Advice on rejoining the industry after 5 years out.

[pearsgb]

Hey all, i successfully completed my apprenticeship in 2006 and was only 2 months out my time when an opportunity presented itself to go travelling. Long and short of it is i went travelling with the intention of sparking abroad(never happened) and when i came home i was unfortunately diagnosed with a mental illness.

Its now 5-6years since i have been out of work and with my doctor in agreement we feel im ready to step back into it. My question is how should i approach this, i have updated my ECS and 17th Ed wiring regs at my own cost but the only sparking i have done is 2 weeks on a site and 2 weeks working as a sparks mate in 6 years. Should i rejoin as a mate/improver to "find my feet" for 6 months or throw myself in at the deep end and struggle through the first 6 months? Most of my apprenticeship was spent on new builds - lots of containment, wiring and fitting out, not so much fault finding /jobbing which i see quite a bit advertised. Can anyone give any advice on how to explain a 5 year career gap, i know employers are not meant to discriminate but i cant help thinking if im up against someone with the same skills and no gaps they would choose them straight away.

Thanks

 

[accordfire]

Hey all, i successfully completed my apprenticeship in 2006 and was only 2 months out my time when an opportunity presented itself to go travelling. Long and short of it is i went travelling with the intention of sparking abroad(never happened) and when i came home i was unfortunately diagnosed with a mental illness.

Its now 5-6years since i have been out of work and with my doctor in agreement we feel im ready to step back into it. My question is how should i approach this, i have updated my ECS and 17th Ed wiring regs at my own cost but the only sparking i have done is 2 weeks on a site and 2 weeks working as a sparks mate in 6 years. Should i rejoin as a mate/improver to "find my feet" for 6 months or throw myself in at the deep end and struggle through the first 6 months? Most of my apprenticeship was spent on new builds - lots of containment, wiring and fitting out, not so much fault finding /jobbing which i see quite a bit advertised. Can anyone give any advice on how to explain a 5 year career gap, i know employers are not meant to discriminate but i cant help thinking if im up against someone with the same skills and no gaps they would choose them straight away.

Thanks

Tough one - I'm sorry to hear you suffered - but well done for being strong enough to admit it right out there - I'll say right off that attitudes toward mental illness of all types need to change - and though they are slowly, it's still a long way to go.

That you've taken the step of updating your knowledge yourself is something a lot will take into account, as it shows that you're keen too.

Personally, however, I would say in the interests of not putting too much pressure on yourself, working as a mate or improver to begin with until you find your feet comfortably is probably the best way to approach it.

As for the five year gap, there's probably little harm in leaving it at travelling, and a medical issue, without going into all the detail - initially anyway. And while employers are not meant to discriminate, you know as well as I do that there are many ways around that. So, give yourself a fighting chance too. Believe in yourself, fella - and employers will too.

There's not much new build out there any more, and what there is is often fully gone before it ever hits adverts these days - so possibly your better bet is to try and find a bigger "local" and see if you can get on there.