Sarah Cudmore never considered welding as a career when she was growing up - it was always a job for boys.
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But when she needed a job she decided to give it a go and found a passion for the craft, but being a woman in an industry dominated by men hasn't always been easy.
Its why her goal is to climb the ladder and be visible to other young women in trades, and why she's part of a new See What You Can Be program being set up to increase the recruitment and retention of women and girls into male-dominated industries in the Grampians region.
"I got in to (welding) truly because I just needed a job and I thought why not, then found I loved it and it's what I'm going to do with my life.
"I owe a lot to the people who gave me a chance, who saw something in me I didn't even know I had and I've grown from that."
A friend gave her an hour's welding tutorial the night before her job interview at MaxiTRANS and when she was given a weld test and took on the feedback her interviewers provided and improved each time, she got the job.
"There's been challenges along the way which if I had known about perhaps I wouldn't have gone in to it and that's why I pretty well jumped at the opportunity to get involved with this.
"MaxiTRANS is a huge place and I was working with only really men when I got my apprenticeship, and at school there's only really men apart from the odd woman I see once a month ... and at the same time I was kind of wishing I had some kind of female role model who had already been there, done that and could show me the way."
Ms Cudmore has become part of an industry reference group who have been working with Women's Health Grampians on the CoRE Hi-Vis project, which aims to help construction and manufacturing businesses attract and retain female employees.
IN OTHER NEWS
Women's Health Grampians has received a $680,000 grant over three years to develop the See What You Can Be program through the federal government's Women's Leadership and Development program.
See What You Can Be will develop workplace programs for organisations in construction and manufacturing, support and train women working in male-dominated industries to become mentors and advocates on gender equality within their sectors, and develop a program to enhance pathways for girls and women into male-dominated industries, including career education.
"We know that women were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is important that women have opportunities to be included in those industries which will lead our economic recovery," said Women's Health Grampians chief executive Marianne Hendron.
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