Thinking of giving up trying to be a sparky.

[Damon]

You know what, Last year on my employers advice they suggest if I want to get into the electrical employment sector i really need to consider going to college full time to get the skills and qualifications necessary to achieve my career goals.I had thought about it for years but financial constraints always held me back....then after one really **** day at work I snapped and packed my job in.
That was a year ago now and I have had no money to live on whatsoever since i started college( the system expects you to live off your partner), Its been tough financially but we got thru it and i left college with NVQ Level 2 and City & Guilds 2330, I also got my ECS JiB Card as the college were always banging on about never gettin work if you cant get on site etc.....

Since last september I have been writing to employers,one man bands etc....both locally and nationally looking for work both full time, part time, temp or even casual.....I have even offered my services for free so that I can gain that valuble work experience and pointed employers in the direction of the goverments train to gain initiative that means they pay £5 per hour towards your wages and stressed that if i am taken on even on minimum wage the employer only has to pay me 80 pence per hour.

But still nothing just letters of thanks but no thanks we will keep you on file, I cannot stress how important it is as many of you know that you need an employer to do you NVQ Level 3 and i just cant find any employer willing to give me a chance.

I gave up a secure full time job to better myself for a brighter future for my family and I yet after almost one year ive ruined my credit rating,almost had my home repossessed and suprised the wife aint left me.

What the college didnt tell me when I signed up is that there are hundreds if not thousands of unqualified electricians and mates out their who have many years work experience, Employers want guys with experience, Its all about WHAT CAN YOU DO?this is the question agencies will ask you.

Hows about the goverment giving us a loan or tax system so we can repay our course fees later down the line, Surely we are worth as well as Uni Grads.....There is no funding for people like me, Ive searched everywhere and cannot continue to keep emptying my wifes bank account to fund my training.

Enoughs enough. My old job was bad but at least it paid the bills and to be quite honest I am frankly quite shocked at the rates of pay electrician mates recieve, My last job paid £9 per hour...what have I done?

 

[Validis]

I know exactly how your feeling. Before I put myself through college, I was always under the impression that you needed Electricians qualifications to work with electrics. Even whilst I was waiting for my college course to start, I contacted companies and was told that I need some qualifications.

I've been searching for 2 years now, and recently obtained my City & Guilds level 3. And now, everywhere I look, agencies or employers want the experience, regardless of whether you have qualifications or not!

It seems there are so many non-qualified people out there, who have the jobs because they somehow winged it, or got a little bit of experience. Last week, my brother (a plumber), rang an agency and was asked for 2 references, which he had. He was not asked ONE bit about qualifications. Today, I rang that same agency who also have Electrician Mate vacancies. I was told that i must have 2 references.

I myself, am now in £2300 debt, due to a loan i took out to pay for both courses (level 2 &3). I have even started to apply for warehouse work again. There is a part of me that thinks I may have made a mistake, too

 

[Spa Key]

I understand what you're saying. There's absolutely nothing out there, and it's not getting any better. I think a lot of people are now 'chasing the dream' of becoming a sparky, most haven't sacrificed as much as you though! How come you were expected to live off your wife's earnings? Were you not even entitled to basic job seekers?

I think if you keep trying something will eventually come up. I'd given up hope and signed up for Uni; had a call asking me to come for an interview for an apprenticeship (I'm registered with JTL). I told them at the interview I already had 2330, interviewer told me I had no chance of an apprenticeship because of this. Couple of days later, second interview, day after that I was offered a trial which I'm still waiting to happen (they've got a contract doing schools up, without a CRB check I can't go in so have to wait for something else!)

In the interview he told me he'd taken on a lad in the same situation as me - no experience but had his 2330, though this lad was late 30's, and he couldn't speak higher of him. Don't give up, offer to do a week/2 weeks on trial to show what you can do. The bigger companies are probably your best bet, they don't have so much to worry about with regards to cost of training. A few hundred quid is a lot to a one man band, but to a big company with massive turnover it's nothing. For the record, I was called back for a second interview because they liked my attitude.

Sparkies aren't as valued as they used to be. You've seen the job adverts asking for everything; 2391, NVQ etc, but paying £10/hour, though some do still value the skill & expertise required. My brother's been at it 12 years, at the minute he's on ~£16/hour, van provided. Last I heard he was rewiring an £800k penthouse in London.

Don't give up is the best advice I can give, because something will eventually come along.

 

[Damon]

One cannot claim jobseekers if you are a fulltime student....regardless if you have paid your taxes for the last 20 years...My course has finished for the summer and I am now able to claim Contributions Based Jobseekers only albeit for a maximum of 6 months then BANG nothing.

I have told the jobcentre I am desperate for a placement as I have given up so much to be where I want to be but to them your just a number.
Something will turn up im sure of it but if the college was honest with me in the first place about the struggle to get jobs and the relatively low wages a mate earns I would have seriously reconsidered.

