A life in colour
Paint is in the blood for Janet Lang. She was a painter for many years and shares her love of the trade with other members of her family; father, brother and son. Now she is a territory manager for the paint company, Dulux - a corporate job she describes as rewarding, fulfilling and fun.
Janet started her career as a secretary and then spent eight years running a financial planning business with her husband. The marriage ended and Janet became the primary caregiver of the couple's two children. "I looked at going to university but I needed to be with my kids. My father had his own painting business and said I could work for him until I knew what I wanted to do. I was a painter for seven years and loved it," she says. "I've always enjoyed seeing something horrible transformed into something that looks great."
Janet enjoys working and socialising with her male colleagues and believes having women in the trades keeps the men on their toes. "A lot more women are going into the painting business and they're actually really popular. Women work hard, tend to show more attention to detail and they’re usually more focused and reliable."
While attending a wedding in Clyde with her husband Gordon, Janet saw an ad for the role of trade sales representative with Dulux. She beat 64 other applicants to the job, which involved overseeing around 450 clients and traveling around Dunedin, Balclutha, Gore, Invercargill, Central Otago and Oamaru. She was so successful she was named the Dulux National Salesperson of the Year twice.
Now she is Dulux's Central Otago and Southland Territory Manager, a role based in Wanaka. Janet appreciates the independence and responsibility the position offers and the opportunity to network and build relationships with clients including painters, builders and architects. "Initially, my Dulux clients were taken aback to have a woman rep, but they all came around. Some of them like to say they buy Janet, not Dulux!"
And she says it is a career she has done well from. "I hated being a secretary. Having a trade gives you the potential to earn a lot of money – it's about working smarter, not harder. And a trade is something you can fall back on for the rest of your life."
Women are as valuable as men and the world is changing. A lot of our clients have female managers, and it's much more socially acceptable now to see women working in hard hats and boots in what have traditionally been male roles."
Tracey also recommends getting a trade qualification early on. In order to gain a qualification which reflects her industry knowledge and experience, she is undertaking a Recognition of Prior Learning assessment through Otago Polytechnic's Capable NZ. This world-leading process ensures the skills gained through years of work and life can count towards a range of formal qualifications.