Woman with Windows

Hannah McDowell pretty much just fell into her glazing apprenticeship when the Ashburton Glassworks needed another glazier. But now it's everything she ever wanted, she says. 

 

Hannah used to do odd jobs such as vacuuming at the glassworks after school, and one school holiday they were short of a glazier so she started helping out full-time. When she finished school there was nothing else she especially wanted to do and her family were happy for her to take a job with the glassworks. 

 

"I really love it. It's something different," Hannah says. "I like getting out there and meeting people, and not being stuck inside all day. I'm learning different things, there's heaps to do, and there's a variety of work."

 

She finds glass an interesting material to work with. "You can do so much with it compared to what it was. You can have completely glass walls suspended from the roof down to the floor."

 

Lifting large sheets of glass can be a challenge, but Hannah says there are generally two people if something is too big. "It's not so much the lifting that's the hard part, it's more the new systems you haven't seen before that you struggle with, like aluminium frames. If you've never seen them before, you don't know what to do and you don't know if you're doing them right or not." 

 

At 19, Hannah is in the third year of her apprenticeship. Her work gives her a truck and tools, and it takes her out and about for most of the day. 

 

At building sites around Ashburton, Hannah is usually the only woman. Her advice to other women in trades is simple. "Don't be afraid of all the guys when you go to building sites. Some people think 'You'll never be able to do the job,' but just stand up for yourself.

 

"Sometimes people are like, 'I'd like to speak to someone else.' That puts you off, but don't be offended by it. Some of the older generation are not willing to adjust for girls being in the trade."

 

But Ashburton is a small place and the tradespeople all know Hannah's work, so they have accepted her. "I've had no problems on building sites."

 

Ashburton Glassworks is a small company with three people doing everything including windows, windscreens, showers, and mirrors. Hannah's apprenticeship is mostly handson, without much paperwork, she says. Her boss mentors her through the sixteen unit standards in her apprenticeship, mostly by correspondence, and there are three block courses in Wellington. 

 

Because she's started so young, Hannah feels she's got plenty of time to change career options later on if she wants. She knows she wants to take time out to travel, but once she's qualified she won't have any trouble picking up work. In the future she might work in an office where her knowledge of the glass trade would be an asset, she says.

 

Hannah's apprenticeship started her on $10.50 an hour and it has now gone up to $12.50. She also gets a $15 tool allowance every week. Fully qualified glaziers earn around $17.50 an hour, and more in bigger cities where the going rate is from $18 to $20 an hour.