Apprentices

The transcription is a detailed conversation about the friend's experience as an apprentice at MyCar. The friend discusses the positive aspects of the training, supportive team dynamics, excellent mentorship from the store manager, Shannon, and the welcoming environment at the workplace. The friend expresses satisfaction with the learning process and mentions that there are no major complaints about the apprenticeship. They also touch on the potential challenges of rotating mentors and the upcoming taste training. Overall, the friend feels fortunate to have a positive apprenticeship experience at MyCar. So, what we were just talking about then, I don't know if you were aware of, but I was trying to ask questions about the business, like what happens, how long are apprenticeships, who manages them, what's good about it, what's bad about it, stuff like that, right? And it would be really good, they have obviously picked you because you're great, to do this with me, if I can ask you what your perspective of it's like. Yeah, I've got questions that might let's get you going, okay? So, one of the things I was going to ask you is, do you feel like you, what's being trained in a MyCar store like for you, is it good, is it bad, are there things that work, don't work? To be honest, I've worked at a couple of stores. Different MyCars? No, at a couple of MyCars. Oh, not MyCars, right. By far the best one, officially. And why is it good here? Because, you know, people support everything. Yeah. And if you think back to the beginning, right, as an apprentice, obviously you've had bad experiences as well. What was horrible about it or what did you struggle with? With? Your apprenticeship, right? Even if you weren't here, yeah, what kinds of things as an apprentice do you struggle with? If it's bad, you know? Not this? Not MyCar, yeah. Like, what was bad about it? Yeah, like what, because some people have really bad experiences and I'm trying to work out What's bad about it? It was just, he, well, this company, and then the workman, and then the workman's staff, like I can't tell you. Yeah. I worked at Toyota. Yeah. It was just constant. So, I wouldn't do it very much. And was that at the beginning? What year are you in now? So, you were, all you did was services and nothing else? Yeah. Yeah. But what happens here is new skills. Yeah. So, it's, I'm really busy and there's some boys doing, like, a bigger job. So, I've got to stand with them, I wash them, I wash their hands. You know what I mean? So, like Toyota, I wouldn't think you'd be able to do that here. It was just me being like, okay, if you don't have any services to do, go find a partner in the company. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, overall, you would say it's more interesting or you feel like you... I feel like they want to teach me. Aha. Okay, that's good. The boys that I work with, they want to teach me. Yeah. Like Toyota, they didn't have anything. Like, I didn't feel like they wanted to teach me anything. Yeah, okay. And do you think, on the whole, you're the only apprentice at your store, yeah? But you've spoken to other apprentices. Do you think that's a common thing, that what they want more than anything is to be taught or... Yeah. Yeah. But that hunger to learn is the main driver. Yeah, okay. Okay. And then, anything else... That's really good because I'm trying to work out. Anything that you would say makes a great... I guess it's your store manager, is it? Or whoever's training you. What are they... What's good about... What are the good traits about that there? Because there'll be different store managers who will do it differently. So, what's good about a good store manager? What do they do? What do they like? What's good about a good store manager? Shannon's noise, yeah? So, why is Shannon good? Like, why is he good compared to other people? What about him is good? Yeah. That's the biggest thing. Like, other store managers that I had, they were just like, okay, like I said, go from something, go from something. And it was very... You know, detailed. And did anybody ever ask you about you or your experience or those sort of things? Yeah. Yeah. So, it sounds like the other thing is that, like, he connects you. Yeah. Yeah. Asks you about how you're going. Your life. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's good to know, because not everyone does that. And when they're trying to train you in something, are there any things... I mean, the actual hands-on stuff, right? Is there anything that you find hard or anything that doesn't work when you're... that could be improved when you're trying to learn a practical skill? Honestly, like I said before, I can't really complain about anything. It's the way they teach me, the way, you know... I don't know how to put that. I don't know how to explain it. Like, I can't really complain about anything the way they teach me. I learn instantly. Like, if Shannon teaches me something, like, I just remember. