Overcoming stereotypes and challenges

Mercedes Mulder is a young apprentice who’s going places. Read her thoughts on work and life in every second issue of Radiator.

The most expected challenge for me working as an apprentice is the stereotypes I face working in a ‘man’s world’.

Luckily for me, I have got pretty thick skin and it takes a lot to offend me, and the worst effect these stereotypes have on me is they make me laugh. There is no doubt these stereotypes are still out there. I’ve found myself under a vehicle with oil on my forehead and spanner in hand and there have been customers who have still walked up to me to ask if I am cleaning under there or ask for a mechanic.

I’ve been fitting a fuel filter out on the road and customers have asked me if I would like to clean their vehicle too!

When I state that I work at a dealership, the immediate response is always. “Are you a groomer or a receptionist?”.

At times these things have frustrated me, but they have also taught me not to give up, that everything works itself out and that it is okay to ask for help.

For me these have been some of the challenges I experienced and overcame, and I consider none of these things a negative aspect of the job, they are simply a small part of my job.

I view challenges as the most exciting things about life and the feeling of success when you overcome that challenge is epic

Beginners’ challenges

You do need to be strong, but technique plays a big part when it comes to heavy lifting.

I was very intimidated by all these things. Especially doing something that I had never done before! But luckily for me, all my colleagues were super friendly and supportive, which made settling in a breeze.

The fact that I was so fresh to the ‘mechanic scene’ as a new apprentice and the fact that I was a female living with the stereotype of knowing nothing about vehicles made this job very intimidating – but I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge.

When I started, I felt like I was in a different position from most new apprentice mechanics. I assumed most fresh apprentices would have been working on their own project cars for years and would have at least a basic knowledge of cars before beginning their apprenticeship. Some do pre-trade courses, which give them an idea of what the job entails and a brief understanding of the components in a vehicle. But that wasn’t where I was coming from, I didn’t do a pre-trade course and I had not been working on my or my friends’ project cars since I was young. I had watched my dad servicing my vehicles over the years, but the amount of information I absorbed was very minimal when it came to my new career.

Technique trumps strength

One of my hobbies is going to the gym and combining this with my quite physical job at my former employment, Silver Fern Farms Freezing Works, made me feel reasonably strong.

The funny part of starting as an apprentice mechanic was that this strength had nothing against the basic tasks of an everyday mechanic. Lifting wheels and tyres onto a vehicle, undoing a diff bung, rolling the vehicle forward from the hoist – these basic tasks made me so mad because my strong independent woman self couldn’t figure them out and I had to ask for help!

Meeting new people, all the new names to remember, finding my way around a new place and even just figuring out the basics of who does what was all part of a new challenge for me when I started at South Canterbury Hyundai as an apprentice mechanic.

A new type of strength definitely arose from my job; however I quickly learnt that although strength was helpful, the most beneficial skill I could gain was technique - and it is okay to ask for help when you are struggling or unsure about something.