Drilling short course gets graduates into jobs faster

Tai Poutini Polytechnic Media Release
24 August 2015

Drilling short course gets graduates into jobs faster

Tai Poutini Polytechnic (TPP) is offering a new, shorter drilling programme that aims to get graduates on the job faster.

TPP Programme Leader – Drilling Michele Cox says the new 14-week National Certificate in Drilling Non-Hydrocarbon (Driller’s Assistant Level 2) will start on 21 September this year. It involves only four weeks at the Reefton training facility on the West Coast and has the option of either completing Class 2 licence and fatigue and logbook or forklift with OSH and fire training. The remaining 10 weeks of the programme involves work-based training with a drilling company.

“This short course will appeal to people from all over the country who want to upskill and get a foot-in-the-door to a busy industry. Students must not hold a qualification higher than Level 1 to be eligible, and will learn all the basic skills required to get started in the drilling industry.

“While the short course doesn’t go into the same level of training as our 24-week programme, graduates will gain enough knowledge about the drilling industry to be useful to an employer from the start,” Michele says.

The winner of the 2014 New Zealand Drillers’ Federation scholarship, former TPP student and Taranaki local Blair Adamson, encourages anyone thinking about signing-up to “just go and do it”.

“I wish I had done it years ago. It’s changed my life – you’ve got to put in the hours and it’s hard work, but you can go all over the world with this industry.”

Blair, a former dairy farmer, has been working for Taranaki-based Interdrill since graduating last year and is already operating rigs independently and taking on further job-based training.

He says he applied for a few drilling jobs before signing up with TPP, but was told to come back once he had done the basic training.

His employer, Interdrill Managing Director Dale Preston, says Blair was a great employee from the start – and he sees plenty of potential for the future. “He’s a great all-rounder. He was very competent from the start and is a fast-learner.

“We have done very well with previous TPP graduates. If I was faced with two similar potential employees, one with TPP training and the other without, there would be no competition. Basically, they come out of the training and they are ready to work. The TPP programme teaches them what they are in for – they are ready to roll with all the health and safety training under their belt and a good understanding of the industry.”

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