Best skills for an Electrician's mate

LETurner · May 18, 2020

Hi,
I have just started retraining as an electrician and am starting my Level 2 EAL course in September. In the meantime I want to develop my skills as much as I can, however there are a lot of skills to develop.

What I want to know is, what skill would a Electrician most appreciate if they were looking to hire a mate.

sloughrookie · May 18, 2020

Not so much skills but a few obvious qualities I can think of...

Punctuality - be where you have to be when you have to be. Do not show up half bladdered or hung over from the night before.

Stay off your phone.

Be proactive where you can and listen and learn. There will be times when you'll need to watch to follow some instructions but a lot of the job (domestic especially) will be unloading/loading the van and getting onto the next job.

Stay off your phone.

Do as you're told (as long as it's reasonable and legal) and don't moan. For example, don't gripe about being sent to collect things from the van multiple times.

Stay off your phone.

If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean.

Stay off your phone.

NEVER try to answer any questions from the customer about the job you are on. Leave that to your gaffer. You may cause all sort of problems.

Stay off your phone.

Look after any PPE & tools provided. That stuff costs money.

Stay off your phone.

Make sure all tools & equipment accounted for at the end of the day. You do not want to be in a situation where you were told to clean up after your gaffer and go to the next job just to realise you have left an SDS drill on the last job 30 miles away.

Stay off your phone

James · May 18, 2020

@sloughrookie
Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Ps time keeping, turn up to site or meeting point 10 to 15 minutes early, there is nothing worse than having a busy day ahead and waiting for the mate to turn up.

On time is not screeching into car park with one minute to spare.
It is in the building, tools in hand boots on etc.

sparksfly · May 18, 2020

Willingness to learn, helpful, common sense, respect, peace, love, understanding, considerate, kind, spatial awareness, rarely using mobile phone ...oh and hard working !

sloughrookie · May 18, 2020

When at work, look as presentable as you can. There will times when you and your clothes will get dirty on the job, it's inevitable. However, don't just turn up (especially for domestic work) looking like a scarecrow trying to sell a bunch of stolen Big Issues to get his next fix.

If you can, it's always handy to have a spare pair of work boots and keep one pair clean. That way you can rotate them to reduce wear & tear and foot stink. If you are on a muddy site on Wednesday and due to work in someones house on Thursday morning and you don't have time to scrape an inch of crap off your boots, you will have a nice clean pair on standby.

Also, honesty will get you far. We all make mistakes, so if you think you have screwed up something....tell your gaffer immediately. Hopefully it's something they can sort out easily and make sure you learn from any mistakes.

If you try to hide/deny something and it later gets covered up by plaster/kitchen/whatever and your company gets a call back then you can be in some deep doo doo

When given a new task to do, it's worth getting your gaffer to check out your attempts to ensure they're happy before you carry on. Don't just assume you are doing it correctly because that's the way you learnt in college or from a former colleague/boss. Electricians can be a funny breed and many of them think their way to do something is the correct and only way it should be done.

LETurner · May 20, 2020

Thank you all, especially sloughrookie, I think I am on the right track. Main point, leave phone in car if at all possible.

marconi · May 20, 2020

Listen more than you speak in the ratio of at least 2 to 1.

Learn to anticipate what will be needed and when.

Love your tools and test kit.

Be careful in your work but learn to do that with some appropriate pace - time is money.

Realise you will learn much which is of equal or often greater value than you will find in books or spouted in the classroom.

A great question Sir.

Lister1987 · May 20, 2020

Carry a pencil/paper, make notes, remember the brew orders

Baddegg · May 20, 2020

In my opinion @marconi has nailed the most important thing, any mate that starts anticipating what I need before I need it is going to go a long way ?

k phillips · Jun 26, 2023

sloughrookie said:
Not so much skills but a few obvious qualities I can think of...

Punctuality - be where you have to be when you have to be. Do not show up half bladdered or hung over from the night before.

Stay off your phone.

Be proactive where you can and listen and learn. There will be times when you'll need to watch to follow some instructions but a lot of the job (domestic especially) will be unloading/loading the van and getting onto the next job.

Stay off your phone.

Do as you're told (as long as it's reasonable and legal) and don't moan. For example, don't gripe about being sent to collect things from the van multiple times.

Stay off your phone.

If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean.

Stay off your phone.

NEVER try to answer any questions from the customer about the job you are on. Leave that to your gaffer. You may cause all sort of problems.

Stay off your phone.

Look after any PPE & tools provided. That stuff costs money.

Stay off your phone.

Make sure all tools & equipment accounted for at the end of the day. You do not want to be in a situation where you were told to clean up after your gaffer and go to the next job just to realise you have left an SDS drill on the last job 30 miles away.

Stay off your phone

Hi there I really like your post straight to the point and it made me laugh. I was wondering do u need an electricians mate would love to work with ya email me at [email protected] and we can take it from there. Hope to hear from you soon