Help with jobs, apprenticeships, gaining experience
I spent two years as a casting technician at a jewelry casting house and I ended up really loving jewelry but wanting more. I wanted to learn how to be a bench jeweler but I wasn’t able to move within my company. I left that job and started applying to jewelry jobs, but no one would take me because of my lack of bench skills. I’ve been taking a continuing education course throughout the summer at a local arts school and now I have some experience with fabrication, but there have been no jobs listed in my metro area for a while now. Every time I pass a jeweler when I’m driving I wonder about stopping in and just asking if they need help or would take an apprentice, or if they could point me in the direction of someone who did/could, would that potentially get me anywhere or would they just find it annoying or odd? I’d even work unpaid on weekends or evenings just to get more training and experience. Going back to school properly isn’t an option for me, but I will be taking the continuing education course again once it starts again in the fall. I really want to be a jeweler and I’m not sure what I should do and could use some advice or guidance