RSSExamining Electrician Training Courses – A Closer Look
Feb 01
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Due to the exciting choices available, the electrical industry offers jobs that many people choose. Although often assigned to as ‘Electro-Mechanical Engineering”, we will simply refer to this as the Electrical Industry. In addition, we will stay with the UK market and especially items relating to the domestic and commercial sectors rather than global issues. By starting on the main subjects and checking the ‘add-ons’ later on we can review the centre of the electrical industry.
Essentially, we see two distinct forms of entry into the electrical market. To being with we have the older apprentice course and then secondly we have the option for those who wish to make a career change to join the industry. Throughout this document we will simply refer to two types of people the ‘Junior’ and the ‘Mature’ entrants.
People who do not want to pay any extra salaries, but want to enter the industry with the focus of being self employed are who we refer to as Mature Entrants. By contrast, Junior entrants would seek to work with an established electrical firm and build their skill-sets as they train. Often a young apprentice will be in their first job since leaving school, and will therefore have a host of ancillary skills to learn during their first few years as a working adult.
These two distinct types of entry have two separate modes of training: Junior Entrants are heavily linked with NVQ’s (or the Scottish equivalent – SVQ’s.) There is a particular requirement to attain the NVQ qualifications as part of the overall program. This means that work programs or apprenticeships have to be sought in order to arrange the necessary course work and testing phases of work.
By opting to work on a freelance basis, many Mature Entrants appear to focus on those areas that provide profitable and practical solutions other than NVQ’s. Such as obtaining documentation that gives them the best chance to gain from their training endeavours and thereby the best financial rewards. This system, although appearing to reduce the attributes laid out, does allow for a faster and more solid entry into the domestic market.
Salaries are often simply broken down to those that relate to self -employed people and those in general employment. Whilst self-employed people can choose the hours that they work, we assume that they are working full time for the purpose of this review. It is recognised that competence and qualifications add to income levels as well as experience and information gained.
Although starting wages for ‘Junior Entrants’ are around 13k p.a. they can rise above 30k p.a. but this does depend on their level of experience. Mature Entrants are more difficult to assess, and incomes up to and above 70k are regularly reported within the UK Press. It should be remembered however that a self employed person must often bear additional costs for items such as vehicles, tools and clothing. Allocations for personal/professional insurance will also have to be catered for. With the current skills shortage in the UK, there is a high work load demand available. Without a doubt, the market would allow for some people to work a full seven days a week. It should be understood that the 70-100k figures that we see thrown around in newspapers are not easily achieved, and would either require working long hours or having assistants (or both.)
In light of the above, it is often understood that there is wild variance between the working expectations of Junior and Mature Entrants. Most ‘Junior Entrants’ do not work at the weekends. To be fair, if the Mature electrician is focused on the domestic market then they often find themselves working out of hours, especially to support their clients when they get home. This alters quite a bit, with lots of self employed electricians gaining much of their income from small office work, which is predominantly Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.
Once a Junior Entrant is employed within a company, then any follow-on knowledge they gain is often down to the employers’ activity as opposed to anything else. However, many mature entrants gain extra skills by learning those trades such as gas and plumbing work. Certainly if they are employed within the domestic sector this makes it easier to take on work without having to rely upon other people.
One new, fast growing area – one that invokes a wide array of skills sets and is new to the industry overall – is that of the ‘Green Engineer’. This could be an area of interest to both Junior and Mature Entrants, and with the expected growth and governmental (both UK & EEC) support, it could provide some highly lucrative employment and business opportunities.
Author: Scott Edwards. Look at Click HERE or Electrical NVQs.
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