Encouraging young people to consider a career in the automotive industry, and offering pathways for them to pursue, is an important part of MTA Queensland’s mission to both help industry tackle the challenge of workforce and skills shortages as well as prepare the next generation of professionals through high-quality training. In the past couple of years, the Association has targeted this objective by developing closer ties with other industry organisations and companies that share its ambition. Such a relationship that has been particularly fruitful is one with Capricorn.
Over the past year, MTA Queensland has run career expos in parallel with Capricorn’s trade show events enabling hundreds of school students to be introduced to businesses that span the breadth of industry sectors and learn about the career options open to them. It was at the Brisbane expo and trade event, held in May 2024, that Phoenix Hooper, an 18-year-old high school student, discovered the pathway to his chosen career.
Uncertain exactly what to do once he had left school but with a healthy interest in cars, Phoenix first attended a Careers Expo on the Gold Coast and followed that up by attending the Brisbane expo. It was here that he made a connection with Pedders Suspension & Brakes, which has more than 120 outlets across Australia, and his interest in really pursuing an automotive career was sparked. At that Brisbane expo, Phoenix met Daryn Brims, Director of the DPD Group which has four Pedders stores across southeast Queensland, including a site at Lawnton that includes a workshop and a warehouse facility. It was a conversation with Daryn at the expo that convinced Phoenix that a career in automotive was the direction he should choose.
“Daryn asked me, ‘What makes you interested in cars?’,” said Phoenix. “I replied, ‘I’m a P-Plater, I love to go fast!’ He then asked me if I had ever thought of slowing down, by which he meant in terms of upgrading brakes, getting better suspension and so on. As soon as he asked that question, I realised I had never thought about it before. “I went home, and it was about 10pm and I’m in the shed tearing apart my car, checking out the brakes, checking out what kind of suspension I had and figuring out just how it all works . . . I really had a look into it and I was like, ‘Yes! This is what I want to do!’.”
Due to attending the Brisbane expo, Phoenix was now on MTA Queensland’s radar and he was invited, along with about 25 other school students, to another automotive career-focused event – this time one being held at the Pedders Lawnton site and one which was the first such event to blossom out of a new relationship being established between Pedders and MTA Queensland. The event included a tour of the facility and a presentation to the students about the career opportunities with Pedders and the wider industry. At the event were Scott Pedder, Managing Director of the company, and Daryn Brims. Also, there were a number of MTA Queensland representatives and Petrina Brims, Daryn’s wife and also a director of DPD Group.
“I got an invitation to visit the workshop and just seeing all the other people, seeing the warehouse and the shop and a bit of the office was great,” said Phoenix. “And that’s when I met Petrina. She gave me a rundown of how things work here, and I said, ‘I’m interested in getting some work experience. I want to get into this field.’ I’m grateful she gave me the opportunity to do that.” Motor Trader caught up with Phoenix while he was doing that work experience and it had, he said, confirmed for him that automotive – and more specifically the underbody technology in which Pedders specialises – is the sector in which he would like to kickstart his career.
Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (December 2024 / January 2025)
7 February 2025