Haiden Jelfs joined the team at GfA in October 2021 as Trainee Technician and started a 3-year apprenticeship in Engineering and Electrical Maintenance. And, in his own words, he loves it.
Haiden said: "An apprenticeship is the best route to kick start your career. You get to be employed and learn your trade, working within an organisation getting experience on the job, but also learning at college. And both help each other. What I learn here at GfA helps my college [work], and my college [work] helps me when I'm here."
Haiden's college work is assignment based, so there are no exams, and at the end of the course next summer, 2024, he'll be awarded a Level 3 NVQ qualification in Engineering and Electrical Maintenance.
And Haiden is very excited about his prospects for the future too. He continued: "Electrical Engineering is a great industry to get in to - it opens up lots of options for you like being an electrical engineer or domestic electrician. The apprenticeship gives you a really useful qualification to help you progress in lots of different areas of the industry”.
During the last two years, Haiden has shown he is already a confident and capable young man. He said, "I start the day by looking at the orders that have come in and prioritising the work I need to do. My mentor, Scott Roberts, [Senior Technician] has taught me how to work independently and how to prioritise my work. He’ll say this job needs to be completed by a certain date, and I have to organise myself and the work to meet the deadline. I can be wiring panels one day, and the next I might be assembling drive units."
Haiden initially spent three days working at GfA in the electrical department with the remainder of the week at college during term time – he’s now based 5 days a week at GfA.
He regularly meets for reviews with his assessor to keep him on track to complete his apprenticeship by next July.
And advice for others thinking about an apprenticeship? Haiden says: "I'd definitely recommend the apprenticeship route to anyone thinking about it. You're gaining knowledge and experience, and you're hands-on learning on the job and also getting paid."
His manager, Tim Drysch, Head of Electrical, said: "It’s great to be helping our industry by bringing through talented young people and offering good engineering and commercial jobs. Haiden is a good team player and a talented young engineer.”
Haiden loves reporting to Tim whose electrical experience is vast: “Working directly with Tim, who creates the drawings that I work from, means we have a great understanding of what’s required and just makes the whole process a lot smoother and efficient, which helps us provide a great service to our customers.”
At GfA we are committed to supporting and training staff and have an active apprenticeship programme. If you'd like to learn more about how we can get you started on a great career path, visit our careers page today.
