What should an electricians mates expectations be?

[Mike Blair]

I finished my level 2/3 2365 diploma. During that time i gained about one years worth of work experience mostly domestic. im doing my 17th edition as we speak and i have got my cscs card. i was thinking to apply for an electricians mate job in my area. but what are there expectations? as i lack in some particle knowledge

 

[trev]

Basically it's going to be the donkey work mate. As you prove yourself you'll be trusted to do more and more.

 

[Adam W]

It depends on the employer - you should just be doing the donkey work (installing containment, pulling in cables), but some firms will use you as cheap labour. This is a mixed blessing - you get to put into practice what you've learned at college in a real-life situation, but ultimately they're using you as cheap labour. Either way you should be supervised, or at least have your work checked before it's energised.

 

[Mike Blair]

i was going to work as a laborer @ £7.50 , £8 a hour few months to get a van and then work but theres a few jobs around here needing people asap. you think they will pay £7.50 , £8 or will they pay buttons and sticks haha. il call them up and send my cv and see what happens :3 got to start somewhere

 

[rmc86uk]

Before I fully qualified I was working on on an agency job for a big M&E outfit with blue hats. I was getting £9.50 an hour but was working on my own from layouts doing bits of everything. One of the foremen took a shine to me and to this day when I see him on other sites he says I was the best bloke he had on that job. If your decent enough they will try and put you on your own and expect everything like they did with me but I took that as a good thing that they trusted me.

 

[Knobhead]

So why aren’t you still with the company? It sounds like a good outfit if they gave you the chance to get ahead.

 

[rmc86uk]

It was only agency at the time Tony and if anything this big company have been laying off the last three years or so. I would have loved to have got on with them permanent.