Thinking of taking on an apprentice. Unsure of how to make it pay. Any tips?

[Tom pepper]

THIS IS FOR ELECTRICAL NEWS ONLY

 

[Lister1987]

Hi Tom, you'll want to contact a mod to get this moved to the correct section but few ways you can make it work;

Get the donkeywork nailed early; If thry can understand what you're doing and why then they can get a step ahead of you and have that next thing you need ready.

If you're doing EICRs then use them as s Zs monkey, whipping switches sockets off, checking connections and getting Zs while you do the rest of the work.

Look at the work you do, what you have coming in and how much of it can be done by an apprentices without direct supervision, leaving you free to get on with the meat of the job

 

[7029 dave]

Only my opinion, being a Zs monkey would be boring as hell, would be bearably if installation work was for the take too.

 

[Electrics]

Consider an adult learner.

 

[Lister1987]

Only my opinion, being a Zs monkey would be boring as hell, would be bearably if installation work was for the take too.

Obviously, which is why I expanded advising to look at work thry do and see what of it thru could delegate to an apprentice.

 

[MJPD29]

They aren't helpful. It's a simple as that. But it's all about giving someone a chance like others did for us. Personally if I had a company I wouldn't bother with them but it's a long term investment provided your lucky and get the right person. As above an adult learners attitude will most likely be better as they will be footing the bill for training themselves.

 

[pc1966]

They aren't helpful. It's a simple as that.

That is a bit harsh. For many jobs that involve pulling through cables or working on a ladder where you need changes of tools & parts you can't store on the top, then having anyone with half a brain to help is going to speed the job enormously.

But equally they are not coming in as a fellow sparky, so you have to make an allowance for that in terms of what they can be expected to do to help you out initially. Again, depending on whether that have half a brain or a whole one then you will get more and more useful help in the months and year or two ahead.

 

[nicebutdim]

That is a bit harsh. For many jobs that involve pulling through cables or working on a ladder where you need changes of tools & parts you can't store on the top, then having anyone with half a brain to help is going to speed the job enormously.

But equally they are not coming in as a fellow sparky, so you have to make an allowance for that in terms of what they can be expected to do to help you out initially. Again, depending on whether that have half a brain or a whole one then you will get more and more useful help in the months and year or two ahead.

It should be a two way street - apprentices are there to learn, but a good apprentice must want to learn and must also be keen to work. No one is born with an instinctual knowledge of electrics, but there's no excuse for being work shy.

 

[pirate]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...get an older person to help you. Maybe you don't need an apprentice who you have to train, maybe you need a very clued up handy older person who just wants a job running cables, terminating sockets, running to the van/wholesalers/Greggs and happy to be kept occupied. The benefits can be enormous.

 

[7029 dave]

I was once that 15 year old apprentice.

 

[freddo]

Get the donkeywork nailed early; If thry can understand what you're doing and why then they can get a step ahead of you and have that next thing you need ready.

I was always good at that, I'd have the next tool/ component ready to go. It's amazing how much time this sort teamwork saves. Unfortunately the one we have now, his mind is all over the place, it's difficult to get him to carry out even simple tasks to completion, he's been working for some years now too.

They aren't helpful. It's a simple as that. But it's all about giving someone a chance like others did for us. Personally if I had a company I wouldn't bother with them but it's a long term investment provided your lucky and get the right person. As above an adult learners attitude will most likely be better as they will be footing the bill for training themselves.

I used to enjoy teaching apprentices, but it's almost impossible now to get them to focus, the interest certainly isn't there. Everything is 'too difficult', and if it's not on their phone they don't bother giving it attention.

I did learn that the very basic skills I was taught at college don't appear to be being taught now. It's getting stressful, having to keep going over the basics on every job, to someone who has been working in various electrical jobs for 4 years. How difficult is it to fix a back box to the wall or gland an armoured cable?

When I started I had only a little practical experience, but I had spent a lot of time reading books on the subject. I had a good base understanding of how things worked, and this allowed me to work on practical skills that can't be taught from a book, but with a good idea what I was aiming for. This meant I could to catch on fast, even during the work experience I had to do for 2 weeks before the company would decide if they wanted to take me on. I was given a task and could get on with it without constant supervision. (That was 16 years ago, where did that time go?)

It should be a two way street - apprentices are there to learn, but a good apprentice must want to learn and must also be keen to work. No one is born with an instinctual knowledge of electrics, but there's no excuse for being work shy.

They seem to just switch off at 5pm, there is no research, no looking into regulation changes and other important learning. I would work all the hours needed to finish a job. That doesn't happen now, if we aren't finished at 5, there is no end of winging and complaining. We would finish on time if they had actually done some work! I now end up doing the difficult work, the chiselling, stuff in lofts and under floors because they won't. I find myself working on to do cleaning and tidying - isn't that what the apprentice is supposed to do??! We have one good one, and I work with him more than anyone. His work is good and he gets things done fast and right the first time. Unfortunately he recently qualified so I probably won't get to work with him much now.

Perhaps you are better off without...

I think the trick is to find someone who is willing to learn, and don't be afraid to get rid of someone who is genuinely not cutout for this type of work, otherwise believe me, it drags you down.

 

[Electrics]

From my perspective, this week i started working alongside qualified men and know relatively little about electrics.

On day 1 i routed half the cabling for a welding module into the panel, did all the cable tying, put up two industrial lights, wired up 2 sockets, 1 emergency stop button and sorted out loads of spaghetti cable. Never done any of it before but i only needed to be told one time what i should be doing and i got on and did it with no fuss.

On the other days i was shown once how to put up commercial lights, and then went and did around a dozen of them. I also jumped straight on sockets without being told because i knew they needed to be second fixed and knew how plasterboard back boxes work cause i've seen them done on youtube.

I've saved the people i'm working with from doing probably 30 points up to now in the first week.

It all depends on the person - if you have to show them 15 times how to do something and they're always stopping you to ask how to do something then it's not going to be worth it.

Anyone who is a quick learner will be slow the first few weeks but once they get a sense of the sorts of jobs you do regularly they pay for themselves very quickly.

That's why i think maybe consider an adult. I've already got experience in building trades so don't need to be taught to use a tape, how to line stuff up or make sure things are level, or evenly spaced. I know all about accumulative error when measuring so to take a datum point etc etc.

Plus i don't stand around on my phone staring at instagram all day like most 16 year olds i see, since i'm there to work and learn not faff about.

 

[Lister1987]

Where you based?