WorldSkills Portal - Nathan Gore-Brown (Australia)

Nathan Gore-Brown (Australia)

REGION Sydney
CATEGORY Auto-Electrical 2001

Nathan Gore-Brown has done and seen it all at the age of 28. He was a successful apprentice receiving gold medals at the Sydney regional competitions and Adelaide Nationals in 2001. This was then followed by Western Sydney Apprentice of the Year, NSW Apprentice of the Year and finalist Australian Apprentice of the Year. After the WorldSkills Australia competitions, Nathan received a BBM Youth Support scholarship with a team of 11 in 2002. They experienced two weeks in the south of England and Wales with ex-Royal Marines to complete a leadership training course and the Royal Navy's sinking ship simulator. The next step was three weeks at Jaguar Cars in Coventry, UK, in the service, engineering and manufacturing departments. This lead to a number of job offers and a prosperous career path for Nathan. Like most WorldSkills Australia competitors Nathan trained at his TAPE on a regular basis to achieve results and now knows what it takes to be successful. "You need to know your basics and be flexible in your approach. Some practice helps especially if you are pressured by the dock."

In Nathan's case, his success has stemmed from genuine interest in the industry. "I think my success came from enthusiasm for the industry, a good base knowledge from high school and a thirst for knowledge throughout."

Nathan is a true success story and believes his WorldSkills Australia involvement was a fundamental step towards his career.

To Nathan, choosing a trade is not the be all and end all of career paths. Starting as an apprentice, Nathan recently moved to join the product marketing team at Aston Martin and is a true success story. "I now work on the planning, development and delivery of features and vehicles to customers around the world. I have bought a house with my wife to be in the UK, we get married in September." Nathan has found his involvement in WorldSkills to have been a fundamental step and has recently helped to give this opportunity to others by hosting two BBM winners at Jaguar for their work experience. "Without this stage to showcase my skills (WorldSkills Australia competitions) I would never have won the other awards, gone to the UK or been working with the most prestigious vehicle manufacturer in the world. I can't thank WorldSkills enough and as such have tried to put something back."

Nathan can give advice to those who are considering a trade as a career, "Choose a trade that you are genuinely interested in. A trade is for life, but not your whole life. I've changed careers four times and I'm 28 years old!"