Follow our blog to find out more about issues affecting apprenticeships, host companies and the plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying industry in general.
We'll also be posting real-life stories featuring Masterlink Apprentices, Hosts and Regional Managers.
Two young jobseekers have entered into plumbing apprenticeships, thanks to a Skills for Industry initiative between Masterlink, Master Plumbers and the Ministry of Social Development. We caught up on progress with their host employers, who receive a $10,000 subsidy.
Large drainage projects are all in a day’s work for Masterlink apprentice Shea Reynolds. For the past year, he's been working on a major project at the men’s and women’s prisons in Christchurch and the nearby, lower-security Rolleston Prison.
Ben McCulloch says his plumbing apprenticeship has taught him many things, including how to deal with people. “I used to be quite shy and quiet, but it has made me more confident in myself and my skills.”
The thing Raukawa Paama likes most about plumbing is that she’s finally getting to build stuff.
At the 2019 New Zealand Plumbing Awards held on the Gold Coast, five recipients received scholarships, with one overall winner. Each recipient received a trophy and a certificate, plus a $1,000 voucher from Plumbing World. The overall Supreme Scholarship winner also won a trip to the 2019 New Zealand Plumbing Conference in Sanctuary Cove, Queensland, from 29-31 May.
Patrick Smith’s plumbing career began with a chance conversation and is now earning him accolades.
Ranging in age from 19 to 31 and located on the North and South Islands, these apprentices all share a love of plumbing and a desire to encourage more women to pick up a spanner.
The Skills Organisation has incorporated more learning into block courses by introducing an online, at-home component. Apprentices will need to have access to a computer and the internet to complete their theory assessments.