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Yeah. I do, because that's like... Again, I don't want to... What we've got to do is go, how do we replicate Shannon? Do you know what I mean? Like, how do you get other people to have that same skill set? Is it because he goes slow? Is it because he's patient? Yeah, he's patient. Yeah. Patient, yeah, definitely. And what about if you... Like, can you ask questions? Can I ask Shannon questions? Yeah. See, not everyone lets you ask questions. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, what if you screw something up? Just be honest about it. Yeah, so it's an environment where you can make mistakes as well. See, that's unusual too. Yeah. Okay. And then what about in the team... How many people in your whole school? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay. So small, it's not a huge team. And how do you feel amongst the team dynamic? Because sometimes apprentices are lower down than other people. But how do you feel in that team dynamic? Awesome. Yeah, it's not just Shannon. It's not just Shannon. Yeah. It's everyone on the side. And what about... How do they make you feel, or what's it like? Welcome. That's what it is. Yes. Welcome. And it sounds like important too. It's important, yeah. Yeah, like probably an important part of the team. Kind of. Okay, that's really good to hear as well. There was another thing I thought of as you were saying that. Oh, I know what I was going to say. When you speak to other apprentices at MyCar, do you ever do that when you go to training days or stuff like that? Yeah. Are there any generalised complaints that people have? Because it seems like you're in a really good situation. And you don't have names or anything. I'm just trying to go... Is it like that at every SOAR? Or... I haven't really heard that. So it sounds like across the board. I've got one of my mates, actually a few of them, that work in the same apprenticeship as me. They have no complaints either. So I've asked them as well, is there anything bad, you know, about your SOAR or anything like that. They're all happy, extremely happy. That's good. And if you could have like, if it was your absolute ultimate experience, is there anything missing? Like your ultimate experience. I've got it's really good. But if it was like the best of the best of the best, is there anything missing? Sorry, can you run that for me again? Like if your apprenticeship, right, like I understand it's really good, you're really happy. But if it was like the ultimate apprenticeship ever in the universe, is there anything missing? From the list of things? Yeah, that you'd love. Anything you wish you had. If it was the ultimate one. Not really. Yeah, okay. I'm trying to think. It's really good. Yeah. I can't really say anything bad about it. I have no complaints. Like I'm trying to. Yeah, I get it. That's good. That's good for me to know. And if, okay, let me ask you a different question. If tomorrow they went, alright, you know, Shannon needs to work with someone else, she's got to move stores, how would you feel about that? It would be upsetting. 100%. It would be upsetting. Even though I know I could go to someone's store and I would still have that same support. It would be, you know, a lot worse than Shannon. Yeah. Because I think that's one of the things that can happen here in the nature of the business, is people do move around. And that's why I'm interested in that. Like, is that a good thing? Is it a bad thing for people? Because it turns out when you connect. To me? Yeah. Yeah. You know how you said I should ask you a different question? That's probably the one having to rotate. You don't like that? Yes. Yeah, okay. I have to think about that. Apart from that, there's nothing I'm going to do. Yeah, because I haven't heard, it seems new that I haven't heard of in other companies, like high rotation. I'm fine with it. Yeah, I know you'd be fine, but if it was the ultimate, you wouldn't rotate once you're in a... Yeah. Okay, that's good to know. By the way, these guys are like, think you're great and think it's all great. Like, there's no... We're just going, okay, so we're going to make it the best of the best. Is there anything we could do? That's literally all we're looking at. Okay, let me just check if there's anything else I want to know. Oh, I know. When it comes to the taste part of what you have to do, is there anything you struggle with there or anything you wish you had more... Yeah, support with. Okay. And do you feel like the way that they're combining, like the stuff with taste and on the, you know, the practice stuff, that might not work? I haven't really gotten to start with taste yet. Okay. I had my first day of taste on Thursday. Last Thursday. So... From just going in and, you know, walking around, it's