- Reaction score
- 1,509
I'd say it varies, you have to add into the equation the bias towards Apprenticeship candidates as opposed to those that have "front loaded" the knowledge but no experience.Hmm would have to debate those maths Lister. It actually still works out more costly to do an apprenticeship especially if your firm starts you on minimum wage for the first year.
I ditched my apprenticeship and got a job as an improver and literally doubled my wages over night. It means i'm actually making 20 grand a year more which more than covers the training;
18th Edition - £300
T+I 2391 - £900
NVQ3 - £1500
AM2 - £950
Don't need to bother with the Level 2/3 since they don't really teach you anything of practical use. Granted i've been in construction my whole life so not a fresh starter like OP might be, but still.
OP, what sector are you currently in? If you're in construction/trades/anything handy like that then i'd become au fait with electrics as much as you can, then just lie on your CV and say you've been taking on basic non-notifiable work for years. Get your 18th edition and you could walk straight into a job on £14/15/hr.
You could save a Bob but that saving is worthless if you can't get the experience, which is why Apprenticeship is the better option.
Further to that if you skip level 2 and 3 as you're suggesting then your ONLY route to gold card would be the EWA/MCA - which is basically SHOWING you can do the job as the traditional NVQ requires the L2 and L3 as prerequisites, so ypu could find yourself in a position with a gold card but no actually knowing any underlying theory as to the WHY.