Need help in picking a career after finishing high school

[xr6-FTW]

Got a call back for a spare parts interpreter apprenticeship job I applied for last week for an interiview, will see how that goes, don't know which dealership/company it is apart from it supposedly being prestige. It sounds like something interesting, looking after customers, ordering in parts, delivering etc sounds not to shabby, I picture working for a place like BMW and possibly driving there company cars, would be good. The day after the interview there is another enrolment session for the electrical pre app so I have a lot to think about.

[11ford11]

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

Become a builder, or chippy, or sparky, or plumber. Stay away from the whole automotive trade.
That way you'll actually be able to afford a nice car.

agree -you sound like me !


xr6-FTW
spare parts interpreter apprenticeship is a good option ....
have you considered the military ..
truck driver -
mining -
hi rise construction -
elevator or air cond. instillation -
landscaping -
concreter -
plumber -
pick and pack -
green keeper (golf or bowls) -

don't need to make a life choice at the moment,just get some experience for your resume and dollars even if it is woolies etc.


talk to centerlink about other possibilities...

[xr6-FTW]

Sooo interestingly in the last few days for me, ive had a few phone calls here and there but nothing has come about. I do have a spare parts interpreter job interview on friday, was suppose to be today but bloke called saying has meeting so cant. Interestingly but ive been spoken to by a couple of mates in my position, still trying to find something who suprisingly have enrolled into the electrical pre app that i went to which starts next month and there telling me to join them to do it. What gets me is there doing it for the potenial money Involved being a sparkie and I doubt there actually interested in it apart from the money. I can say however that the spare parts job im applying for does kind of sound interesting, but if nothing comes of it should i just sign myself up to tafe and do the 10 week course with a coupla mates? Just need something to kick start my working life.

[LTDHO]

I went straight out of school into an electrical apprentice which I stayed with until I got my ticket. I had a passion for it through school so iot was an obvious choice. Now I am a desk jocky for an insurance broker.

If I could do it again, I would join the military and get my trade through the armed forces.

After watching the news last night and seeing that builders her on average $144k (and thanks to the union get 3 x 5% increase over 3 years) I sorta wish I had gone that way.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by xr6-FTW

Sooo interestingly in the last few days for me, ive had a few phone calls here and there but nothing has come about. I do have a spare parts interpreter job interview on friday, was suppose to be today but bloke called saying has meeting so cant. Interestingly but ive been spoken to by a couple of mates in my position, still trying to find something who suprisingly have enrolled into the electrical pre app that i went to which starts next month and there telling me to join them to do it. What gets me is there doing it for the potenial money Involved being a sparkie and I doubt there actually interested in it apart from the money. I can say however that the spare parts job im applying for does kind of sound interesting, but if nothing comes of it should i just sign myself up to tafe and do the 10 week course with a coupla mates? Just need something to kick start my working life.

Be careful with doing pre apprenticeship courses especially if you're based in Victoria because it'll screw you up on any extra accreditations you may want to go for while completing an apprenticeship.

For example while I was doing my auto electrical apprenticeship, they offered us to do the auto air conditioning accreditation which was a certificate II.

Some of the guys had completed a pre apprenticeship course which was a certificate II also, or had worked at Maccas which put them through in certificate II in retail.

Which meant they couldnt get government subsidy to do the aircon accreditation, so their course cost went from $200 to $3000 because they're full fee paying students due to already having a certificate II.

So if you decide to go down the apprenticeship path just be weary about these little things.

[Mont5.0]

Pimp

[TheSneakiness]

Gonna chime in here.

I was very much like the OP here. After school finished I didn't have a job and to be perfectly honest as long as I was getting my fortnightly youth allowance payment I didn't care that I didn't have a job, or a car or any direction in life. Just did not care.

Then I started being bored of doing nothing as stupid as that sounds so once Centrelink at the time started enforcing going to employment agencies (I was lumped with Mission Employment aka Mission Impossible) I took some initiative and went to a mob that did traineeships and managed to land a cert 3 in business job that ended up turning into drafting work which then lead to a team leader role at 23. Unfortunately and is probably documented here somewhere the company went into administration.

