• Gen Z’er Teddy Sheehan always wanted to become a plumber by trade.
• When he was 15, he and his dad devised an ingenious plan to attract the attention of a potential boss.
• They made breakfast snacks to hand out with his résumé outside plumbers’ merchants. The plan worked.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Teddy Sheehan, 21, an apprentice plumber. It has been edited for length and clarity.

If everything goes to plan, I’ll become a fully certified plumber next summer at the age of 22.

I’ve been an apprentice since September 2019, working four days a week for a small business in my home city of Birmingham, England. The other day, I’m in technical college, learning more about the trade and studying for my qualifications.

It’s part practical and part theory. At the moment, I’m in a workshop doing installments of boilers and hot water cylinders.

When I started the course at 16, my tutor was taken aback. I was the only student out of 25 who’d already got a paid position. Plumbing is a competitive career and the others were still looking for jobs.

They asked me how I’d got the apprenticeship, and I had to smile. I did things a bit differently by thinking outside the box.

I decided I wanted to be a plumber after doing some work experience during the British equivalent of 10th grade in high school. I shadowed a family friend who had done the gas engineering at my parents’ house.

Plumbing offers job stability

I’ve always been handy and was also thinking about carpentry, bricklaying, or becoming an electrician. But during that week, I got real satisfaction from fixing plumbing connections and putting in fittings.

It felt rewarding to be called by a customer at 8 a.m. and have their heat and hot water back up and running by midday. I also enjoyed the teamwork with the other guys.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t offer me an apprenticeship because the boss was winding down the business. But I was determined to get into the industry. It had stability because people always need plumbers, especially commercial ones who serve places like offices and hotels.

The average salary is about $45,000 annually. And, if you go on to run your own company, you could be earning as much as $60,000.

I knew I was leaving school at 16 in July 2019 after completing my final exams. So, in April of that year, when I was still 15, I brainstormed with my dad about how to get a job.

We wanted me to stand out from the crowd and get noticed. We asked ourselves what workmen like and came up with hot breakfasts. Getting their attention through their stomachs seemed like a good strategy. And where do you find plumbers? Plumbers’ merchants, where they buy their supplies.

Dad and I made a list of hardware stores that mostly catered to tradespeople. They were all within a 10-mile radius of our house. Then, we laminated 200 copies of my résumé — which included my work experience — to distribute both inside and outside the merchants.

Every night for a week, Dad and I prepared giant-size pigs in a blanket. We listened to playlists in the kitchen while we put together the sausage meat and pastry. Then, at around 5:30 a.m. the next day, we’d bake the batch of around 45 breakfast snacks in the oven.

We kept them warm in insulator containers and drove to each plumber merchant, starting at 7 a.m. We’d give some to the merchants and ask if we could put my résumé on the counter. Then, as the plumbers came out of the store, we’d given them a pig in a blanket and a CV. We’d go to three different stores every morning.

The tactic was a solid investment

I was shy at first, but after a while, I felt more confident and would chat about wanting a job. “It’s good to see young people going out there trying to make a name for themselves,” one plumber said as he ate the snack and put my CV in his van. “If I needed an apprentice, I’d hire you in a heartbeat,” another said.

The tactic worked. It didn’t take long before the head of a commercial plumbing company called me on my cellphone. He’d gotten hold of my résumé. “I admire you for showing initiative,” he said. Apparently, I’d become famous in the plumbing community as “the kid with the pigs in a blanket.”

He gave me a week’s trial and then offered me the job. I was relieved to start college that fall, knowing I was already earning a salary. Those free breakfasts had been a solid investment,

I work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and get five weeks of vacation a year. I love what I do, and my family — especially my dad— is very proud of me.

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