Sam Keenan - ex pupil

I’m an ex-student of Geraldine high school and currently working as an apprentice for RN Building here in Geraldine. This is just a bit about my life in school and the lead-up to where I am now in my workplace and how I got myself to where I am today. I remember being in your position 3.5 years ago, in 2019, sitting in the same hall listening to guest speakers come and talk about various pathways. I’ll be honest I never paid much attention to these and some of them dragged on a bit so I’ll do you all a favour and try to keep this short but I’d like you to all try to take at least one thing away from this.

When it came to academics I was never a smart fella in school, I always just tried to do the bare minimum and was happy enough with getting an achieved grade on my exams. I remember sitting in my maths class listening to the teacher trying to explain trigonometry to us thinking to myself, this is silly when am I ever gonna need to know this in life? Well, guess what, I wish I listened to that now. It would make my job a whole lot easier now if I had. 

On the other hand, the subjects I enjoyed the most were the practical ones such as PE, Hard Tech and Outdoor Ed. Being brought up in a family keen on all things outdoors I found a love for Outdoor Ed and my skills quickly progressed through that. I always looked forward to the trips away with my mates sitting around a table eating dinner and listening to Mr T’s great yarns. From Outdoor Ed, my skills became recognised and I was awarded the Rangitata Rafts Scholarship where I would go up during the summer to work with the guides there and train to become one myself. After a few weeks there I soon found that maybe I didn’t want to pursue this as a career. It was a great job if you were purely passionate about that life but I wanted to try something different. This is where my love for being creative came into play. As I mentioned, Hard Tech was also one of my favourite subjects. The thrill of designing something completely from scratch and then getting stuck-in in the workshop to bring your plans to life was something that brought me great satisfaction. From here, using Gateway at school, I went out once a week to work with a local builder. From this, I quickly grew a liking to the construction industry and learnt that there was so much more to discover and learn in the trade.

I was lucky enough to know my current boss Ryan Neutze, owner of RN Building through family, and at the end of my senior year, I approached him to ask for some part-time work after I finished school. I did a couple of trial days and was soon offered a job as a labourer full-time, then went on to start my apprenticeship journey 6 months later. This process may sound daunting to some but honest truth… it’s not.

Recently, I competed in the New Zealand Certified Builder’s Apprentice of the Year Challenge. At first, I was hesitant about this as I felt it was just an ego booster but after some persuasion from my boss, I gave in and decided to give it a crack. 

First up was the regional event where I went to Ashburton to compete for the Mid and South Canterbury title, our given task was to build a kid's playhouse. I had just 8 hours to do this. It was no easy task and it’s safe to say I’ve never worked so fast in my life. After the 8 hours were up, the tools went down and I finally got to stand back and admire my finished product. I was awarded 1st place and received a $500 ITM gift voucher. 

Up next were the finals held in Christchurch, a trip fully paid for too by the way. This consisted more of theory, where I sat a 2-hour trade exam, gave a speech, wrote a cv and work portfolio, and sat a formal interview with the judging panel. There was also a fun event having to build a trike. There were some tough competitors there among the 21 of us who all fought well. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a place but walked away with over $3000 worth of tools that we got to keep just for turning up, plus bags and bags of other freebies. It’s safe to say I’m bloody stoked I entered it now and got as far as I did, keep in mind this didn’t cost me anything!

Now a quick word of advice, for any of you starting in the workplace, no matter where it may be, you’re gonna get given the bad jobs no one wants to do, but it’s just how it works. I was the same, I spent a lot of my first few months sweeping floors and cleaning sites but some wise words I once got told were, "You do those bad jobs well to 110% and you will be noticed for it, don’t complain just get on with it". 

A couple of key things that an employer looks for in the building industry are an apprentice who’s willing to learn, has the ability to listen to instructions and put the necessary action into place, is punctual and turns up on time every day and probably the most important one in my opinion, someone who brings character to the team! Being in a team of 6, we all get along well and you need to have that friendly banter every day on site.

I’m now in the 4th and final year of my apprenticeship, at this stage I’m now entrusted to run my own jobs and my knowledge and skills have grown tremendously over time. I’ve been lucky enough to have great teachers along the way who’ve taught me how to work quickly and efficiently while keeping top-quality craftsmanship. I’ve now been given a work truck and it’s kitted out just how I need it for day-to-day use. To me, this proves that if you work hard and knuckle down you can achieve what you want to and I am going to continue to do this with the goal of one day eventually building my own home. 

If you enjoy your job you will go far, so make sure that before you set your mind on one thing, try some other jobs that may fancy you, like I did with the rafting. That way, if you find it’s not for you then you are not stuck doing it for the rest of your life and living with those “what ifs” if you’d chosen to try another career path.

I encourage you all to get out there and give it a crack but just remember to do the hard work now at school so you’re prepared for it down the track, trust me you will thank me later for that one.