fine. Yeah. I have a way to get there. I've got a place in school that I bring my things off. And that helps. Yeah. You know, like, we've got our way there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Because I think that'll be, like, it's like you're going to end up almost working at two places, you know, like taste and here are quite different. So that, maybe down the track, I'll ask you more about that once you've done it a bit, to go, do you, you know, is what you're learning at taste good for what you're doing at my car? You know what I mean? Like... Okay. I can't think of anything else. That's really good. I knew you were going to answer like that because these guys are so great. I was like, you're really lucky to be an apprentice here. Sure am. Yeah. I'm very nervous. In this room, actually. You know, I hope I get... I hope I get... Yeah. It went on and then I got the call. I actually... That day that I got the call, that said that, you know, he's been accepted, you know, I actually went for an interview at another place. Wow. And he said to me, tomorrow, you can start. Wow. So I have a decision on the day when I can sign up for it. Yeah. And I was like, I had a decision to make when I was like, my son, my son, I was worried because I was like, oh my God, like I was like, I'm like, yeah, I'll be stupid to take another one for... It's just so much more support in a big place. Yeah. And he said, please, if you don't take my part, I'm going to be so angry. No choice baby. Yeah. I was like, you know what? I'm going to sign you up. Instantly. And I was like, yeah, no worries. That's awesome. Definitely. Good. And have you always wanted to be a mechanic? Yeah. What do you love about it? What do I love about being a mechanic? Yeah. There's a lot, you know, like, it's not really the work, that's from like, four years old. You know what I mean? Like, with my dad, just constantly talking about cars. Like, my whole life is just cars, cars, cars. Yeah, it's the relationship too, isn't it? It's just, it's wrapped up with the people. Yeah. People will get a car, and you're just like, okay, that's a car. Like, amazing. Or like, any car in the business. They're like, you know, it's just, you've got a connection to it. You know what I mean? Well, and you've got a connection to the people that love cars too. Yeah. It's like you do. It's like you just make friends, you know what I mean? Yeah. Seeing someone like a car, you're like, oh, okay, what car do you like? I like that too. Do you know, interestingly, I reckon the only other people that are similar to that are doctors, surgeons. Because they, like you, get to open up the bonnet on a human being. That's what challenges me. Yeah. Because they'll just stop. Yeah. That's true. They love it. They love going in the midst of it and checking it out and all of that. They love talking about it. They just think it's ridiculous. Well, maybe they get peed and weaned on and stuff, so, you know. Yeah, okay. Cool. Alright, well, that's awesome. That gives me heat. Sorry, I couldn't be as famous as that one. No. That's not a bad thing. That's not a bad thing at all. But it makes me go, okay, well, we don't really have problems here. What we've got is what would make it, like, the ultimate, which is a very different, like, I'm going to run some training and if I'm training you on problems that don't exist, that's useless. So, it's better that I'm working on what would make it the ultimate. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. And I reckon it might be interesting to find out people that have been in an apprenticeship longer how they do feel about TAFEs because you don't get to open bonnets at TAFEs. You don't get to open bonnets at TAFEs. You don't get to open bonnets at TAFEs. You don't get to open bonnets at TAFEs. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's not, I don't reckon it would have the same level of... You won't get the same work attitude but you will definitely get to talk about it. No, there's a whole workshop in there for the car. Ah. There's a voice in there. Like, there's everything. That's very practical. Yeah, definitely. You won't be, like, okay, you're a customer, you know what I mean? That's not a company, but like... But you're not sitting there as an engineer for the car. Do you have assignments, though? Yes. But are they more like having to write a... Yeah, the assignments would be a theory, but at the same time you've got to be the front end of it, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, so I guess that's my interest, is going, is the theory boring, is it not, does it, you know, like... But I guess it's more like talking about cars. It's got to do with cars, I find, actually. Yeah, it's got to do with cars. It's got to do with cars. It's got to do with cars. It's got to do with cars. It's got to do with cars. 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