Stories


Amy Lister

Amy Lister

We last wrote about Amy back in 2019, which you can read here: https://jtltraining.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-electrical-apprentice-amy-lister-at-goodridge-electrical-contractors/

At that time, she was a hardworking apprentice getting well acquainted with day-to-day life at her employer, Goodridge Electrical Contractors.  This time we caught up with Amy as well as her employer Stephen, because after completing her JTL apprenticeship this year Stephen took Amy on as a full-time employee at Goodridge Electrical Contractors.

When Amy was first brought on as an apprentice at Goodridge Electrical Contractors in 2018, the electrical company consisted of just two people, Amy, and the owner Stephen Goodridge. Stephen told us:

“Work was just getting busier and busier. I kept trying to do everything myself, but I finally admitted I could do with another pair of hands. I decided I could start by taking an apprentice onboard.

“I was worried about bringing someone on initially, but it didn’t take too long for JTL to match me with Amy – she’d written to a lot of the companies in the area and had proven that she was clearly keen.”

From Amy’s side, she was looking for a total change, an entirely new day-to-day to what she was used to after 20 years of work in retail. She was eager to discover a new profession, any profession in fact. Amy told us:

“I just wanted a complete change, it wasn’t like I grew up with a plan of one day being an electrician, I was just looking for something totally new and different. I settled on working in the electrical industry over the other fields and found myself matched with Stephen.

“I certainly got what I asked for. Everything was new, not just the electrical knowledge and the theory, but the physical nature of the work. I had to start totally from scratch with every tool – I can remember picking up a drill for the first time.”

Stephen had gotten the extra pair of hands he asked for, but they weren’t quite the same as a pair of his own. He had a road ahead before he could rely on Amy completely, one of enough teaching and training that she could act as an extension of himself. He told us:

“I was genuinely glad that Amy came in with no experience because it meant everything that she learned would come from me. That was something I ended up really valuing down the line. When you train someone with your own methods, they become someone you can trust to look after things just as you would.”

Amy admired Stephen’s teaching process and appreciated the hands-on experience he gave her. She was enjoying herself and realised that as she was progressing, she was also becoming more and more of an asset to Stephen and his business.

“I could see that Stephen was letting me become more and more independent, meaning that whilst I worked, he could take phone calls and handle the administrative side of the business.

“One of our projects was working on a women’s ward at a hospital, and Stephen began sending me in to conduct some of the jobs there. The women felt more comfortable with me going in and said they found it refreshing to see a woman handling electrical work.”

The apprenticeship had led the pair to work closely together on a multitude of projects spanning four years, and Stephen couldn’t help but feel like there was a natural next step for Amy’s career.

“Amy’s progression was undeniable; she was getting to the point where she was acquiring an amount of knowledge close to my own. When her apprenticeship with JTL finally finished, I immediately offered her a place as a full-time employee.”

Nowadays, Goodridge Electrical Contractors has a total of 15 members of staff, four of which are JTL apprentices just like Amy once was. Stephen has taken a step back to allow Amy to teach the apprentices just how Goodridge Electrical Contractors likes things to be done.

“I trust Amy. She knows the right way to do things and she’s been with me since the start. All my quirks, tips and methods are now hers. How could I not trust her when I taught her exactly what to do?”

For more information about JTL apprenticeships, and how you can apply please visit https://jtltraining.com/train-with-us/

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