A very modern apprentice

Meet Mercedes – our new columnist. Mercedes Mulder is a young apprentice who’s going places. Read her thoughts on work and life every second month in Radiator.

Welcome to the life of a female apprentice mechanic called Mercedes, who drives an Audi and works for a Hyundai/Isuzu dealership in Timaru.

With that combination, you can imagine I’ve heard a few lines.

“Shouldn’t you be working at a Mercedes dealership?”

“Have you heard the song by Janis Joplin?”

“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?”

“They should have called you Audi!”

I’ve heard it all before and the short answer is, I was not named after the car Mercedes Benz. I was an IVF child so my parents chose to name me after the name of Spanish origin meaning ‘gracious gifts’. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I’d like to share a little about what’s it’s like to be an apprentice in New Zealand in 2023. To start with, let me share a bit about my journey into the industry.

Many people don’t look forward to their Mondays, because that means going back to work, and many people don’t enjoy their jobs. I, however, am quite the opposite. I love my job and my colleagues and I’m very passionate about what I do; I look forward to the next challenge that will drive through the door in life and at work.

I didn’t start off working with cars. Straight out of school I worked for Silver Fern Farms for a season and a half. I enjoyed it - I have always been a passionate person and someone who likes to make the best out of every situation. Working at the freezing works allowed me to take some time while earning some good money to decide what I wanted for a career. Working there also allowed me to save for my first car, a 2008 Audi TT 3.2 V6, which I adored.

I was also able to purchase my first home along with my partner during the Covid pandemic. This is an achievement I am very proud of as I was only 19 at the time.

My first day at work.

With my very supportive mum and dad.

Not long after we bought our first home, the freezing works had its annual off season.

Although I loved my job, I was hungry for something more, a challenge and a qualification.

I didn’t want to be at the freezing works forever, so I decided to go around some of Timaru’s motoring industry businesses and ask for work experience so that I could see if the job I had been wanting to do since a child was for me. That job was to be a mechanic.

My dad is a mechanic and I grew up watching him work on vehicles and I found it fascinating. I always had an interest in cars, and I have fond memories of watching the V8s on TV with him every Sunday. As I got older though, I didn’t give it much thought as it wasn’t a university qualification, and I am a female and it was a very male-dominated industry.

I visited a couple of businesses and found that they didn’t really intrigue me, but when I found myself on the doorstep of Hyundai Isuzu South Canterbury, it felt like I was in the right place.

It had a lot of familiarities to me: it was the dealership my dad worked at 10 years ago when it was John Bradley Hyundai; I could remember myself running around the place as a 10-year-old and a few of the staff members were familiar. It instantly felt like home.

Fate plays a hand

I think fate was playing its hand here as there was a job for an apprentice in the workshop! Financially, I was apprehensive; I thought there was no way I could do it as I had only bought a house a month earlier and the pay change from freezing works to an apprentice wage would most likely be impossible to manage.

After that visit I didn’t want to go anywhere else and that’s when I knew I wanted to be an apprentice mechanic for Hyundai Isuzu South Canterbury. I checked it out a few more times and ran some numbers, decided it would be tight, but I knew this was what I wanted to do.

I took a leap and applied for the job.

I am a firm believer that if it was meant to be, it would happen and it all happens for a reason. When I want something in life such as to achieve a goal like this, I’ll work hard to get it (so sorry if I emailed you a few too many times, John).

A few weeks later, I accepted a job offer and I was starting my new apprenticeship as a mechanic. This is where my story begins.

I have achieved many goals that I have aimed for and I know there are plenty more goals and adventures to arise throughout the next year and my lifetime. I want to share with the MTA members and perhaps reach a wider audience about my experiences and what it is like to be a young female apprentice. Not only would I like to share my stories, I would also love to inspire people to take the leap and give an apprenticeship a go themselves.

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