Heart beats like hammer for new career

WHEN Trent Cowan left Wellington Point High School a decade ago, he was delighted to gain a plumbing apprenticeship and the future looked rosy.
Three years later, however, the firm ran into financial difficulties and put off its workers.
The out-of-work apprentice had a "safety net" for such an emergency. "My dad (Rob Cowan) owns Metro Tiles at Capalaba and always needs workers so I was able to work with him," Trent says.
Trent gained a lot of satisfaction from not only the sales side of the business but also laying tiles from time to time.
Add the security of a regular income and a happy team and Trent says he did not need to think about any other work prospects for quite a while.

TRENT has surfed for many years so has spent much of his free time in the waves on Straddie or the Gold Coast. Fishing is another love, so Trent has often been out on Moreton Bay or offshore. His best recent catch was a 5kg, 80cm snapper, which he hooked late last year off the east side of Green Island.
As Trent reached his mid-20s, he began to think seriously about his future.
After his long association with the building industry he decided to seek a career in carpentry and obtained work experience with a builder who offered to take him on but then suffered a downturn and could not go ahead with the plan.
That’s why a "hardworking and reliable" 26-year-old with his own tools is again working as a tile specialist and has advertised for a carpentry apprenticeship.

HE wants to be able to finish a job and say "I built that". Apart from the promise of such pride in achievement, carpentry will take him outdoors and to various sites, rather than having him "stuck inside all day", he says.
He has been living at Manly but says he is about to move back to the Redlands, where he was "born and bred" and which he loves because of its "leafy environment" and sense of community.
A Redland City job would be ideal but Trent says he will travel to get that apprenticeship.
He is disappointed no one has called with an offer. Despite his ad appearing in the Positions Wanted section, he received several calls from applicants seeking an apprenticeship – which is a puzzle as the ad was crystal clear.

TRENT certainly hasn’t given up hope. "I’ll just keep on trying I guess," he says. "I’m willing to do an unpaid trial for a month so maybe that will help."

Thanks for joining me to meet the great people in the marvellous community of classified advertising. This column has appeared in The Redland Times, a Fairfax Media newspaper.