Gavin Press left high school not knowing what he wanted to do – he worked on his family’s farm in the shearing sheds, and tried labouring. But then he called up some family friends, electricians, and got an apprenticeship. From knowing nothing about the trade, in just three years, he’s won Gold at the WorldSkills 2008 National Competition.
“After the HSC, I was working in the shearing sheds, and I never got a chance I was after school. I rang the boss and he was thinking of putting on a third apprentice. He said to come in for an interview. I had the interview on the Thursday, got the job on Friday, went to TAFE on Monday.” Gavin says, but was a little out of his depth when he started. “I just didn’t know what the terms meant! I just sat there and took it all in and studied.”
Gavin heard about the Worldskills Competition when he was a first year apprentice, helping out a second year apprentice at the time train up for the National Competition in Melbourne. “When I was first year, the second year, he was involved with it at the time. Him and the TAFE teacher had a little mock project, with the other apprentice and I, in a mock challenge. We made of the projects.”
“The TAFE teacher thought I went alright and approached me and it went on from there.” Both apprentices went down to the National Competition in Melbourne, where the other apprentice won and Gavin came second.
“I was young enough to compete again. They took me over toe New Zealand for their National Competition and I ended up winning that.” He says. “In the electrical, the Australians and the Kiwis have the same wiring. We learn from each other, helping each other out.”
“After I won the New Zealand [competition], there was a skills expo in Brisbane and we did an expo showcasing skills.”
And, just to add to his Worldskills experience, he headed to help set up the 2007 WorldSkills International Competition in Japan. “They have a different voltage in Japan. We have to take transformers over there. We have to change all the plugs to transformers so the Australian competitors could use their appliances.” Gavin explained. “Like the hairdressers would have had to use Japanese hairdryers. The cookery section used transformers. [We changed] all the ones that had to use tools from over here. We could experience the International Competition then, hoping to make it there.”
And, Gavin might just have made it. He competed in the 2008 National Competition in Sydney, and was awarded Gold in the Electrical Installation Category.
For Worldskills, the first project we had 2 days to compete. It was a house simulation – domestic installation. “We had to use different conduit, metal, conduit, PVC, and corrugated conduit.”
“They had to come out of a duct, bend conduit down a specific measurement, mount outlets on the bottom at a specific measurement. Then we had the iControl - we had to wire that all the correct way, and there was also fault finding.”
“On the third day, we worked on the project on the lefthand side of the board. It was simulating an industrial pump station with flow switches and limit switches. That had to completed by the last day. They were full on days!”
The most challenging part for Gavin was time management. “I finished the first project, with 3 mins to go when I finished it. I cut it real close. On the last day I literally handed the test results and he said times up.”
“I thought the Queenslander who was on the left hand side, won. He’d gone really well the whole competition. The guy on the right-hand side of me came third. We glimpsed each others project, it was a bit nervous.”
But Gavin won. And his Worldskills experience couldn’t have come at a better time: “I turned tradesman last Friday!”
What personal qualities do you think are needed for the job?
Want to learn, have a go, not like when you go to school here you have to go, this is gonna bet he rest of your life, just give it your best shot. You’re not there to muck around, if you are serious about it, then give it ago. Like I said, when I started I knew nothing.
You gotta be able to have a bit of laugh and want to learn. Just be a hard worker, be able to know when you have to work together and pull your socks up and when to slack off a bit.
You don’t need to be a brainiac with maths. Just give it a go. Mostly you just need you trigonometry. I just did general maths in year 12. Give it a go at TAFE.
Do you have any advice for people entering the industry?
Ring up [potential employers]. Just show you’re keen for it. They’ll get sick of you ringing up, they might give you a trial to start with. There are that many people out there trying to get the job. If you want the job, it’s not going to be a hassle to keep ringing them up.
It can’t hurt to do a little electrical work experience at school.
If you haven’t a clue what you want to do, you can always go to uni as Mature Age… if you’re worried about not going to uni, get a job first.
[photo courtesy of the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Medal Winners Gallery .]
