Plenty of jobs out there?

[n180]

Hi all,

I'm looking to become an electrician (career change). Looked into various training centres like OLCI, RFTraining, New Career Skills etc. They all claim that there's a massive shortage of electricians at the moment in the UK, that there should be plenty of work for a qualified sparky. But of course they would say that.

I want to hear it form you guys already in the industry (so that I can get some real info instead of a sales pitch), whats the market like these days? Is it easy for you to find work? Is there plenty of it out there? I'm talking about working for a company and/or working for yourself. Or are most electricians leaving the industry due to lack of work, or sitting at home twiddling their thumbs?

 

[VoltzElectrical]

what you do need to accept before continuing is that you could work very hard for 2-3 years put your heart and soul into it, spend a lot of money on college courses and tools and still not make it. And those 2-3 years and the money will be wasted.

as long as you acknowledge this risk then please carry on.

It isnt too bad when youre in your twenties or late teens because youve still got time to find something else, but for me im in my early thirties the stakes get higher.

I got very close to not getting an apprenticeship. If i didnt get one that would have been 2-3 years and a lot of hard work wasted. And when youre 30+ you cant afford to be wasting years trying career changes that dont work out.

Have you thought about doing a degree in electrical engineering? At least at the end of the 3 years and you find you cant get a job then you at least have an engineering degree which could be used for something else.

If you spend 2-3 years doing the 2330 then you find you cant get an apprenticeship then the 2330 really is useless. And you time is wasted

I don't think spending a couple of years at night school doing the 2330 will ever be wasted, as long as you can find a course at the right price. Mine cost approx £400 a year, which I found acceptable. With the underpinning knowledge, one can then find work as a 'mate' (more needed than sparks) and eventually secure the NVQ side of things. At the end, you will have qualifications AND experience. The thing NOT to do is give up a secure job right now, and try to dive headlong into a struggling and recession prone industry.

Why oh why do we have people posting on here day after day with the same questions? These short courses will NOT result in you becoming a qualified electrician. They will clean you out, and leave you high and dry. You don't need any qualifications to work in the industry as s 'mate', often paying just a couple of quid shy of what the sparks are getting.

There is less and less incentive to get the quals, when you can get almost the rate anyway.

Get a CSCS CARD, GET ON SITE, GET STUCK IN.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

what you do need to accept before continuing is that you could work very hard for 2-3 years put your heart and soul into it, spend a lot of money on college courses and tools and still not make it. And those 2-3 years and the money will be wasted.

as long as you acknowledge this risk then please carry on.

It isnt too bad when youre in your twenties or late teens because youve still got time to find something else, but for me im in my early thirties the stakes get higher.

I got very close to not getting an apprenticeship. If i didnt get one that would have been 2-3 years and a lot of hard work wasted. And when youre 30+ you cant afford to be wasting years trying career changes that dont work out.

Have you thought about doing a degree in electrical engineering? At least at the end of the 3 years and you find you cant get a job then you at least have an engineering degree which could be used for something else.

If you spend 2-3 years doing the 2330 then you find you cant get an apprenticeship then the 2330 really is useless. And you time is wasted

well i`m in my late thirties (38)...and came from a heavy industries (plater welder) background......i dont regret the choices i have made.......i still have a year and a bit to go at college....but i wouldn`t go back into fabrications.......

 

[GLENNSPARK]

I don't think spending a couple of years at night school doing the 2330 will ever be wasted, as long as you can find a course at the right price. Mine cost approx £400 a year, which I found acceptable. With the underpinning knowledge, one can then find work as a 'mate' (more needed than sparks) and eventually secure the NVQ side of things. At the end, you will have qualifications AND experience. The thing NOT to do is give up a secure job right now, and try to dive headlong into a struggling and recession prone industry.

Why oh why do we have people posting on here day after day with the same questions? These short courses will NOT result in you becoming a qualified electrician. They will clean you out, and leave you high and dry. You don't need any qualifications to work in the industry as s 'mate', often paying just a couple of quid shy of what the sparks are getting.

There is less and less incentive to get the quals, when you can get almost the rate anyway.

Get a CSCS CARD, GET ON SITE, GET STUCK IN.

well this is all about steering your ship carefully isn`t it.....

 

[VoltzElectrical]

I suppose so, if ship steering means researching the job beforehand. I maintain the best approach is to get on site as a mate, getting £9- £10 per hour, give it a year then think about doing night school so you can go back on site and earn £11 - £13 per hour.

There is not enough difference in wage between unqualified mate and spark to incentivize trainees.

There is more available work as a mate.

You don't need to be qualified to work as a domestic spark.

Only assessed as competent.

await your response!!

 

[Adam W]

yes well i think its high time that these training centres claiming that earnings of 50k plus are made to explain/substantiate how they arrive at those figures.....and also how they
claim that theres a shortage of electricians in a depressed market......i suppose this is `buyer beware`...but these are clearly false claims and they should either have to prove how they arrived at these figures......or be made to stop this.........

