I’m a tradie boss – here’s my problem with Gen Z apprentices these days… and what you just can’t teach them anymore

A young director of a construction company says that students today feel that they deserve to be rich. They find it difficult to be rewarded after years of standing behind the work five to six days a week.

Corey Tomkins, 29, started his career at the age of 16 as an apprentice builder in his father’s company, before setting up his own construction company, Ideal Group, in Brisbane in 2018.

Mr Tomkins told Daily Mail Australia he was concerned about the current generation of students rising through the ranks, blaming social media for giving the wrong impression of how easy it is to succeed.

Influencers sell get-rich-quick schemes that “get into the heads of these students — and it almost creates a sense of entitlement,” he said.

“It’s not even that one percent of people who have a Lamborghini, a mansion, or a beautiful thing and they’re trumpeting it on social media.”

According to Mr. Tomkins, many students are unprepared for long, hard days behind the tools after high school.

‘Some people struggle with having to do that five or six days a week in a row and usually only get one break a day.’

When a promising apprentice joined his company, Mr Tomkins said it was sometimes a challenge to keep his attention, as many dropped out early.

Mr Tomkins pointed out that young craftsmen would see the rewards if they persevered through the apprenticeship.

“Construction is a profession that you tend to stick with, and if you stay in it long enough, you can see the financial benefits,” he said.

Mr Tomkins began taking on students purely based on their attitude and personality, rather than their ability.

He added that his very first apprentice, Jake, worked in a bar at night and was still on the job site every day, working hard no matter how boring the job was.

“So for the first two months, I didn’t care what he did outside of work, but he had to make sure he showed up. And in his defense, he showed up every day.

‘We have one guy, he’s been a student for a while now. He’s a middle-aged student, and he has a kid, and he shares a car with his partner.

‘But he still shows up on time every day, works hard, works on Saturdays too, and I don’t know how he does it, but he gets it done.

‘But on the other hand, I also have children who still live at home, their parents buy them a car, and all they have to worry about is going to work and doing their job.

‘I can teach them everything there is to learn about how to do this job, everything there is to learn.

“What you can’t learn is their attitude,” he said.

He said many students are unprepared for long, hard days on the tools after graduating high school

Although he has a problem with young students, the young entrepreneur can still empathize with their struggles on social media and is considering making a change to help them work better.

Mr Tomkins said the younger generation may have the same level of determination as his first group of students, but they are being misled by influential people into making rapid progress.

“I hired guys who were very skilled and had the right stuff, but they had a really bad attitude and I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I can change that.’

‘You might be able to keep it up for a month or two, but then you’re just going downhill.’

He made his comments as Australia faces a shortage of skilled workers needed to build the 1.2 million homes the Albanian government has promised over the next five years.

The Housing Industry Association has warned the government that 185,000 homes will be built annually in 2024 and 2025, well short of the 200,000-a-year target, as construction costs and high interest rates rise.

Multimillionaire entrepreneur Dick Smith said Australia needed to get young people out of the lecture halls and into real-world jobs to increase the supply of skilled workers.

Mr. Tomkins is pictured with the tools

His comments come as Australia faces a shortage of skilled workers needed to build the one million homes the Albanian government has promised over the next five years.

“If you want to be a doctor or an engineer, a university education is a necessity. But it’s often wasted, especially by people who get an arts degree and never do anything with it,” Smith told Daily Mail Australia.

‘A skilled worker can make a lot of money, especially if he or she starts his or her own business.

‘My local electrician is a millionaire. He’s done really well. And so a professional who starts his own business can do incredibly well in Australia.

‘The chance that someone with a trade degree can start their own business and employ their own people is greater than for someone with an art degree.’