Female Wants A Job In The Automotive Industry

[Brin]

Hey guys, and sparing amounts of ladies,

Okay heres the go.

I finished my HSC in 2007, wanted to do something related to cars but Mom swayed me away from doing so. (Should not have let her, it is her own personal reasons - my father was a "grease monkey" too)

Through 2008 I completed a Business Admin Traineeship in Cert 3 at Blacktown Council. My contract with them ceased, and it seems they didn't want to keep on a little lady who takes her sick leave and annual leave to work on her car.

I can admit modestly, that I am quite good at the clerical skills involved with the course I undertook, and through my work at Council. If I continue with administration/secretarial work I could end up doing PA work and earning a sh!tload. The only thing though, is I am not passionate about clerical work. It does not challenge me, and I was teaching the 30 something year old "qualified" clerks how to do stuff.

I would really love a job in the automotive industry, whether it be secretarial or not, but I would really love to be hands on. I have applied for a few apprenticeships, but to no avail.

I then have to weigh up if I want to do 4 years at TAFE on a crappy wage to become a sparky, which means the last year and my cert 3 in admin has been a total waste of time.

How can I convince an employer that I am not a prissy little stuck up b!tch, how can I get into the industry without being laughed at, better yet, what if I was to complete a mechanic apprenticeship and then not be able to find work in that field?

Business Admin sucks. I wanna do something I love. I wanna work on cars. Help me out guys....................

Sab

 

[minux]

Ok firstly, it is MUM.

If you are good looking, good luck getting hired. Mechanics I know only hire fat chicks as hot ones generally crack the sads when working late nights and weekends.(mechanic mainly).

When it comes to jobs, it is best to not be passionate, allows you to move on chasing more $$$. I'd stick with what you at if you can earn a lot of money for it, although most clerks I see top out at 65k, even good PA's get paid bugger all now.

For the record, if you took sick leave to work on your car I would have fired you well before now. It is SICK leave for a reason, why should your employer have to pay out their money so you can work on a car when you are perfectly healthy?

 

[Joey_21]

its the risk you take ive been looking for an electrical app for a year i decided not to take one when i finished school wanted to go tafe which i did then finished and got offered another one but i wanted to do another course which fell through and the position was taken in the mean time its all about making tough decsions and wats best for u in the future not wats in the past

 

[VN_Luke]

I'm with minux on this one....

keep your current line of work and climb the ladder and get as much cash as you can for every hour that you're not at home

Then when you get home - blow that cash on stuff you love doing - i.e. your car.

Mates of mine who got into the automotive industry because they loved cars etc now all drive bombs and hate their jobs. They could build a car etc, but the last thing they want to do after a day of work is go home and work some more

 

[Tom_1569]

Ok firstly, it is MUM.

If you are good looking, good luck getting hired. Mechanics I know only hire fat chicks as hot ones generally crack the sads when working late nights and weekends.(mechanic mainly).

When it comes to jobs, it is best to not be passionate, allows you to move on chasing more $$$. I'd stick with what you at if you can earn a lot of money for it, although most clerks I see top out at 65k, even good PA's get paid bugger all now.

For the record, if you took sick leave to work on your car I would have fired you well before now. It is SICK leave for a reason, why should your employer have to pay out their money so you can work on a car when you are perfectly healthy?

lol, I was going to point MUM/MOM out aswell. I dont care how badly you spell, just dont spell with american english, it shits me to no end.

Minux also has a fair point, most mechanics are more likely to hire a "butch" lady, because they will work, not be a sook, and not afraid to get dirty. Though I do know a girl who is a mechanic, very lady like out of hours, one of the boys in business hours.

Also dont make your passion something you will hate. I enjoy working on cars, spend most of my spare time doing it, BUT I would never do it as a job, it will kill all my interest and I would get sick of it.
If your good at clerical work then I would personelly stick with it (I stuck with IT for the record) as you will be more comfortable and still be able to enjoy your passion for cars on weekends.

On a side note, council traineeships are very well known for "letting you go" after the traineeship finishes because your wages are to high, and they can get another trainee easily as people use it as a bridge into uni.

 

[Zeussy]

heyy there, firstly let me say good on you for wanting to get into the mechanical field, and if thats what you decide to do then goodluck with it..

but in my experience, (albeit stuff all) if you do end up convincing an employer to give you a chance - (not saying that you or other women are incapible of doing such a job, or anyless suited to such a position) just that there will be quite a bit of the older 'alpha' male or whatever you call them, ''women shouldn't be in this line of work'' type attitude to deal with, although it is illeagle nowadays, with the harrasment laws, some will still do it.. in my opinion people like this should be shot - all they do is make everyone elses day at work harder than what it needs to be.. haha

although if you're willing to have a go for it, may i suggest some sort of pre-apprenticeship course, or other sort of training based in the mechanical field, it may not actually count for anything in your apprenticeship, but it might help persuade your future employer that this isnt just a spurr of the moment decision, and having a basic knowledge of mechanical principles, or a bit of an idea what does what sort of thing?, if that makes any sense, lol

and another thing to consider, although its not a real biggie, in buisiness admin, (not 100% sure what it entails) do you normally work in a/c offices? in a trade, its very rare to find such luxuries!! on a hot summers day you might be regretting it! but whatever you do have a good think about it, there isnt any real rush is there?
and like joey said, dont worry about the past, look forward to where you want to be!
take it easy n goodluck

 

[VrWagz1]

All i can add to this is mechancis wages = LOW
You can make better money almost anywhere(and probably less hard work), and areas like this are now vunerable to the current finacial crisis too, as some people decide to service their cars themselves or even start to skip services.

You gotta remember when ever you enter an industy where you deal direct with domestic customers you will never earn much as an employee, as you are always at the mercy of what a customer is going to pay.

 

[levymetal]

Mates of mine who got into the automotive industry because they loved cars etc now all drive bombs and hate their jobs. They could build a car etc, but the last thing they want to do after a day of work is go home and work some more

exactly, i've got mechanic mates, some drive vn v6s, vks, old old barinas... not many mechanics actually have a good car simply because they can't afford one. being a mechanic is a very hard, dirty job, and for the pay is absolutely disgusting - but someone's gotta do it. so consider yourself lucky that you're not! if you're passionate about something, keep that as your weekend hobby. i'm happily going to say that no one enjoys their job forever, even some famous people who **** money every day hate their lives and still end up commiting suicide. so whatever you do, you'll hate it one way or another, so take the easier course through life

 

[greenfoam]

Girls make the best spare parts people!, 10x easier job than being a mechanic and probably pays the same if not more

 

[MikesCalais]

Ok firstly, it is MUM.

Compared to many of the other posts on here, including many of my own - and most likely this one itself!, this one seemed pretty coherent, so I'd say we can let that one slide

anyway, I'd say (and its just my opinion of course) do what you really feel as though you should be doing... If working with cars is what you really want to do, I'd say go for it...

taking 'sickies' to work on your car doesnt seem like youre really overly excited about your work but its a trade off - doing what your passionate about, or earning some extra cash by doing something youre not so crazy about

just my two worthless cents