It stemmed from when the media decided there were too many kids doing media studies degrees and going into media instead of other things like apprenticeships, then they pointed out that if not enough kids do apprenticeships there could be a shortage of skilled, time served tradesmen. This snowballed into a 'massive skills crisis' which training providers jumped on and cashed in on by telling people looking for an easy shortcut that being an electrician is a lucrative, in-demand career, then selling them a domestic installer course, which would do nothing to alleviate any shortage of skilled time served tradesmen even if it did exist.

As for the 'potential £50,747' I'll wager that figure was simply plucked from the sky - google it and you'll see the same potential earnings being quoted for plumbers, green energy installers and any other job which you 'need' one of their courses to do.

I expect you could potentially earn up to £50,747 stacking shelves in asda, in a similar fashion to how you could potentially earn up to £42 million by winning the lottery.

 

[oldtimer]

One thing I would highlight is the term electrician can relate to
1. Domestic Electrician
2. Commercial & Industrial Electrician (this is where I served my time)
3. Maintenance Electrician (facilities) (Iworked in this feild)
4. Maintenannce Electrician (Industrial)

Then you can move on to (which I did)
Intruder alarm technician
Fire alarm technician
HVAC BMS technician

So yes the oportunity is there but you have to go get it as it will not land on your lap.

I will also mention the It is who you know and not what you know at times and I would say that this is the only thing that gets my goat yes I know it goes on but it does not mean that I have to accept it and would say that it is this mentality that contributes to the undermining of our trade with some of these clowns who technically could not put a nut in a monkeys mouth as far as I am concerned.

 

[GLENNSPARK]

It stemmed from when the media decided there were too many kids doing media studies degrees and going into media instead of other things like apprenticeships, then they pointed out that if not enough kids do apprenticeships there could be a shortage of skilled, time served tradesmen. This snowballed into a 'massive skills crisis' which training providers jumped on and cashed in on by telling people looking for an easy shortcut that being an electrician is a lucrative, in-demand career, then selling them a domestic installer course, which would do nothing to alleviate any shortage of skilled time served tradesmen even if it did exist.

As for the 'potential £50,747' I'll wager that figure was simply plucked from the sky - google it and you'll see the same potential earnings being quoted for plumbers, green energy installers and any other job which you 'need' one of their courses to do.

I expect you could potentially earn up to £50,747 stacking shelves in asda, in a similar fashion to how you could potentially earn up to £42 million by winning the lottery.

well..it does sound like the result of some sort of formula doesn`t it Adam......but clearly no real foundation to it....and so it should come with a warning..as apposed to a disclaimer.....also seems like some sort of juggling act as well.......is this the fallout of tony blairs degrees program?......

 

[VoltzElectrical]

Let's get the issue into focus for the OP and other's sake.

Are there jobs out there? Yes there are.

Should I spend thousands getting a qualification to get these jobs? No you don't need to.

Should I get some training that I can afford to supplement my on site experience? yes you should. Try your local college for day release or night school.

But I thought that I would need to have a qualification to start? NO. You will start as a helper, or mate. You don't need a qualification. You will need a card that says you can work safely on site, a CSCS card. You can get this by doing a simple multiple choice test.

Does anyone want to add anything constructive to this post to help the OP?

 

[wellshocked]

Let's get the issue into focus for the OP and other's sake.

Are there jobs out there? Yes there are.

Should I spend thousands getting a qualification to get these jobs? No you don't need to.

Should I get some training that I can afford to supplement my on site experience? yes you should. Try your local college for day release or night school.

But I thought that I would need to have a qualification to start? NO. You will start as a helper, or mate. You don't need a qualification. You will need a card that says you can work safely on site, a CSCS card. You can get this by doing a simple multiple choice test.

Does anyone want to add anything constructive to this post to help the OP?

you aint got no chance of getting on site as a mate with just a cscs card though

 

[VoltzElectrical]

how so?

 

[VoltzElectrical]

I first got on site with nothing! Didn't need a card (never heard of one) 5 years ago. I appreciate things have changed, but what card are you gonna get as a 'mate'? We've got guys posting on here that are time served sparks but only get an improver or adult trainee grade from the JIB without the NVQ 3.

 

[trev]

how so?

Because it's a buyers market mate. They want people who have been there and done it so unless you have experience or you know someone who can ease your passage (Fnarr fnarr) you have no chance with just a CSCS

 

[wellshocked]

you just havent, i have never come across anyone apart from labourers on site to just have the cscs card, i am nearly qualified , i have an ipaf, an ecs card , am booked in to do 17th regs in a month, about to sit my am2 and have nearly 3 years experience and i can just about get a job on site lol

 

[VoltzElectrical]

you aint got no chance of getting on site as a mate with just a cscs card though

What do you need to get on site as a 'mate' then?

 

[wellshocked]

experience, abit of luck and to be at college