\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nInterview Transcript<\/h2>\n
I wish that more young people knew where you could go from just starting out in a role in Bridgestone. My name is Jemma Norkunas and I work at Bandag Manufacturing as a technician’s assistant.<\/em><\/p>\nI came to work at Bridgestone because my father has worked for Bandag for over 25 years. During a particularly busy season last year, he suggested I get a role with him, and I started as a production operator.<\/em><\/p>\nIn my time at Bandag, I have moved through a couple of different roles. I started as a production operator and I’m currently a technician’s assistant. What I enjoy about my current role is just the progression that I have made in the short period of time I’ve been there.<\/em><\/p>\nAs a technician’s assistant, that can lead into a fitter position, and that can then further into a career as a fitter intern if that is what I choose. I like that that door has been opened up for me.<\/em><\/p>\nOne of my favourite aspects of working for Bandag is that it’s a very small factory, and so everybody knows everybody. A lot of the people have been working there for a very long time, and I have known a lot of them for a long time because my father has worked there for so long.<\/em><\/p>\nEverybody is very welcoming. It’s like a family there, and I really enjoy that very close-knit aspect. One of my favourite parts about working at Bridgestone is the new people that I have met through the job. They are people that I would have normally never met outside of work, and I have made some really close friends working there.<\/em><\/p>\nThere’s some really great people, and I really appreciate the doors that have been opened up for me. Before starting at Bridgestone, I didn’t know anything about the tyre retread industry, and so it’s been really interesting to learn a lot about the process from start to finish on how they’re made and all the different little things that go into it.<\/em><\/p>\nBeing a part of that process has been very interesting, and I’ve learned a lot about the industry and come to appreciate the awful lot of people who work there.<\/em><\/p>\nI wish that more young people knew where you could go from just starting out in a role in Bridgestone. While you may start out as a production operator doing the hard work and the hot work, you can always move on, and they are very open to progression and opening doors for you.<\/em><\/p>\nI wish that people weren’t scared of doing a little bit of the hard work at the start to get to the better jobs at the end. If I could go back to my high school self, I would tell them to find something that they’re passionate about.<\/em><\/p>\nI was lost for a long time before I came to Bridgestone, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I didn’t know what I was passionate about, and after starting here, I have gained a very large respect for people in the industry.<\/em><\/p>\nI have found a new love for the job that I’m in, and while it may not have been something I was interested in a long time ago, it is something I’m now very passionate about. I try to work hard, and I would tell my younger self to also just work really hard and never give up.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI wish more young people knew where you could go from just starting out in a role with Bridgestone!\u201d\u00a0 Before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":27415,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[34],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27414,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27413\/revisions\/27414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explorecareers.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}