Flogging a dead horse.

[Rochdale sparky]

Hi everyone im looking for some advice im 21 years old and im currently attending college for the 2330 level 3 course, i decided to become an electrician after a friend told me about a job with the company he works for back in 2009, i was an apprentice with the company which mainly focused on domestic work, i was enjoying the job but unfortunately they began to lose contracts due to the recession and it was a last in first out kind of thing, so instead of letting this get me down i enrolled at college as soon as i could and figured after i complete the level 2 ile easily find a job, this is not the case it seems every company i ring is just about keeping there own heads above water.

I have a lot of enthusiasm for the job and the trade overall but im really struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel, no doubt there are a lot of people in my boat at the moment i have 3 months experience from over 2 years ago and most of the people on my course have been electricians since they were 16 and im wondering what it is that is holding me back from gaining employment and should i continue to keep flogging what at the moment seems like a well and truly dead horse is it really the case that if you dont have an uncle dave who works for a company you have no chance of getting a job, and if that is the case why are there 1000s of companies and college wilfully pulling people in to a course which at the moment there is a very slim realistic opportunity of getting a job in, never mind a carreer.

Any advice or thoughts would be really appreciated thank you.

 

[bugsy]

I think you have answered your oen question, there just isnt the work, training centres blagg on about job opportunities that just don't exist and I cant see it getting better for at least 12 months

 

[Adam W]

To add insult to injury these 'training centres' are still relieving people of their redundancy payments under the pretence that there's a "massive skills shortage"; because it's what people want to hear they're falling for it hook, line, sinker, camping stool, and copy of 'The Angling Times'. By the time the suckers have realised they've been done the cowboy colleges have already laughed their way to the bank.

 

[tonys]

Read somewhere the Government is pledging 350,000 new Apprenticeships and this normally applies to people between the age of 16 - 18.

I bet there will be incentives for companies to take these Apprenticeships on and if it happens and the Electrical industry is penciled in for a fair few Apprentices that will make it very hard for those people like you trying to qualify off your own back.

 

[bugsy]

And it will make this even harder when they all get dumped on the labour market after qualifing

 

[Adam W]

What grinds my gears is there's never any consistency to these schemes - when I was the right age to qualify for an apprenticeship the emphasis was on 'new deal' where you had to be over 25, so they wouldn't help me.
When I got to 25 they moved the goalposts so I still didn't qualify for any help. Now it's apprenticeships again, although now I've finished college apparently adults now qualify for them.

 

[SMB]

And it will make this even harder when they all get dumped on the labour market after qualifing

It won't make anything harder. If your a skilled person then theres no worries.

Lets face it....people want to make a quid.

Train and educate our up and coming sparks.

Don't see the problem.

 

[i=p/u]

you do need a uncle dave

 

[Rochdale sparky]

you do need a uncle dave

ive heard the phrase its who you know not what you know a million times, unfortunately i know no-one, im in a catch 22, to get experience i need a job to get a job i need experience surely there is a way out of this ive thought about advertising myself as an odd job man i know how to carry out most tasks in domestic work but im unaware of the legal requirements to do your own work i wouldnt be doing big jobs just odd jobs e.g outside light, just to get experience anyone got any advice on this or if there are any volunteer schemes running at the moment i could give my time to that anyones heard of

 

[Adam W]

Going out on your own can be a bit daunting especially if you haven't got much experience; it seems a lot of new domestic installers just get in the van and drive off if the going gets tough, but I wouldn't feel right doing that.

You could try some of the agencies. Impressing the employers could lead to big things.