Have i wasted my time? Bolton/Manchester

[Bolton-BL2]

Im justwondering if I have wasted my time in deciding to retrain in the electricalindustry?
I have spentthe past 2 years going to college in the evening, first year EAL level 1,second year 2330 level 2. I will be starting back in September to do my level3.
I have been trying to find employment within the electrical industry now foraround 4/5 months with no luck at all. Ive sent letters/emailed most of thecompanies around Bolton, ive registered with pretty much all the agencies I canfind but still go nothing.
Everyone seems to want people with experience butunless people/companies give us new guys a chance how are we ever going to gainthe valuable experience we need. At 35 im a mature student but I am more thanhappy to start at the bottom and work my way up, I also don’t expect to be paida fortune either. Ive become friends with another bloke on the course who is ofa similar age and he is having exactly the same problem.

So I guessmy question is, am I doing something wrong? Is there any point in carrying onto level 3 if no one will give us newbies a chance?

 

[Adam W]

You'd be wasting your time with EAL quals. City&guilds are most recognised and are seen as a higher level than EAL equivalents.

From what I've heard a lot of colleges are ditching C&G for EAL. I don't know if it's because they don't rate C&G any more or if it's just because C&G keep changing things so nobody can keep track of what qualifications anyone's got.

 

[Guest77]

It maybe because C&Gs are too hard to pass, and as there is a shortage of sparks it isn't practicable to have them these days lol

 

[Adam W]

It maybe because C&Gs are too hard to pass, and as there is a shortage of sparks it isn't practicable to have them these days lol

'Dumbing down' always seems to be the assumption whenever a course is changed, but are C&G really that hard, or are they just being failed by people who shouldn't have been sitting the exam in the first place?
My local college had quite strict criteria for enrolling on certain courses, and if you did badly or didn't turn up they'd kick you off the course; this seems a much more effective way of keeping the pass rate up than changing to a set of qualifications which employers see as inferior, and risk losing business to other colleges.

 

[edexlab]

I see a lot of posts like this and was recently contacted by a lad in the same situation my advice was keep trying, dont give up !

write a letter to accompany the cv , word it in such a way that you are open to being contacted at a later date, check your grammar and spelling etc there are plenty of examples online

but more importantly go and visit people at their office and introduce yourself explain your situation and ask if they are open taking on someone or providing some work experience.

This is much better than a faceless email or cv , it gives them the impression that you will get up off your arse and go get what you want instead of sitting at home with the xbox and sending the occasional email

And if someone likes you, your more likely to be remembered and get your details passed on!

Most of all don't give up if you get a negative response wait a few days then ask politely for feedback on whether something put them off as this will help you with future applications ie avoid making the same mistake again, most people will be happy to help but again you might impress them as they want people who aren't put off easily and want to learn from mistakes

during the last recession I was finished from a company without completing the apprenticeship and no one wanted to know!
I sent off around 800 applications and letters in one year and got 4 replies back , 2 said no
2 said come and see us... it didn't happen for me, so I got a job in a factory ended up doing a different trade and eventually went to tech and then had the same problem of not being able to get my foot in the door but persistence will get you there.
recently I've been self employed but work has become very thin so I've been looking for jobs and got one recently
after 2 interviews they said no because I'd been "self employed" and would be difficult to manage
so I didn't give up and collected references from companies I'd worked for and sent it all to the guy who changed his mind because he admired my resolve and persistance!

 

[KFH]

The majority of electricians are, like me, one man bands according to statistics I have seen. It is unlikely that unless they are planning expansion that they will be able to take anyone on full time and most will have people they can rely on to help out when they need additional help.

So target the companies that are big enough to take someone on and sell yourself to them. Your covering letter needs to say what benefit you are going to bring to the company in both the short and long term and you need to be able to express this verbally if you get to see someone. Visiting them and talking to them also helps as most get lots of letters.

It will never be easy to change career and following the current recession jobs are still scarce. The advent of Electrical Trainee has also reduced the call for qualified sparks but things are slowly changing and prospects improving.

Try talking to friends and see if you can get some simple jobs that you can do yourself so that you are building up some practical skills. With a Level 2 you should have the basic knowledge and skills for these.

Also if you want to get into the domestic market try to get some knowledge of plastering, woodworking and the basics of house construction. Most domestic jobs I do are about 40% electrical and 60% house bashing.

Finally, thank god I hear you say, read the post on here and other sites to see the problems encountered and the proposed solutions. There is a mine of information on the web.

On other topics raised:
I did an EAL qualification for PV, apart from the course being a bit poor the final test had mistakes in the answers and you had to get 100% to pass but you were allowed to have a 2nd chance at the questions you got wrong if you had not got too many wrong, I was not impressed.

A customer’s father, now deceased, was involved a few years ago in college as an instructor when he had retired as an electrical engineer. He was instructed to help students with the exam questions, especially maths, they had got wrong to ensure they, with his help, got them right when he wanted to chuck them off the course. The same applied to NVQ assessments. The college made more money of students stayed on until they passed, he was not happy with this approach and gave up. His view was: if I pass idiots they will be a danger to themselves and their customers.

Good luck.

 

[myristate]

Head far north, The work is unstoppable. We cant find enough sparks for all the work. They have been building for a decade and no sign of a slow down!