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?

 

[jimmymac]

Hi, to be quite honest with you it's hard to get a job nowadays. I've heard of experienced guys struggling to find anything but that was a couple of years back and things are improving slowly. You have to understand that your not gonna just walk into a job just because you have level 2. My advice would be to keep trying and if your ready to give up after just 4/5 months then maybe you weren't that committed on the first place? Also, it's experience that really lands you a job so just do all you can to try gather some experience, good luck, hope it works out for you!

 

[Bolton-BL2]

Hi, thanks for your reply. Maybe ive worded it a bit wrong. I far from expect to just walk into something just because I have completed my level 2, I would of just thought after 4/5 months of trying to find something I would of by now and I am far from ready to give up trying. I suppose I was really looking for some advice on how I could help my self to find something

 

[Darkwood]

The problem at the moment is we are just coming out of a recession where many thousands of Experienced Electricians lost there jobs coupled with a saturation of the domestic market by short course instant sparkies..

Luckily the tide is turning and work is slowing returning but the available spots are been snapped up by those made redundant etc because they have experience already ... if you be patient and just keep at it hopefully the demand should carry on increasing its just the fact you picked as many have a very bad time to try become an Electrician ..the recession saw many many thousands of people of different working backgrounds lose there jobs and as a consequence a lot made the decision to train up as sparkies to give them a more solid based career....

The main drive for the need for Electricians is new build and thats only just started to move forward so hopefully by the time you get your quals things may be more prosperous but Id consider if possible offering your services for free for a month and express and show how committed and eager to learn you are, your age can be a issue with some employees but also a benefit - express to any would be employee that you are a family man who just wants to earn his keep and support his family ....this is itself is a positive as your unlikely to reflect the trend off the new generation with attitude issues, turning up late and throwing sickies because they had a skin full.

I wish you luck fella :smilewinkgrin:

 

[jimmymac]

Ok, no worries pal. There's no real, magic solution to your problem. You've just got to keep trying until you find someone who will give you a chance. A lot of others contact local sparks to see if they are able to give them some work on an 'as & when required' basis. Others offer to work for free just to get the experience but from the sounds of things that's not a possibility for you. Your problem is that your competing against the younger lads/lasses and the government pay the wages for apprenticeships if your under 25, or so i'm led to believe. That's all I can say really, just keep trying and if your not going to give in then I commend your commitment

 

[jimmymac]

The problem at the moment is we are just coming out of a recession where many thousands of Experienced Electricians lost there jobs coupled with a saturation of the domestic market by short course instant sparkies..

Luckily the tide is turning and work is slowing returning but the available spots are been snapped up by those made redundant etc because they have experience already ... if you be patient and just keep at it hopefully the demand should carry on increasing its just the fact you picked as many have a very bad time to try become an Electrician ..the recession saw many many thousands of people of different working backgrounds lose there jobs and as a consequence a lot made the decision to train up as sparkies to give them a more solid based career....

The main drive for the need for Electricians is new build and thats only just started to move forward so hopefully by the time you get your quals things may be more prosperous but Id consider if possible offering your services for free for a month and express and show how committed and eager to learn you are, your age can be a issue with some employees but also a benefit - express to any would be employee that you are a family man who just wants to earn his keep and support his family ....this is itself is a positive as your unlikely to reflect the trend off the new generation with attitude issues, turning up late and throwing sickies because they had a skin full.

I wish you luck fella :smilewinkgrin:

There you go, straight from the horses mouth....Shire horse! lol

 

[Deleted member 72666]

I'm sorry, I unable to read your post as I don't have my glasses with me!

 

[Adam W]

Changing career is never easy. The college bit is the easy bit; finding work with no experience is the hard bit.
I spent a year calling and writing to companies before I got anywhere.

 

[uksparks]

Not everyone is bad, I've taken my a chance with a 16 year old, I guess the only thing people might look at is that taking on a 16 year old will only cost approx £3 per hour, where as it's going to cost them at least £6.31 per hour with you.

 

[MBEINST]

Don't be disheartened.

The main problem you have is at your age everyone is scared that you'll pretty soon start up on your own when you have got the experience. They then see you as competition and won't give you that experience.

Maybe I'm cynical but thats what I found.

I even volunteered to work for free to build my experience. I was offered a re-wire and because I wasn't comfortable I offered the job to a friend of a friend. I told him that he could quote and I would help for free to build some experience. It was a nightmare he kept his cards close to his chest and any questions I had were pretty much answered in the least informative way possible.

In the end I bit the bullet and went on my own. I have been trading now for just over two years and whilst the work was very sporadic initially, things are now picking up. Advertising and website were a waste of money. Most work comes through word of mouth and people recommending me to friends. This is difficult until you have built a customer base.

I am not scared of the competition as I believe good work for a good price will bring in more work. I am at the opposite side of Bolton to you but if there is anything that I can help with then please ask.

This forum is an invaluable source of advice and guidance. Most posters are very helpful. You just need to develop a thick skin and ignore idiots who just try to trip you up instead of providing the advice in the spirit it was requested.

Good luck

 

[Bolton-BL2]

Thank you for your replies

 

[Johnuk]

get yourself a j,i,b card so you can do site work. there is hope out there just got to call the right people, we have to guys in are campany who are over 30 that we are helping out to get them on there nvq 3

 

[alanmcm]

Dont be losing hope, Im 32 and only going in to my 2nd year of my HNC in engineering. I started off by working for free and done this for a few months until a different company offered me work. He was impressed that I was getting up everyday and going to work for free just to gain experience that he offered me a job, plus with the fact the guy I worked for had a 50k disagreement with my new boss so probably helped things along. Anything can happen just be patient, someone will give you a chance.

 

[amckay]

null

You'd be wasting your time with EAL quals. City&guilds are most recognised and are seen as a higher level than EAL equivalents.
As for work, I felt like I wasted my time retraining at 25 (three years later im still not fully qualified) after I'd done nearly 10years in the RAF. Persistence is key.
PMA - positive mental attitude. Crack on and your patience will pay off.

 

[Guest77]

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?

I will get my magnifying glass and then get back to you

 

[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.