I have decided... after a long time i want to become an Electrician

[EoinMcD]

I have been searching for a trade that I want to go into but I am always coming back to the same one... I am 20yr ½ from Northern Ireland wanting to become an electrician but by the time I can ask for an apprenticeship I will be 21yr. My real question is... am I to old to get into the field?

 

[Electrics]

I have been learning the methods, through a good channel an electrical tutor in England (GHS electrical) great channel... I will be still handing out my CV and I am trying to get an apprenticeship... they only take apprentices in on September of every year... deadline past. I am working my hardest at learning everthing I can give me an edge and show an employer that I'm work the apprenticeship. Btw I can do more than basic plumbing, my grandad, dad and brother are plumbers i was brought up in the field basically, (more like dragged through it ?) I have contact all my local spark and a wee bit further afield and they aren't taking anybody on im going to keep looking and asking... would need to update my cv with your good idea's though.

This is my CV:

In Brief:

• D.O.B March 1987 - 34 years old
• Own transport, full clean licence
• Own tools
• 17+ years experience in general building trades
• Available immediately
• Speak, read and write fluent French
• Valid 5 year CSCS card, achieved with 100% on 6/8/2021, expires 2026

About me:

I am currently enrolled on a Level 3 Apprenticeship in Electrical Installation and Maintenance.

Work Experience

Sept 2021-Present – Electrical Apprentice, XXXXXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXX ---.

Tasks include all aspects of electrical installation work in the industrial, commercial and domestic sectors, including consumer unit installation, radial and ring circuits, interior and exterior lighting both switched and photocell operated, fire alarms, accessory installation, emergency lighting testing, and first/second fixing all points as required.

2016-2021 – House husband/stay at home father.

2003-2016 – Self employed general builder working under XXXXXX XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXX, UK.

Tasks included liaising with customers, writing quotes, doing invoices, sourcing and pricing materials, keeping site clean, laying protective coverings before commencing work, and all other general building duties including but not limited to plastering, kitchen and bathroom installation, basic plumbing, garden maintenance and groundworks, exterior building construction, painting, velux and roofing installation, guttering, decking, solid floor installation, plasterboarding, drop ceilings, wood burner installation including flue, etc.

Education

I returned to adult education in 2010 at the XXXXXXXX --- College to get my Access to Higher Education Diploma, in which I achieved distinction in all my modules. This is the equivalent to having 3+ A-Levels at the ‘A’ grade and qualifies me to enter university in the UK and Europe.

My modules included IT and Computing, English Literature, and Mathematics. My certificates are available at your request.

I have a good command of the English and French languages and am comfortable with arithmetic.

 

[Baddegg]

Stop thinking start doing, in a minute life will get in the way and you’ll find 100 reasons not to do it, life is short youngn get out there and grab it ?

 

[EoinMcD]

This is my CV:

In Brief:

• D.O.B March 1987 - 34 years old
• Own transport, full clean licence
• Own tools
• 17+ years experience in general building trades
• Available immediately
• Speak, read and write fluent French
• Valid 5 year CSCS card, achieved with 100% on 6/8/2021, expires 2026

About me:

I am currently enrolled on a Level 3 Apprenticeship in Electrical Installation and Maintenance.

Work Experience

Sept 2021-Present – Electrical Apprentice, XXXXXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXX ---.

Tasks include all aspects of electrical installation work in the industrial, commercial and domestic sectors, including consumer unit installation, radial and ring circuits, interior and exterior lighting both switched and photocell operated, fire alarms, accessory installation, emergency lighting testing, and first/second fixing all points as required.

2016-2021 – House husband/stay at home father.

2003-2016 – Self employed general builder working under XXXXXX XXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXX, UK.

Tasks included liaising with customers, writing quotes, doing invoices, sourcing and pricing materials, keeping site clean, laying protective coverings before commencing work, and all other general building duties including but not limited to plastering, kitchen and bathroom installation, basic plumbing, garden maintenance and groundworks, exterior building construction, painting, velux and roofing installation, guttering, decking, solid floor installation, plasterboarding, drop ceilings, wood burner installation including flue, etc.