I went to college assumin theres a massive skills shortage which there is and their isnt, There is a skills shortage of Approved Electricians but not a shortage of electricians/mates etc...whom are in plentiful supply.

At the end of the day my college is a business and they would sell sand to the arabs if they could.

 

[caterhamboy]

I'm in same position having just finished my level 2 2330 this yr, i'm on minimum wage with no prospect of a pay rise, the guy i work with most of the time is paid £10 ph +van and is fully timed served and holds 2391. So even after next yr when i have finished at college all i can expect is another £4 ph if i am lucky enough to have a job.

 

[Robinson]

Living in sussex and not been great but is picking up, and i really feel for you guys.....i know it sounds a bit sorta odd job style but have you thought about just going alone!.....get some freeebie cards made from online some leaflets and just go through all local doors and buisnesses...maybe little local add....you will be very supprised....state your local buisness and maybe people will support that........letting agencies, and estate agents always good one to drop your cards and leaflets too......and maybe with bit of leg work some calls might start trickling in.....also a little web link to simple web page.....send it out again t o local orrr outter area buisneses.....as a one man show you will be able to take the smaller jobs companies dont and the alot around if you want them........


All the best

 

[Deleted member 9648]

I feel for you people....specially as I've been in the trade for 30 plus years and have had a gutfull.!!...would love to do something else but with all the comitiments cant just jack it in,need to earn the money somehow.

I do feel though that possibly employers are beginning to realise that qualifications alone are not enough. There is a reason for the tried and tested apprenticeship for school leavers which seems to have been largely abandoned in favour of book learning the trade.....A school leaver has no financial commitments,therefore they can be paid what they are worth to an employer at first,very little.They can spend the next 5 years working in the field with experienced sparks as well as book learning,when their time is up there is a fighting chance that they will be useful enough to be worthwhile employing at full time rates.
No offence here but if I was an employer faced with someone older ,who has all the qualifications but no experience, expecting to be paid a decent rate...I would look elsewhere because I know out on site that person,(through no fault of their own),wouldnt have a clue.

 

[Spa Key]

No offence here but if I was an employer faced with someone older ,who has all the qualifications but no experience, expecting to be paid a decent rate...I would look elsewhere because I know out on site that person,(through no fault of their own),wouldnt have a clue.

As the OP said, he's been offering to work minimum wage and even tried the 'train to gain' initiative; the employer would only be paying 80p/hour, based on a 40 hour week he'd cost them £24.

There are nowhere near as many apprenticeships nowadays either, so it's difficult for anyone to get into the trade. I think the new 2357 will help us with the 2330 though, because for the 2357 you have to be working in the industry. Unfortunately it'll also push a lot of people into the hands of money-making training providers, train to be a spark in 5 days lot. In 30 odd years time we'll have masses of sparks who can do domestic but nothing else, and a few commercial/industrial sparks who'll enjoy the benefits of being classed as skilled workers again, and who will hopefully earn the money they deserve.

 

[Deleted member 9648]

As the OP said, he's been offering to work minimum wage and even tried the 'train to gain' initiative; the employer would only be paying 80p/hour, based on a 40 hour week he'd cost them £24..

Yes...and fair play to him,but is he going to be content with that for say a couple of years while he gets enough experience to become competent?....No I'd guess,someone older,with commitments will have to earn a living wage sooner rather than later,and employers will only pay that to someone who can do the job.

 

[JimTheSpark]

I to am in a similar boat and have come to think that I may have waisted 3 years of my life.

This year I am going to be 27 and by the time I am 29/30 want to be moved out of my parents, living in my own place with a decent wage coming in to comfortably support myself.

I did a few different jobs in the past, was made redundant and as I'm not overly keen on office work decided to go to college and train to become a spark.

I have spent the last 3 years gaining the C&G 2330 / EAL Level 3 / 17th Edition / Part P / ECS H&S

For the last 6 months I have been hounding companies to give me a chance and only ever seem to get letters of rejection.

I feel I am waiting my time and that my ages is against me. Do I spend another 6 months looking for work and then if I'm lucky enough to find some then have to work for peanuts until I'm more competent or do I start looking for other work that will more than likely pay better and start paving a career path for me?

Ideally I did want to do the NVQ 3 yet finding an employer at all, let alone one that will have enough work on to see you through the course seems impossible. I dread paying for the course only to be made redundant and not be able to complete it.

That leads me on to the fact that without it, most employers arnt interested in you because its a qualification that they all seem to want on your CV, especially when applying for commercial experience.

Even with the ECS card, great i passed the exam and have the certificate, but you cant get the card unless your working and you cant work without it so I'm caught in a catch 22 there.

I feel for those of you in the same boat. We have worked so hard, yet now hit a brick wall...