The Wanganui City College/Rob O'Keeffe Joinery Ltd Link
The industry perspective – Rob O'Keeffe
When Chris approached him, Rob was happy to help out. Not only was he impressed with what Chris was doing in his courses, but Rob also has an interest in supporting young people who are just about to move out from school and into the workforce or tertiary education.
"With young people, it's a case of being able to talk to them and know that I can convey to them what I want to say, and leaving with a feeling that they've listened and taken it in it in a way that I've wanted them to.”
Rob was keen to talk to students about some of the things that he was doing and show them a side of the business of which they might not be aware.
"We're always looking for apprentices and, believe it or not, its extremely hard to find apprentices these days. Kids need to know that they don't necessarily have to head straight into tertiary study. There are good employment opportunities out in the community and tradesmen don't drive round in beat-up old vans anymore – these days we can make an income in our business that would be the equal of many professions.”
"In the past we've had schools say to us that a particular kid's not doing too well at school, and he'd make a brilliant tradesman. Well that's dead wrong – we actually don't need that sort of kid."
"We've got a new machine in here worth $50 000. It's computer controlled, with a digital readout. You can't risk putting a kid who hasn't been acting responsibly at school on a machine like that. You need someone who has shown that they can put an effort into things and think about what they're doing. Which doesn't mean that they have to be a rocket scientist to have those attributes. But we have found that the apprentices we've had who've done well at school have generally done better as apprentices.”
"So it's a good opportunity to share information on new materials and new techniques and how things are changing in the traditional trades.”
Rob also sees links with schools as an opportunity to showcase what his business does. "In business, we're always trying to sell ourselves so it gives another opportunity to meet another group of people and tell them about what we do. To make them more aware of the joinery industry and the type of business we're running here.”
Rob points out the obvious difficulties that all small businesses have in working with schools in this way. "I'm not too sure that we could do much more really. The most valuable commodity that we've got is our time and so the only way we could be more helpful would be to give more time - and realistically, that's one thing a small business doesn't have that much of.”
Rob believes that these sort of links can and should be maintained, and that schools can help by making it as easy as possible for the business and, "making sure that the students we are working with are receptive to what we are saying .. and that its not just another part of the course they have to do to get a pass.”