I applied for well over 25 jobs a day (to support myself and my fiancé at the time) and got a role doing utility locating with Telstra for Dial Before You Dig. I lasted about 3 months there before a shed company poached me to setup a stud framing machine and system they had bought from the old company that went into administration. In that time I had also got another shed design program running for them and had started off their modular home system (which I should have stayed at cause I was going to be the head of that department as a whole I found out about later), I was poached by the shed program company to do help and design. I was let go from there cause the program wasn't selling and CAD shed design companies had really started taking off.

Landed a program support helpdesk role back in Brisbane (it was literally handed to me straight after the interview) and was just recently promoted to a business analyst.

So from having no direction to having a role like I do it just shows if you take that first step initially it can lead you somewhere. Doesn't matter what that step is, just stop, breath and do it. Who knows where it will lead you.

EDIT - Just remembered in my lazy after school year I tried a concreting apprenticeship and lasted one day and was sore for 4 days afterward, that's when I decided manual labour wasn't my style of work.

[Work Horse]

Originally Posted by Rapid_Axe

EDIT - Just remembered in my lazy after school year I tried a concreting apprenticeship and lasted one day and was sore for 4 days afterward, that's when I decided manual labour wasn't my style of work.

Bugger it's taken me 35 years to work out manual labour wasn't my style.

But like you Rapid I was really struggling to work out what it was I wanted to do when I left school. I had reasonable results so I enrolled in a Social Work degree. I did first year and that was enough to make me realise it was not for me. I ended up doing a bit of gardening and eventually went back to tertiary study and did horticulture. Now if I stuff up at work plants die not people, a bit easier to sleep at night. Oh and I own and have run a successful landscape gardening company for about twenty years.

xr6-FTW, I quote the famous words of John Kennedy the coach of the Hawthorn football club during half time at the 1975 AFL grand final. “At least DO SOMETHING! DO! Don’t think, don’t hope, do! At least you can come off and say, I did this, I shepherded, I played on. At least I did something.’”

Whatever you do will be the right thing, or will lead to the right thing or help you understand what the wrong thing is for you. Go for it.

[DOC]

Originally Posted by XB GS 351 Coupe

You need to stop talking to mates and grab something by the balls and do it, even when it gets a bit uncomfortable and hard.

This will be fun, /\ the OP has already grabbed something by the balls and I am guessing it is also hard, as my dad used to say he is playing dickie.

The OP, I can only say that your parents and everybody on the forum needs to STOP wiping your ****, and the sooner you start to wipe your own backside the better.

You come here, and ask people what to do, you dither you dally and have side steped, well if you want your life to be where you want others to tell you what to do, just go and get a job at a supermarket, or anywhere where there is a boss, because they will tell you what to do all day, everyday, because as it stands all you do is seek advice from others and want them to tell you what you should do.

You then when told what to do / are given idea's bawk, at them, so probably the best thing you could do is forget everybody's advice, pack a few bags, walk out the front door and do not come back until you have made it in life, go and find your quest, but do not sit around getting others to wipe your backside, I am guessing that when people say grab something by the balls, maybe that your lacking the balls.

have the courage to cut all ties and do it your way or forever ***** and moan on forums to family or friends, who over time will just get ****ed with you anyway.

[CoupeKing]

Passionate about anything? Stick close to that.

[Carrion]

Selling Pharmaceuticals from your parents house is nice and easy. Get to be your own boss.

[.:4:.]

Backyard pharmacy need street smarts and a good clientele. .. the only reason I took up my apprenticeship was I needed a job and my mate gave me the number of someone looking. I wasn't interested in the trade at all, but I payed attention to what I was told from the old blokes, learned a few things here and there, and now I'm the big fish in a little pond. Unlike the majority of my work mates, being there for almost 10 years and remembering a few old school tricks of the trade, unlike them I not only get a work car, it's for private use, the work phone is for not only work calls, I have a work computer with interweb, and my invoice iPad has a 5 gig allowance. It doesn't entirely matter if you are interested with the job, but if you are going to do it, pay attention and learn a few things, become indespensible to the firm, then everything will look up. After hours call outs and 21 hour days on the odd occasion help, but they aren't done for free

[xr6-FTW]

Alright I've been fairly quiet, for about a week an a bit with some news. Managed to land my self an apprenticeship at BMW as a spare parts interpreter, basically what happened was I had a interview last Monday and straight after the interview bam, landed myself the job, must of really impressed them surprisingly, although I reckon I did not bad. So i had the induction Friday and start this Monday (tomorrow).

