Please help me out.The more opinions the better.

[sparks101]

I have been a practicing electrician for 6 yrs. didnt complete my c&g 2360 p1& p2 at college after school.....long story short i have my 17th and am going to do my 2391 in November. Personally i thought that would be enough to get a job with a firm but it seems to be 85% of the jobs i find on the internet ask for C&G 2330, AM2 NVQ LEVEL3, jib,2392,etc. Im sure everyone knows all the money eating courses i mean.
My question that i need others opinions on is what qualifications make you a "Competent" Electrician on paper to a potential employer?, I say this because we all know that an individual can have mastered "other" trades within their own trade for example i dont have any formal qualifications in Fire Alarms,cctv,burglar alarms, yet know them like them like the back of my hand. I just dont think its fair to be judged on paper and even after interviews you are still judged on paper to an extent.

 

[ElectricMick]

Hi Sparks101,
I know where you are coming from - I was 30 years in the RAF before doing the 2381/2, 2391 (passed first time!!) and all the easy PAT stuff. I then found it easier to start up on my own than actually going and getting a job. Having said that I got fed up with the minefield of Part P and the need to pay some faceless body hundreds of pounds to make my job (and sometimes my customers lives) more difficult. I gave up in the end and headed off to work in the middle east. I'm back now and hoping that this current government will get rid of some of these money stealing quango's and let those of us that are qualified (and are not cowboys) get on with our jobs without trying to breathe down our necks. I would highly recommend going it alone, even if it means paying the LABC their fee's for all but the minor works. Its often worth it if you can pick up a few house extensions and an occasional re-wire. Good luck.

 

[Adam W]

Many employers seem to favour candidates with experience over those with qualifications. Obviously ideally you need both, but if you have the experience it's easier to sit an exam to get your bit of paper than it is to gain experience.

 

[Phil]

competent to me as an employer would be, one the attitude of the person along with relevant experience that can be checked up on, the quals are good on paper but mean nothing without the experience. so whilst i would want someone with the quals i would be looking at the experience side first and the the tech competence you can prove with the certs. no point having a fully loaded set of certs without the experience, trouble is there is so much competition out there at the moment you really need as much as you can get to stand out