Chloe Smith undertook a joinery work placement in May which developed into a full-time job opportunity that she’ll be starting in the summer. We spoke to Chloe about the business, her experience on the joinery course and her big plans for the future.
Chloe has been here for 3 years and she is now ready to join a successful and technical industry.
She explains how a work placement has successfully placed her with a full-time job.
“I wanted to do a work placement because I wanted to get into the industry and gain a job out of it. I spoke to Terry (curriculum lead) to see if there was anything available. He came back with Realm Projects. It’s not far from where I live and I could drive so it’s perfect for me. He got it all sorted out and Linda emailed me about when it was, where is it, the time and everything. It was very good of him.”
We were intrigued to find out what Chloe got up to on her placement. She said: “I was doing kitchen cabinets and stuff like that, there was a lot of interiors of cabinets. I couldn’t work on any machinery or stuff like that due to health and safety and insurance. I was using little power tools and hand tools to do the doors and do little jobs. I went through the three workshops and got a feel for everything and met a lot of people. When I’m working there full time I’ll be in the joinery workshop, I’m glad to be in there. There were some things there, little tools and stuff that I haven’t seen before. Mainly at Realm, it’s not actually wood, it’s MDF with a veneer on the front. I brought some of my skills which helped it all mould together.”
Chloe was surprised and humbled by the employee’s kindness.
“I enjoyed the veneering side of it, it was the smallest workshop with three guys in there, it was nice to be able to actually talk to people. The best thing about it was the people there, they were so nice. I thought some of them would be like ‘it’s the girl, I’ve got to be with her’ but no they were all really nice and helpful.”
“It’s very different from being in the classroom, it is fast-paced, you’ve got to do it, you’ve got to be on time with stuff. If you do it wrong you’ve got to do it again really quickly. There’s no time to mess up.”
Why woodwork?
“Woodwork is the only thing I’m really good at. In school, I quite enjoyed it because its creative. Anything where I can express my creativity.”
“It doesn’t bother me that it is male-dominated. They asked me about it on my work placement and I said then I’m not bothered.”
The dream – to own my own business
“I want to have my own business. I don’t want to go on-site, I want to have my own little business, doing resin. I made something earlier this year. I went to a charity shop, bought some draws and made some shelving units with a resin river on the top of it.”