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Photo by Marian Mehrtens

Gateway Profile - Chelsea Sheehan

Marian Mehrtens —

I chose Mr Smith and Co for my weekly work placement, the staff were all nice and I enjoyed the tasks they gave me as they were more hands on jobs and not always cleaning.

Before going into Gateway I was set on beauty therapy and excited to see what it would be like, although the career was difficult to try to find a work placement. After that I researched hairdressing to get a bit more of an idea and had two taster days at two different salons, Hijinks and Mr Smith and Co. I also went to Unichem Pharmacy and Ballantynes to try out retail but didn't enjoy it as much.

In the end I chose Mr Smith and Co, the tasks included washing clients hair, colouring a staff members hair, folding foils, and learning to curl hair with straighteners, other tasks I did were pretty straight forward just sweeping and mopping floors, doing the laundry cleaning the shelves and bathrooms plus more cleaning tasks.

The assessments I am doing have theory to do in the classroom as well as practical tasks to be signed off in the workplace. Next year I plan to return to Roncalli to get my NCEA Level 3