How to Become an Apprentice

Now that Kale has been working here for more than a year, the outside world has decided this apprenticeship is working. As a result, I’ve had a lot of woodworkers (professional and amateur) ask me how Kale got this position. How did I find them? How did I know they would be a good fit in our workshop?

Also, I know that other young woodworkers are wondering: How can I get a good apprenticeship?

My answer to all of these questions are this simple story. Kale approached me and said they were interested in making chairs. After they demonstrated they were enthusiastic about the work, I made Kale an offer I’ve made to at least a dozen people.

“Great,” I said. “Here’s my contact information. I’d be happy to show you how to make a chair.”

Kale is the only person who has ever followed up after that conversation. I’m being honest. I’ve had hour-long conversations with people who were ready to take a blood oath on the sap of a stick chair. And I said the same thing to them.

“Great,” I said. “Here’s my contact information. I’d be happy to show you how to make a chair.”

And I never heard from them.

I’ve had people show up at my door begging to learn to make chairs.

“Great,” I said. “Here’s my contact information. I’d be happy to show you how to make a chair.”

And I never heard from them.

Kale followed up. They visited our shop, and we set a day to go to the lumberyard and pick out some wood. And we progressed through building a chair step by step. There were days when Kale was too beat after their day job to work on the chair, but they let me know they couldn’t make it, and we set a date to try again.

Basically, Kale showed up. They grabbed the opportunity and stuck with it. (We were flexible about their timing and the pacing – it wasn’t supposed to be a job interview or some sort of test.)

At the end, it was obvious to me that Kale was serious. And Kale didn’t appear to hate my guts.

So win-win.

Take from this what you will. If you are an employer looking for an apprentice, I encourage you to look for local people who have deep connections to the area. People who work hard, cheerfully and consistently. And people who would consider an apprenticeship a step up from what they are doing right now.

And if you want to become an apprentice, I would defer to Kale to give you good advice.

From my end, I wanted someone who was willing to learn the trade over a long term. Not a week-long class. More like a year-long class (for starters). And someone who didn’t think that scut-work like cleaning up is beneath them.

Part of the trade is making a mess. So cleaning up behind yourself is an important part of the life.

I’ve had students question me as I’m sweeping up the mess in the shop while everyone around is making a mess.

“Why clean up when it’s just going to get messy in a few minutes?” they’d ask.