When Peter Kaden and his wife decided to start a family, he also made the tough decision to leave the Australian Defence Force and start the search for a Plumbing Apprenticeship.
And the search was not a short one. However, their journey from a family of two to a family of five only motivated him to seek an apprenticeship more after they welcomed the birth of their triplets.
“It took a couple of years to be put on as an adult apprentice, I tried for about three years,” he said. “Initially when I got out of the Army, I went into mining, but it just didn’t do it for me.”
With three children at home and his wife also working, Peter kept trying to find that apprenticeship he’d been seeking and before he knew it, he commenced an apprenticeship with Skillset in 2017.
Skillset has been recruiting and supporting apprentices and trainees through to completion for over 39 years. Their goal is to maximise the success of the training for apprentices and trainees and provide skilled employees to mentor the next generation of workers to meet the business needs of the future.
“I knew about Skillset through a mate who worked at Western NSW Local Health District, and he told me about the apprenticeship being offered through Skillset,” he said.
“I got my Certificate III in Plumbing with Skillset and they have been really good; they’ve put on a few apprentices and the way that they support their staff through their training really works. They would see me once a month to make sure everything was on track for my training. ”
Of course, any journey to a career comes with hard work and sacrifices. For any adult apprenticeship, one of the biggest boundaries to entry is the salary.
“It was tough for the first couple of years, but we just cut back. It’s 100% worth it in the end,” he said. “It’s only really those first two years that you’re at the lower end of the payrate, once you’re in your third and fourth you’re on a good wage. And you are getting a trade, and you’ve got that forever.”
The hard work has paid off for Peter, being awarded the 2020 Skillset Apprentice of the Year Award. For Peter, he believes that he was rewarded because of his passion for both his job and his family.
“The kids are my motivation,” he said. “And I wanted to have this new career and the achievement of winning Apprentice of the Year recognised the commitment to my apprenticeship. I had to turn up. It was for financial reasons but I also enjoyed it and I was committed.”
He also credits Skillset and his host employer, Western NSW Local Health District for enabling him to balance his drive for work, and his family.
“They’ve supported me, and they are flexible when I need to look after the kids,” he said. “I also had good working hours and I just always made time to study amongst it.”
Peter’s children, two boys and a girl, are now eight years’ old and has recently completed his plumbing apprenticeship with Skillset. Since finishing his Certificate III, Peter is now completing a Certificate IV in Plumbing to become a licensed plumber to hopefully one day open his own business.
To anyone else in a similar position to Peter eight years ago, he insists that if you want something enough, you can make it work.
“You’ve got to really want it and be committed to completing an apprenticeship. But it’s worth it,” he said.
If you’re thinking about an apprenticeship or traineeships, Skillset is the largest employer of Apprentices and Trainees in the Central West. Skillset offers a range of services including recruitment, apprenticeship and traineeship services, skills development and mentoring programs as well as alternative senior school education pathways.
Visit them at www.skillset.com.au to see all apprenticeship and traineeship roles currently on offer.