Only problem is feel so worried/nervous about tomorrow now, being the new guy, rolling up there etc, sure I had the induction Friday but still feel bit uncertain about rolling up tomorrow, kind of feels like starting school all over again fresh and not knowing anyone, except this time it's with blokes this time around. Apprenticeship is through an employment agency skillinvest so I do have the assistance in signing all the paper work, pay etc, so I am being looked after not to mention have a contact to help me out if need be. But yer I am feeling nervous thinking of tomorrow, don't want to stuff up things or make a dick of myself.

[Giant Cranium]

Keep your mouth shut and listen and learn as much as you can.

Best advice I ever had was to preempt what the person is going to do next and have that item ready as soon as they need it.

Us tradies are not all that scary. You will get some jerks but most of the other boys will think the same as you.

show up every day 10 mins early and don't be the last one sitting at smoko

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by xr6-FTW

Alright I've been fairly quiet, for about a week an a bit with some news. Managed to land my self an apprenticeship at BMW as a spare parts interpreter, basically what happened was I had a interview last Monday and straight after the interview bam, landed myself the job, must of really impressed them surprisingly, although I reckon I did not bad. So i had the induction Friday and start this Monday (tomorrow).

Only problem is feel so worried/nervous about tomorrow now, being the new guy, rolling up there etc, sure I had the induction Friday but still feel bit uncertain about rolling up tomorrow, kind of feels like starting school all over again fresh and not knowing anyone, except this time it's with blokes this time around. Apprenticeship is through an employment agency skillinvest so I do have the assistance in signing all the paper work, pay etc, so I am being looked after not to mention have a contact to help me out if need be. But yer I am feeling nervous thinking of tomorrow, don't want to stuff up things or make a dick of myself.

Join a BMW forum and know as much as you can about your products if possible.

You'll be dealing with the mechanics who work at your workshop as well as phone customers in the trade like myself.

[PG2]

Originally Posted by xr6-FTW

Alright I've been fairly quiet, for about a week an a bit with some news. Managed to land my self an apprenticeship at BMW as a spare parts interpreter, basically what happened was I had a interview last Monday and straight after the interview bam, landed myself the job, must of really impressed them surprisingly, although I reckon I did not bad. So i had the induction Friday and start this Monday (tomorrow).

Only problem is feel so worried/nervous about tomorrow now, being the new guy, rolling up there etc, sure I had the induction Friday but still feel bit uncertain about rolling up tomorrow, kind of feels like starting school all over again fresh and not knowing anyone, except this time it's with blokes this time around. Apprenticeship is through an employment agency skillinvest so I do have the assistance in signing all the paper work, pay etc, so I am being looked after not to mention have a contact to help me out if need be. But yer I am feeling nervous thinking of tomorrow, don't want to stuff up things or make a dick of myself.

Very normal mate to feel nervous. Also, if you're not making mistakes you're not trying.

[drz250]

Good job on getting the job at BMW. I tell you what, if you have a good worth ethic you can go far. BMW is a very upmarket company with a great image and if you manage to propel yourself through the ranks over time... you can end up anywhere.

[chevypower]

I have changed careers a few times. It's ok to try different things out. Went back to Uni to get my MBA thinking I wanted a healthcare administrator job. Tried it out, it was depressing. Not what I wanted to do. Now I am using my sales and management experience to go into insurance and buy an agency. I couldn't do that without equity in my home, and they wouldn't want me without sales and/or management experience. So despite what I did previously not being what I want to do long term now, it's all coming together. Am I passionate about insurance? No, I am passionate about an active lifestyle, spending time with my family, and that requires an efficient way of making money. Insurance is a safe residual income that everyone needs. So I can easily link it back to what I am passionate about. Do the apprenticeship. Try it out. If you don't like it, try something else. But whatever you do, be the best at it. Duplicate your results by hiring people, and build up your business. When you develop your skills, make sure you build your own business instead of someone else's. If you don't build your dream, somebody will hire you to build theirs.