ years later and never been with a job since that very first question.

Can't say I've done that so far since being in NZ, but I suppose can't hurt to spend a day in Palmy, and drive down to welly and try that. I can picture being told to fuck off and stop annoying said manager though (was pretty much the normal response over the ditch if you weren't introduced by a worker or friend of a friend)...

get ya foot in the door thru work experience ,
then try for a trade,

How would you go about doing that considering no one in their right mind would let a complete clean skin do anything vaguely mechnical, and surely sweeping floors isn't going to grant you entry to an apprenticeship?

[hayd3n]

Can't say I've done that so far since being in NZ, but I suppose can't hurt to spend a day in Palmy, and drive down to welly and try that. I can picture being told to fuck off and stop annoying said manager though (was pretty much the normal response over the ditch if you weren't introduced by a worker or friend of a friend)...



How would you go about doing that considering no one in their right mind would let a complete clean skin do anything vaguely mechnical, and surely sweeping floors isn't going to grant you entry to an apprenticeship?

gotta start somewhere show them your keen to learn !! , how many parts can you identify under the hood of a vehicle????
how do you think most ppl got into their trade??? they usually start with the lowest wage and shittiest job,

i have uncle who started at telecom sweeping the floors at 15, then eventually worked next to bill gates , he now owns his own multi million dollar company, and had never had school cert,

[george formby]

I'm a chef, prolly not to dissimilar to a mechanic in some ways. The why is far more important the how.

When employing folks I give a cv very little weight. A can do attitude, common sense, a willingness to learn & integrity have far more value. I can teach the job if somebody really wants to do it.

A few years ago, sat in a pub, a bloke who had over heard my conversation about a trip in the Southern Ocean offered me a job on his fishing boat, a long liner.. I was cooking on my trip & told him so, know f' all about fishing. He said, "if you can spend 3 months down there getting the shit kicked out of you & come back smiling you would be good on my boat, go for a trip, no guarantees either way". I spent a year on his boat, did as I was told, gave a damn & learned my job. Poor bugger was nearly in tears when I moved on.
I was 40 when I jumped aboard & terrified of everything, intimidated by the crew, knew nothing but always asked questions no matter how dumb, stood up for myself & always got the job done, no matter how back breaking and it was unbelievably hard some times. 36 hours on deck was the longest between bunks. 36 hours of catching big, toothy fuckers 150kg +. And skinny old me having to wrestle the bastards into submission.

Some times you just have to put it out there, as a chef I offer a shift for free so they can test my mettle, I know nothing about their menu or kitchen but I know how to work & learn, that is the real value for an employer, I believe.

Get yourself out there & make a place for yourself. Tenacity is worth it's weight in gold.

[R2D2]

gotta start somewhere show them your keen to learn !! , how many parts can you identify under the hood of a vehicle????
how do you think most ppl got into their trade??? they usually start with the lowest wage and shittiest job,

i have uncle who started at telecom sweeping the floors at 15, then eventually worked next to bill gates , he now owns his own multi million dollar company, and had never had school cert,

I get what you're saying, but the discomforting part is to be honest, every single mechanic or apprentice I have spoken to on the subject since entering the workforce got their apprenticeship through a family member being/knowing the manager or something of the sort. I'm thinking that maybe since I'll be 21 once this round of apprenticeships starts in 2014, having to pay me a higher wage might be putting anyone off?

[jasonu]

I get what you're saying, but the discomforting part is to be honest, every single mechanic or apprentice I have spoken to on the subject since entering the workforce got their apprenticeship through a family member being/knowing the manager or something of the sort. I'm thinking that maybe since I'll be 21 once this round of apprenticeships starts in 2014, having to pay me a higher wage might be putting anyone off?

You sound like you have plenty of excuses to not even bother to do a bit of door knocking. Get a job sweeping the floor or cleaning the bogs at a workshop and then show them what you are made of.

[flyingcrocodile46]

I get what you're saying, but the discomforting part is to be honest, every single mechanic or apprentice I have spoken to on the subject since entering the workforce got their apprenticeship through a family member being/knowing the manager or something of the sort. I'm thinking that maybe since I'll be 21 once this round of apprenticeships starts in 2014, having to pay me a higher wage might be putting anyone off?

Sure, that can be a factor of concern to employers, but the reality is that a worker on $20 an hour that does more than about 1.33 times the amount of work as a $10 an hour worker, is a better deal for any employer with a charge out rate in excess of $50 per hour. And often also for businesses with lower charge out rates.

For example, if a company only has 100 hours of billable worker hours available and their charge out rate is $50 an hour (bloody cheap mechanic), and each workers productivity is equal to but no more than the vehicle manufacturer's recommended service limits they can only bill 100 X $50 = $5,000 per five 8 hr days/week. Lets say they pay all their workers $10 per hour. That equates to $1000 off their $5,000 per week income and the company makes a $4,000 per week gross workshop profit. The equation gets worse if the workers output is only 80% of the service book recommendations as the company can only charge out 80 hours and end up with $4,000 less $1,000 for a $3,000 per week gross workshop profit.

Now, if all of the workers productivity is in excess of the service book recommendations by say 33% and they are all paid $20 per hour because they are such productive workers (as older apprentices tend to be), the equations work like this 100 +33% = 133 X $50 = $6,650 less $2000 wages = $4,650 per week gross workshop profit.

Try to remember this little exercise when you are explaining how the disadvantage of the extra cost to the employer of an adult worker is more than mitigated by your maturity, faster learning and greater appreciation of workshop economics. Then offer to settle for $18 per hour

[Geeen]

I'm in a similar situation, I decided to get some qualifications after being made redundant from my former profession (I was automating houses and installing high end home theatres). Am doing a Pretrade in Mech Engineering at Wintec, its six months three days a week, up here in the Waikato most employers recruit from these courses for apprentices. I have said no to a couple as I intend to do further study next year and dont want to stuff anyone about. Could be a valid option for you to do three days at tech and two days doing work experience that leads to paid employment.

[flyingcrocodile46]

I'm in a similar situation, I decided to get some qualifications after being made redundant from my former profession (I was automating houses and installing high end home theatres). Am doing a Pretrade in Mech Engineering at Wintec, its six months three days a week, up here in the Waikato most employers recruit from these courses for apprentices. I have said no to a couple as I intend to do further study next year and dont want to stuff anyone about. Could be a valid option for you to do three days at tech and two days doing work experience that leads to paid employment.

That's GOLD