Anyone here have links with Western Power training?

[Rockingit]

Young girl (16 and great) who lives next door to me is trying really hard to find an electrical apprenticeship without much luck and I've just been chatting to her about it and she said she'd be really interested in overhead and HV work. Thought it might be worth me trying to do some investigation....

 

[littlespark]

Doesn’t she want to work with you and get the chance of meeting some band she likes?

 

[Rockingit]

Doesn’t she want to work with you and get the chance of meeting some band she likes?

Sadly, doesn't ever really work out that way - I've tried in the past with others. If I can justify the recruitment of a trainee onto a project, at the project's expense, then all's well. But as a business I can't even come close to a financial argument that allows for tens of thousands a year on flights, travel, hotels....

Plus anyone working alongside me would never be able to do the college side of life due to never being around and/or be totally bored in the gaps I get inbetween.

I remember about 20 years ago I did a couple of school work experience placements for lads who's parents I knew, and when the placement assesor came around to 'inspect' beforehand the look on his face when I said we'd be going away for the week, doing 14-16hr days and the kid would be in a hotel... he went away in a fluster saying he didn't have a form for any of that!!

 

[mhar]

My youngest runs the local hot glove team, they work hands on live on the 11 and 33kV network. NG (old WPD) have something like 34 of these teams accross the country each consisting of 3 or 4 people. Pretty sure that you can't just apply to become part of a hot glove team as a 16 year old.
My son's route was to apply for a then WPD apprenticeship, there were something like 1500 applicants for 30 or so places accross the country, he was accepted as an apprentice linesman. Think it too him 3 years to qualify. During the training the wages weren't great but better than a lot of apprenticeships in other industries.
His basic work week is an 8-4.30 day plus standbys for evenings and weekends (paid for just being on standby whether called out or not). During bad storme etc they work ridiculous hours, many consecutive days with barely any sleep.
Pretty sure that all the linesman work on the HV network but not live, one of my son's responsibilities is to issue permits to work on the network, ensuring that the section to be worked on is isolated, coordinating this with central control and making sure that there are also local measures in place to ensure safety if somehow the network becomes reenergised by accident.
Another route into NG is to apply to become a 'mate'. Probably what would be called being a labourer in other trades, less pay but if you can prove yourself to be competent and willing you can progress this way. However the structure has got far more corporate of late and qualifications are expected for any of the more senior roles. Being old school I regard the apprenticeship route as the best method to obtain these qualifications coupled with on the job specialist courses,