Disillusioned by school, Charly Simpson wanted to leave as soon as she could.
She had no plans for her future beyond continuing to work in the café where she already had a part-time job.
But a conscientious careers adviser picked up on her passion for tinkering with cars.
Now Charly,18, from Perth, has embarked on her dream career as an engineering apprentice.
And she wants to encourage other young people floundering like she was to seek help to find their path.
Charly found it difficult to focus on her studies in S4 at Bertha Park High School.
Charly’s first step to becoming an engineering apprentice
She says: “I had completely given up on school when I started S4.
“The teachers were great, but I was struggling.”
Time away from school during Covid lockdowns didn’t help her motivation.
She says: “I wasn’t really looking into the future at this point.
“I had a job in a café in Pitlochry and thought that could be something I could do when I left school.”
But the first step in her turnaround was hearing a talk from the school’s careers adviser Maxine Scott.
That inspired her to think more positively about what lay beyond school and seek help.
She says: “Maxine joined a school assembly meeting to speak to my year about the help she can give pupils and I spoke to her after that.”
Charly arranged a meeting with Maxine and they spoke about her interests outside school.
Maxine explains: “I could see that she took inspiration from her dad, who worked in forestry, and she also loved to help him fix and refurbish old cars.
“Charly spoke about how she enjoyed doing practical things and she couldn’t see herself working in an office.”
Maxine suggested Charly look into apprenticeships so she could seek a job giving her hands-on experience while working towards a qualification.
Meeting SSE Renewables
Charly said: “I hadn’t thought about apprenticeships as an option before, but when Maxine explained them to me they sounded great and we started to look at tons of them.
“I was only 15 at that point so needed to wait a bit and stay on in school.
“So I used that time to work with Maxine to get me ready for interviews.
“We would meet once a week and check any new opportunities that came up to see what they were looking for from candidates.”
They would also attend careers fairs and it was at one of those that Charly met people from energy company SSE Renewables.
She says: “The apprenticeships at SSE Renewables sounded great, because of my interests in the environment and engineering.”
Charly made it through a rigorous five-stage interview process with Maxine’s coaching and support.
And in August last year she started her mechanical and electrical engineering Modern Apprenticeship.
Charly is training at Rosyth Dockyard with Fife College for the first stage of her four-year apprenticeship.
During the summer she also got experience at Clunie Power Station in Pitlochry, where she’ll be based from the start of next year.
Clunie Power Station is part of SSE Renewables’ Tummel Hydro scheme.
She says: “I love my apprenticeship because there is a lot to learn and renewables progress every day.”
‘Looking forward to the rest of my life’
Charly admits she found the engineering apprentice programme challenging at first.
She says: “Three days of work in the workshop and then two days learning was a lot to manage at first.
“But I think my work ethic has really changed, which I think is because I have the drive for it and get a lot more stuck into what I am doing.”
She’s now on course for a rewarding career in a growing industry.
Charly remains grateful for the helping hand she got and encouraged other young people to seek advice.
She says: “I didn’t expect the kind of help I got from Maxine but she was amazing.
“I wouldn’t be here in my dream job if it wasn’t for Maxine.
“She made me get out of my shell and look forward to the rest of my life.”
During Scottish Careers Week (November 11 to 15) events are being held across Tayside and Fife to give people industry insight and careers support.
To find out more about local and national events visit the Skills Development Scottish Careers Week website.
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