Education

I returned to adult education in 2010 at the XXXXXXXX --- College to get my Access to Higher Education Diploma, in which I achieved distinction in all my modules. This is the equivalent to having 3+ A-Levels at the ‘A’ grade and qualifies me to enter university in the UK and Europe.

My modules included IT and Computing, English Literature, and Mathematics. My certificates are available at your request.

I have a good command of the English and French languages and am

Nice CV, I've had full time jobs in my life (pig farm A.I unit) (Call centre) my previous job was a bathroom fitter but now I'm ready to get into a trade which is electric obviously. I'm going to do something similar... from starting your apprenticeship what would you say has been the hardest and easiest task?

 

[EoinMcD]

Stop thinking start doing, in a minute life will get in the way and you’ll find 100 reasons not to do it, life is short youngn get out there and grab it ?

Trust me I've been trying to get out there... but its really hard nearly impossible to get a employer to offer an apprenticeship.

 

[Electrics]

Nice CV, I've had full time jobs in my life (pig farm A.I unit) (Call centre) my previous job was a bathroom fitter but now I'm ready to get into a trade which is electric obviously. I'm going to do something similar... from starting your apprenticeship what would you say has been the hardest and easiest task?

Easiest has been sockets because they're just really simple.

Hardest is figuring out lighting that someone else has bodged and dealing with idiots.

The other day the manager where we're working wanted a hallway, and two sets of 8 LED panels switched off a single 1 gang. The guy i was working with said it couldn't be done since it's a three phase supply so we would have to take three separate phases to the one switch, so we put them on a 3 gang. Nice and easy you would think, but when we found the current switches pushed up inside a ceiling panel it had FIFTEEN cables going into it. Spaghetti junction, and took us about 3 hours to sort out.

We ended up running in a new feed on Kliks for some of it because it was easier.

 

[Electrics]

Trust me I've been trying to get out there... but its really hard nearly impossible to get a employer to offer an apprenticeship.

It's difficult. I plugged away for 10+ years to get to where i am now.

The only reason i've been taken on is because my employer knows he's gonna get much more out of me. Soon i will be on jobs on my own, being paid £8.92 an hour while he's charging me out at £75 per fitting. It just is how it is, a mutual arrangement where i get what i want (the qualification and experience) and he gets what he wants (cheap labour).

 

[littlespark]

Hardest is figuring out lighting that someone else has bodged and dealing with idiots.

You’ll feel right at home here, then

 

[EoinMcD]

Easiest has been sockets because they're just really simple.

Hardest is figuring out lighting that someone else has bodged and dealing with idiots.

It's difficult. I plugged away for 10+ years to get to where i am now.

The only reason i've been taken on is because my employer knows he's gonna get much more out of me. Soon i will be on jobs on my own, being paid £8.92 an hour while he's charging me out at £75 per fitting. It just is how it is, a mutual arrangement where i get what i want (the qualification and experience) and he gets what he wants (cheap labour).

yeah i know, (YOU SPEAK FLUENT FRENCH WAAAA?) Bonjour! (all i know) but the way you put a list of stuff on your CV (plastering, basic plumbing ect) an employer would want you to do that if required and as a apprentice spark it isnt your job really... but i get the way it shows what you can do and that you arent useless to a degree

 

[Electrics]

You’ll feel right at home here, then

Nah mate i'm the biggest idiot on here ?

 

[Electrics]

yeah i know, (YOU SPEAK FLUENT FRENCH WAAAA?) Bonjour! (all i know) but the way you put a list of stuff on your CV (plastering, basic plumbing ect) an employer would want you to do that if required and as a apprentice spark it isnt your job really... but i get the way it shows what you can do and that you arent useless to a degree

It just highlights the transferable skills - so i obviously know how to measure, cut accurately (sometimes!), use a tape, use tools, figure stuff out if it's going wrong, etc. I know the process of putting full houses together from foundations to ridge tiles, all that stuff.

