Q&A with Neave, building apprentice
Our next featured lady tradie is a versatile and talented building apprentice steadily working her way towards a qualification in sunny Nelson.
Before we dive into the answers from our Q&A, we wanted to share this absolute gem from Neave’s Instagram profile. In a post which included a video of her young daughter, she wrote about the “why” behind her decision to share her career journey on social media:
“The little person watching over my shoulder and people like her- the next generation of tradies who might look a little different to the generations before them.”
Here’s to a new generation of tradies that looks a little different!
The road to construction
Before deciding to take on a building apprenticeship, Neave exercised her entrepreneurial spirit with a small business making custom cookies for events, special events, and markets.
Why the move into building as a career choice? Neave says:
“My husband is a builder, and seeing the types of projects he was involved in day to day and the types of tasks he was doing sparked my interest. I wanted a skill, a job that was active, and to learn via an apprenticeship as I didn't want to add to my student loan.”
Tradie favs
Of course, we have to ask all of our spotlighted tradies their favourite tool brand, and so far we’ve had quite the array of answers. Neave threw a new company into the ring:
“Milwaukee- Milwaukee packout is a thing of beauty!”
And her favourite cliché is an acronym and nickname which Neave assures us applies to at least one tradie in any town:
“FIGJAM. That’s ‘F*** I’m Good, Just Ask Me.’”
Building is for girls
Like our other interviewees, Neave reports her experience as a woman in the trades to be largely positive.
“I enjoy the onsite banter and getting stuck into a project.”
When asked whether a culture shift has happened, Neave was optimistic but pointed out that there is still a long way to go. She mentioned that there are people—a small number of people, but some nonetheless—who still hold the belief that women don’t have a place in construction, or just can’t understand why they would want to work in the trades. To help change that, we can:
“Continue to foster discussion around females in construction, and provide visibility of women currently in the trades to women outside the trades who are looking for a career or returning to the workforce.”
She also had some advice for young women seeking a similar career:
“Try and connect with other women in trades, especially women in your local area, see if they can connect to women already in the trade you are interested in. They can often point you in the direction of employers that are looking to help women become skilled in a trade.”
Thanks so much to Neave for taking the time to answer our questions and be a part of our “women in trades” blog series. If you haven’t already, head over and check out our Q&As with Pauline the electrician and Bex the builder for more.
