OP
Adam W
Like yourself I didn't start training until later in life. I was 25 so firms couldn't benefit from the same incentives as employing an apprentice, so I paid my own way through college. During the first year it was drummed into us that we'd need to get work in the industry ASAP so I got a list of NICEIC registered companies and wrote to all the ones which sounded most likely (excluding things like kitchen and bathroom fitters). I got nowhere so carried on working in the restaurant. At the end of the first year I got distinctions in all my exams and put an advert on Gumtree and was picked up by an agency for work as a mate, which helped a lot with the other 2 years at college.
Like many others on here I'd always recommend the local college route over distance learning training centres - firstly the training centres are in it for the money, and secondly the chances are the person you're applying for a job from will have gone to the same local college, so you've got a connection straight away.
It seems that if you want to work for a company on the cards jobbing around in a van you need to have contacts, which you can make through doing site work.
Like many others on here I'd always recommend the local college route over distance learning training centres - firstly the training centres are in it for the money, and secondly the chances are the person you're applying for a job from will have gone to the same local college, so you've got a connection straight away.
It seems that if you want to work for a company on the cards jobbing around in a van you need to have contacts, which you can make through doing site work.