It may have started off a light joke, but when Olivia Scally found out she could apply to be a gas engineer apprentice, she jumped at the chance.
Olivia was working in a business administration role at repairs company Unitas when she found out about applications opening for apprentices within the gas engineering team.
Now in her second year as a gas engineer apprentice, Olivia was nervous before applying but said it’s the best thing she could have done.
“I honestly cannot recommend doing a trade; apprenticeships are the way forward. I’ve worked in different ways, and this is the best one by far,” she said.
OIivia was very conscious of going into a male-dominated field but has praised the support she has received.
She said: “I’ve had a crazy amount of support, everyone has pushed me, whether it’s family, friends or colleagues at work.
“I wish there would have been someone when I was much younger that showed me that you could be in a trade and it’s the norm. I can show up to a property and everyone is so shocked that there’s a girl, coming to do the gas check or servicing the boiler. If it was more made aware that girls could be in a trade, then there’d be a lot more females in the industry.
“There are no barriers, no one has shut me down, everyone has helped me to get qualified in the industry.”
Olivia’s typical day includes gas servicing and maintenance in properties across Stoke-on-Trent. She will conduct gas safety checks, which includes servicing boilers, testing appliances and fitting replacement part in a boiler that has been isolated for safety purposes.
As part of her apprenticeship Olivia, attends Stoke on Trent College’s Burslem campus once a week for a mix of classroom-based learning and practical work.
“I’m doing things I probably wouldn’t be doing out in the field, which could be soldering, pipework, fitting radiators, working with fires and cookers. Being at college is the opportunity to make a mistake, getting comfortable, getting hands-on and getting the opportunity to learn,” Olivia explained.
As she gets closer to being a qualified Gas Engineer with Unitas, Olivia hopes that her story can inspire a new generation of female gas engineers and open more doors for women in industry-type roles.
She said: “I don’t think enough places push women for roles in the trades.
“Women should and deserve the chance to complete a qualification. Taking that initial jump has paid off, and I wished I’d have done it years ago.”
Rachel Forster, Unitas’ Corporate Social Responsibility Co-ordinator said: “Over the past two years we have seen Olivia flourish and her confidence grow. She is a young woman working in a construction world and this encourages other women to consider an apprenticeship within the gas engineering industry.”
To find out more about apprenticeship opportunities at Stoke on Trent College, click here.
