How Hutcheon & Pearce Doubled Its Apprentice and Trainee Intake in 2023

H&P’s bumper
2023 crop

At Hutcheon & Pearce, we’ve always been focused on growing our own crop of qualified technicians and parts interpreters. This year we’ve doubled down on our commitment, taking on 30 new apprentices and trainees in 2023, which is twice the size of previous intakes. Talk about a bumper crop!

With our recent expansion into the north of the state, things looked a little different this year at the TOPGUN interview days.

Firstly, there were two days, and as our new Training and Apprenticeships Coordinator Shayne Newton explains, a southern and northern event meant working to local conditions, just like our farmers do.

“We held our South day in Wagga with 20 attendees taking part in interviews with the HR team, our general managers and representatives from the branch they applied to work at. They also sat an aptitude test, which helps us gauge where they’re at with literacy and numeracy, and took part in some teamwork challenges. We do these to get a feel for how they work together and what their group dynamic is going to be when they’re thrown into the workshop together.

“We then did all of that for our North day but instead of meeting everyone face-to-face, we took it all online. We did it virtually because of the floods and road conditions at the time. We just weren’t comfortable with having people travel. Half of the applicants couldn’t get there anyway, and it was held in the middle of the HSC, so we took that into account as well.

“Despite moving things online, it ran fantastically with really great candidates. It was refreshing for our new northern branches to see this approach, as they haven’t really had an apprenticeship program like ours before. I think the opportunity was really exciting for them and getting our new staff involved was fantastic, too.”

Of the 100+ people who applied, 30 apprentices and trainees have been offered roles across 17 of our branches. These new recruits will be onboarded before Christmas and will start work in late January.

Having now overseen the TOPGUN interview days, Shayne is excited to see what the new year will bring for both the recruits and H&P.

“I’m excited for this group of people. It seems we’ve got ourselves a lot of very ambitious and keen applicants who are all just so excited to roll up their sleeves and get involved.

“I think our program is a standout because of how much we incorporate John Deere training into the mix. Once people find out how it works and what we actually offer, they seem to have this energy about them that’s says, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen anything like this before’.

“At the moment, we’re really celebrating the fact that we’ve had as many applicants as we did and we’re looking forward to having 30 new staff start with us in January. That’s exciting for us.”

TRAINING THE BEST OF THE BEST
Shayne Newton is no stranger to H&P’s apprenticeship program. Having been with us for more than four years, Shayne started as a receptionist before moving into payroll, then a Work Health and Safety role and then the Training and Apprenticeship Coordinator position earlier this year. Day-to-day she supports all of the apprentices, making sure they’re all enrolled in and attending TAFE and that meeting their learning milestones, both at TAFE and in their respective branch workshops. When she’s not working in our apprenticeship program, she helps organise internal and external training opportunities for the broader Hutcheon & Pearce group, which includes more than 420 staff.
“I’m passionate about my new role working with apprentices. My partner Lincoln is the Service Manager in Temora and he’s worked at Hutcheon & Pearce for 12 years, going from an apprentice to Service Technician to Foreman, and now to Service Manager. I’ve been part of half of those transitions and have gained an insight into how careers progress at Hutcheon & Pearce, as well as the training needs for different roles.
“I’m quite close with Lincoln’s work colleagues, and I’m passionate about making sure that when we send a technician out, we’re sending out a somone with all of the skills and knowledge they need to get the job done. And I really enjoy the supportive side of the job. They’re such a fantastic bunch and just being able to sit down and have a conversation with them or pick up the phone and ask how everything’s going at work and in life is good. I think they feel the support.”