Apprenticeships

mengele

I have always wanted to do an apprenticeship to be a car mechanic. My parents would have persuaded me to go stay away from trades and due to this I have just graduated with a degree because they encouraged me to do a degree first to have something to fall back on. My passion is still for cars. I know apprenticeships are like trying to find a needle in a hay stack these days.

I would be handy enough when it comes motors. grew up on a farm and would have always been tinkering with tractors etc. Can change oil, filters, wire lights, weld etc.

What is the best way to go about finding an apprenticeship. Im based in cork but would relocate to get one if I got the opportunity.

Big Nasty

Pound the pavements and knock on doors asking to speak to the service manager.

What did you do your degree in? Ever think of doing automotive engineering?

biko

Have you checked with FAS?

mengele

Big Nasty wrote: »

Pound the pavements and knock on doors asking to speak to the service manager.

What did you do your degree in? Ever think of doing automotive engineering?

I have an Arts degree in languages. Cant really afford to do another degree and I am very eager to go out and get hands on experience/work.

fas told me to check their website for apprenticeships to which there are none as a motor mechanic. They said after that try and get your own and come back to them.

Guy:Incognito

mengele wrote: »

I have an Arts degree in languages. Cant really afford to do another degree and I am very eager to go out and get hands on experience/work.

fas told me to check their website for apprenticeships to which there are none as a motor mechanic. They said after that try and get your own and come back to them.

Fas only get involved once a company register you with them.

I'm trying to get back in myself at the minute, theres very little going. I was in a garage for 6 months last year but wasn't registered. TBH I think they wanted a cheap pair of hands, so when the few months over the summer were slower than expected it was easy to shed costs. There were 3 apprentices and realistically they only needed 1. I was last in........ I'm just hoping the 6 months (tbh I was already doing jobs myself well ahead of the stuff I got to do there) stands to me and helps me get in somewhere. Im a qualified plumber too so not my first time using tools :-)

SCOOP 64

I always thought a fully qualified mechanic would be good pay until i saw this on FAS site. Fully Qualified, Up to date knowledge on computer diagnostics ,Min 5yrs exp, waterford ,main dealer ,E400 per week 40hr week, is the going rate these days?

Kid Nothing

I'll try give you some good advice on this as I have a similar background to you. I graduated university in 2008 with a Finance degree and found it hard to get work. Was lucky enough that my father actually has his own workshop and a very healthy customer base so I went from giving him a hand to going the whole way through and am now fully qualified as a motor mechanic.

I was incredibly lucky that I had that opportunity and not many people will be able to pick up work that easily. The best advice that I can give you is to call into every garage that you can think of and talk to a manager/owner. Don't be put off by smaller garages that may only have 1/2 people working there, you'll learn so much more in a situation like that. If it's what you really want, then be relentless and talk to as many people in the industry as possible.

This is going to sound very negative but there is plenty to be cautious of when making a huge decision like this:

It's not a well paid job at all. You'll make a living but you won't be wealthy.

You will have to work long hours, admittedly in our family business, there's more weight on us for that but in any garage you will be expected to get your job finished no matter if it's 5 on a Friday evening.

It is very tough physically, lots of heavy lifting, ripping and pulling.

You will not progress quickly, even if you feel you're able for more than you're being allowed do, it's up to your mechanic what you learn.

You will have to be constantly learning and updating your skills i.e. Diagnostics are always changing and there's a huge amount to them.

The FAS structure of training is pathetic. Outside of 2 semesters which I spent in Waterford IT and DIT, it was a compete waste of time. It's run by dinosaurs that treat you like school children.


That's a very quick and general synopsis but they're the first things that come to mind for me. If you have any other questions, fire away.

Guy:Incognito

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

I always thought a fully qualified mechanic would be good pay until i saw this on FAS site. Fully Qualified, Up to date knowledge on computer diagnostics ,Min 5yrs exp, waterford ,main dealer ,E400 per week 40hr week, is the going rate these days?

There's a list of jobs you don't want if your planning on being rich and mechanic probably falls in to that.

I've spent a long time doing different things to earn money. What I want now is to do what I want to do while I earn money and that's why I want to serve my time.while I was in the garage I enjoyed getting up and going to work, it was the first time in ages.

mengele

is a suit the thing to wear when going in looking for the service managers? when giving him a cv then and he says there not taking on anyone whats the best thing to do- Should I leave the cv with him and ask him if he knows of any places that are taking lads on?