Celebrating our inaugural Apprentice Celebration Evening

During this inaugural event, we took the opportunity to welcome our new apprentices, show appreciation and acknowledge the accomplishments of our current apprentices, and celebrate our graduated CMI Hino Melbourne apprentices.

It was wonderful to see our Derrimut showroom transformed for the night and staff from both Derrimut and Campbellfield sites were invited to attend, along with our apprentices who were supported by their friends and loved ones. 

What made the night even more special was that not only were we recognising our apprentices, we were also proud to thank our apprentice mentors and leading hands who continue to play an important role in providing guidance to our apprentices so they can thrive in their trade.

It was fantastic to see everyone come together and also enjoy delicious food and beverages provided by Taylor Made Gourmet and Liquid Infusion.

CMI Hino Melbourne General Manager, Mark Dempsey, began the evening’s formalities by welcoming guests and thanking them for attending our first Apprentice Celebration Evening.

“Tonight is an exciting night for us, we are going to acknowledge and welcome our newest apprentices, say thank you and encourage those who are currently mid-way through their apprenticeship, and celebrate the achievements of those that have graduated over recent years,” said Mark.

It was wonderful to also learn more about the history of CMI Hino Melbourne and how far the dealership had come since Volvo moved out several years ago.

“Back then we had a combined total of 11 Apprentices and Technicians and the demand from customers increased very rapidly once we became Hino only. Both the Parts and Service departments came under considerable pressure.”

“Our Apprentice program of course quickly became a critical part of our strategy to build up the workforce in both parts and service. Now we have 20 valued employees as part of our service and parts team, or close to one third of the total staff here at CMI Hino Melbourne,” said Mark.

Mark then took the opportunity to welcome Daniel Crawford, CMV Group Joint Managing Director and thank him for supporting our Apprentice Program, as well as thanking several members of the CMV Group Board who attended the event as well.

Daniel then took to the stage and spoke of the extensive opportunities the apprenticeship program provides and how it enables apprentices to exceed within their careers.

“We take tremendous pride towards upskilling our staff across all CMV Group dealerships, and we acknowledge the contributions of our apprentices which ultimately play a major part in our company’s success.

“I would like to personally thank everyone here who has worked towards making CMI Hino what it is today,” concluded Daniel.

Mark then welcomed Derrimut Service Manager, Trevor Sant, Campbellfield Service Manager, Adam Blain, and Parts Manager, Scott Thomas, onto the stage to assist with the presentations.

To begin, we welcomed our first year apprentices to the stage. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to have each Apprentice collect their certificate and have their photo taken with their manager.

Welcome to our new apprentices –

Benjamin Nurse, Clement Collyer, Darius Palangat, Gordon Lai, Jay Kim, Kai Ensor, Michael Fermanis and Predrag Cvijanovic

We also took the opportunity to recognise our current Apprentices by presenting them with certificate of appreciation for their hard work and dedication to date.

Congratulations to our current apprentices –

Bailey East, Daniel Bower, Jack Conroy, Jovan Vladusic, Karan Kashyap, Myles Rajanagam and Yusufu Kabia.

Then to wrap up the formalities, we took the time to congratulate and celebrate our Apprentice Graduates, who are now fully qualified within their fields.

Congratulations to our graduates –

Bradley Helman, Declan Schultz, Dennis Hodgson, Ellis Murphy, Minh Tran and Patrick Karcz.

Trevor, Derrimut Service Manager, was extremely proud to be a part of the evening and said that it “a fantastic opportunity for the apprentices to be recognised and celebrated for all of their hard work during their time with us.”

Throughout the remainder of the evening, our apprentices took the opportunity to catch up with their colleagues and relax away from the workshop.

Mark also took the opportunity to thank the whole team for being a part of the night and for supporting one another each day.

“Thank you to the CMI Hino team for taking the time out of your evening to join us for an important night recognising the value our apprentice program brings to us and the efforts of both the apprentices themselves and the support team around them in building the skills of our workforce,” concluded Mark.

We would like to thank everyone who joined us on the night to celebrate our incredible apprentices, their mentors and managers. We’re looking forward to witnessing the progression of all our apprentices throughout their journey and the next steps of their career.

About the CMI Hino Apprenticeship Programme.

The CMI Hino Melbourne apprenticeship program combines specialised practical on the job training with theory-based learning, delivered by industry leading professionals at our dealership and workshops located at Derrimut and Campbellfield.

Throughout their training, apprentices are taught specific tasks and are mentored while learning practical skills across various departments including, service and safety inspections, auto electrical and engineering for mechanical apprentices, while parts apprentices embark on warehouse inventory and an introduction to parts interpretation.

On successful completion of the apprenticeship program, our highly skilled Hino technicians will be encouraged to embark on a long-term career with CMI Hino Melbourne, and the wider CMV Group, where the opportunity of career progression across the business is endless.

Successful graduates could also go on to do further training and become more qualified within their chosen field.

To enquire about starting your career with CMI Hino Melbourne today, visit our careers page here.