Awards, Earthmoving News, Jobs & Training

Challenges of Hastings Deering’s skills competition

After excelling in a mechanic skills competition that saw him crowned Hastings Deering’s top apprentice, Matt Whear is preparing for an even bigger challenge

In late November Cat® dealer Hastings Deering ran its Apprentice of the Year competition at its learning centre in Brisbane.

Nine finalists from different Hastings Deering branches competed to determine the business’ top apprentice, with Matt Whear from the Alice Springs branch taking out the award.

Earthmovers & Excavators caught up with Whear to find out what the skills challenge involved and how he’s preparing for the next step of the competition.

Learning the ropes

Working on diesel machines has always been in the blood for Hastings Deering’s Matt Whear.

Born and raised in Alice Springs, he grew up learning skills from his diesel mechanic father, who quickly realised Whear’s knack for maintaining cars and heavy machinery.

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When a job from Hastings Deering came knocking, Whear wasn’t going to pass up on it.

“It was something I’ve always wanted to do, so I decided to give it a go and I love it,” he says.

“I’m so lucky my passion for all things mechanical has turned into a career with Hastings Deering.”

Whear undertook a four-year apprenticeship at Hastings Deering’s Alice Springs branch

Over a four-year period, Whear undertook an apprenticeship at Hastings Deering’s Alice Springs branch, which saw him deal with a wide variety of customers and machines.

Due to the isolated nature of the town, many farmers, mining companies and construction workers are regulars at the Hastings Deering branch.

This means Whear has worked on everything from old 1980s graders to brand new Cat machines in differing environments – one of the biggest reasons why he loves his job.

“Working on a wide range of machinery has allowed me to learn a bunch of different skills, which is very handy,” he says.

“Each week is different from the last and I have had many great moments over the years going out to cattle stations and to mines.”

Top trainee

As the official Cat dealer for Queensland, the Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands, Hastings Deering’s Apprentice of the Year competition had entrants from many different branches.

In the competition, Whear was tested on skills ranging from electronic fault finding to public speaking.

“In some of the big branches like Rockhampton and Brisbane, there might be 20 apprentices per year, but only one can be nominated for the competition,” Whear says.

“Luckily for me, the Alice Springs branch is very small, so they only nominate one a year.”

Hastings Deering CEO and managing director Mark Scott congratulates Whear on winning the company’s Apprentice of the Year

Having participated in a 200-question exam on everything learned during his four-year apprenticeship, Whear says he was actually more stressed about the public speaking task, given he rarely gives speeches on a day-to-day basis.

Apprentices were required to give an oral presentation with a PowerPoint on a chosen question prompt during the competition, with Whear prompted to present Cat and its dealers with a new business opportunity.

For this, he chose the topic of how to harness artificial intelligence within Cat machinery.

“Everyone did really well, but I think that was the task that put us most out of our comfort zone,” he says.

After this was completed, the following days saw apprentices participate in fault-finding tests. Different machines and engines had been given separate faults, which apprentices had to diagnose within an hour and a half time limit.

“It was a good week, everything was challenging, but I had a great time,” he says.

Whear says winning Hasting Deering’s 2024 Apprentice of the Year competition was a big surprise, adding that he is already looking forward to representing Hastings Deering at Cat’s Dealer Top Apprentice competition that will take place in February in Melbourne.

“I feel really proud – proud to represent the Alice Springs branch, and proud to represent Hastings Deering as a company when we go down to Melbourne,” he says.

“All the hard work that I put in over the past four years feels like it has come to fruition, and it shows that it paid off.”

Best of the best

Cat’s Dealer Top Apprentice competition will see Whear compete against the very best apprentices from across Cat dealers and distributors in Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.

Whear expects the competition to have largely the same format, including the public speaking and fault diagnosing tasks, as well as the 200-question exam.

“The way Hastings designed its own competition was to prepare the winner for the next phase, so that we’re not just thrust into the competition with no idea,” Whear says.

“I’ll now have time to rework my speech and just fine tune it.”

Whear adds that the apprentice ultimately crowned as Cat’s best will be provided with a trip to the USA, and given the opportunity to participate in a Cat training course of their liking. A complete tour of the Caterpillar factory will also be included.

“Participating alongside some of Hastings Deering’s leading apprentices was an experience I’ll never forget,” Whear says.

“I’m absolutely chuffed and privileged to be awarded Hastings Deering’s top apprentice and I’m now looking forward to coming up against the top apprentices from all the different Cat dealers.”

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