As for the employer wanting me to do that, yeah you're right - we just spent this week cutting out steel beam in some hangar with a grinder and a scissor lift. Not our job, but he's got us doing it anyway. As long as i feel safe i just do whatever i'm asked. In 3 years then i can start saying no. The qualified sparks were doing it too to be fair. Not our job but if he wants to pay 6 glorified labourers £150+ a day apiece to cut out steel then who are we to argue.

To be fair, it's not like they could have me doing stuff like that for say 6 months, since because it's an apprenticeship they have to show they're teaching me about the electrical trade and so i have to have evidence of 'new learning' where i'm doing novel tasks associated with the trade. If they don't meet that requirement they'll pull the funding and the money my employer gets.

To be fair it's the first time i've been asked to do something that isn't electrical, i'm always usually on first or second fix. Street lamps, bollard lighting, LED strips, sockets, panels, SWA, fire alarms, done all that in my first month.

 

[EoinMcD]

Yeah but is their a qualified spark with you? I don't want to put to much on CV saying i know everything because i don't... I'm learning more and more by the day but i can still tell you more about how to plumb a house for top to bottom than wire it, but i am getting their... sockets, ceiling rose, downlights, fire alarms, LED strips... i find all that easy, im currently going through some methods and diagrams to help me understand.

 

[Electrics]

Yeah but is their a qualified spark with you? I don't want to put to much on CV saying i know everything because i don't... I'm learning more and more by the day but i can still tell you more about how to plumb a house for top to bottom than wire it, but i am getting their... sockets, ceiling rose, downlights, fire alarms, LED strips... i find all that easy, im currently going through some methods and diagrams to help me understand.

As far as i see it the CV is just your way to get you in front of someone. That's when you can be more detailed. I put everything i know how to do to a decent standard on my CV. Can i plaster like a proper, seasoned plasterer? No. But it looks the -------s when i've painted it so i say i can plaster. Am i as fast as a plumber? Hells no, but i can do it and make it leak-free. So i put it on my CV. I go into details if asked at interview.

The best thing is you're a younger lad showing huge initiative. That's worth its weight in gold trust me - the younger apprentices at work are USELESS. They think work means 'stand around on your phone all day reading Instagram and when there's nothing to do, don't stand there and be available in case anyone needs you, disappear and go sit in the cabin for 2 hours.'

 

[nicebutdim]

To address a couple of points raised and likey reiterate some prior answers ...

Apprenticeships are possible at any age, but funding for employers is only available up to the age of 24 - as such colleges mainly cater for apprentices starting up to the age of 24.

Self-employment is unusual as an apprentice, but is not an issue. It would mean that you apply for funding, rather than your employer, so might limit options when finding someone to work with.

If you want it badly enough, you'll make it happen - I'm 45, living in NI and started an apprenticeship this year.

Find someone to take you on, then keep your head down, study hard, work hard and prove to your employer that your employment is very profitable.

 

[EoinMcD]

To address a couple of points raised and likey reiterate some prior answers ...

Apprenticeships are possible at any age, but funding for employers is only available up to the age of 24 - as such colleges mainly cater for apprentices starting up to the age of 24.

Self-employment is unusual as an apprentice, but is not an issue. It would mean that you apply for funding, rather than your employer, so might limit options when finding someone to work with.

If you want it badly enough, you'll make it happen - I'm 45, living in NI and started an apprenticeship this year.

Find someone to take you on, then keep your head down, study hard, work hard and prove to your employer that your employment is very profitable.

45yr apprentice in NI? I'm from Co. Derry/Londonderry i have contacted electrical firms as far as 1, 15minutes drive from me... on another note you have to be given a chance to prove this... i can't even get that... not to sound like i want to get hand fed it but how did you get yours and where are you from?

 

[nicebutdim]

45yr apprentice in NI? I'm from Co. Derry/Londonderry i have contacted electrical firms as far as 1, 15minutes drive from me... on another note you have to be given a chance to prove this... i can't even get that... not to sound like i want to get hand fed it but how did you get yours and where are you from?

It can be soul destroying, but keep knocking on doors. At your age, with an employer you'll be able to go to any college - over 24 you might have to travel considerable distances for a college that will accommodate older apprentices.