Movin into Self Employment/Agency work?

[rwright1000]

Hi Guys,

Im a recently qualified electrician (full apprenticeship) working for a small local firm doing mostly domestic work with a bit more chucked in. Also booked in to take my 2391 soon. Im slightly older than your average apprentice and very keen to push myself forward, both professionally and financially. My workload at the moment is limited to my employer and small PJs. Any larger amount of work I get offered is very hard to take on myself/sign off etc. Im keen to push myself and work longer hours as we all need to pay the bills/save etc.

Im thinking about joining some agencies for work, mainly for money reasons but also to gain some different experience. If it is feasible I would be self employed at the same time, hopefully getting work with others/for myself. I appreciate work is not a guarantee but you have to try these things. Can anyone advise me if this is a wise move, and also if combining the two is possible? Im looking into costs of setting myself up including tools, transport etc and importantly what tickets do you need to get a look in at agencies so any help on these would be much appreciated too.

Thanks for your time guys

 

[rigga]

working for a agency is all you need nine times out of ten is that gold card anything else is usually a bonus. but if you do have ay additional qualifications then i would list them with the agency because some of them list the highest qualified person first so for example as soon as somebody needs a spark then you will be the first they ask.

just what i have found working for a agency.

ps. i have worked for a agency when my old firm was quiet while i will still on the books as paye

 

[t-s]

ive been looking into doing something like this (own van+sub contract work), im based in the north east but would travel if the money was good enough. what sort of money do agencies pay for someone self employed just jib rate for electrician with own transport rate or extra ?

 

[Newsome3]

what agencies have you gone to so far?

 

[rwright1000]

I haven't contacted any yet, im going to asap just to get an idea of what their looking for. Im based in the south east so if anyone has some good agency names would be really helpful.

 

[maye34]

Yup, it's a well known fact that recruitment agencies make their money from placing completely unsuitable candidates while purposely overlooking the high quality ones like yourselves.
dougleschan.com

 

[cogsey133]

Being self employed and having done agency work for nearly 20 years now i can safely say agencies generally don't give a ---- about you so long as your qualified and have papers they can send on to an employers then they make money from you when your placed. My last big contract for example was in a biomass site and i heard from my agency once in seven months even then that was to get directions to the site. Agencies don't look for anything specific, so long as your qualified in your field, unless its required by the contractor. In all that time i have never had to test, even though i am qualified to do so, all the contractors i have worked for left that to their own guys. Agency work is not steady income by any means however you have the freedom to tell them to shove it at any point, however even this is getting harder to do as some agencies are blacklisting you from their books. I have found that when you work for one agency they tend to come back time and time again and offer work if they get good reports back from the contractor.