January 30th, 2010Revealing 2391 Courses – What’s Required
Due to the exciting choices available, the electrical industry offers jobs that many people choose. Whilst the original term is ‘Electro-Mechanical Engineering’ we will simply refer to the subject as the Electrical Industry. Also, for ease we will concentrate on those principles that sit within the domestic and commercial markets for the UK. We will begin by reviewing the main issues first and come back to the ‘add-ons’ later, because of the huge number of options available as a career within this subject.
The electrical market has in our opinion two methods of entry. Initially there’s the more traditional apprenticeship approach, but equally there is now an alternative, suited to those who are keen to enter later in their life. To clarify, we’ll label each of them as the ‘Mature Entrants’ and the ‘Junior Entrants’.
People who do not want to pay any extra salaries, but want to enter the industry with the focus of being self employed are who we refer to as Mature Entrants. Alternatively, ‘Junior Entrants’ will pick up lots of their work place skills by working with an already reputable electrical company. This could be a young apprentice’s first position since leaving school, so it will be necessary to pick up supplementary working skills.
Entry has two separate approaches to teaching. Junior entrants go through NVQ training in England and Wales, and SVQ training in Scotland. An NVQ qualification would need to be obtained as part of the training program. Often, this means that students have to gain an apprenticeship in order to be able to realise the course work and testing requirements of the job.
Mature Entrants do not appear to seek the NVQ element but instead they go after the most commercially suitable qualifications. In the main the person will aim to gain the best from their investment costs against the return for that training. This system, although appearing to reduce the attributes laid out, does allow for a faster and more solid entry into the domestic market.
So we have two defined routes laid out – one being for general employment and the other centred on self-employment. For the sake of this document we will assume that everyone involved in electrical employment is working full-time. The aptitude and talent for getting things done can affect the levels of salary as well as any experience or knowledge gained.
Wages for ‘Junior Entrants’ can become as high as 30,000 or more per annum with the right experience, although starting salaries are around 12,000. Mature Entrants are more difficult to assess, and incomes up to and above 70k are regularly reported within the UK Press. That aside, many added costs need to be remembered by self employed people in order to make their business work. Allocations for personal/professional insurance will also have to be catered for. Whilst there is lots of available work, a severe skills shortage means electricians are very much in demand. If a student wanted to work every day of the week this would be possible in some areas. It should be understood that the 70-100k figures that we see thrown around in newspapers are not easily achieved, and would either require working long hours or having assistants (or both.)
In light of the above, it is often understood that there is wild variance between the working expectations of Junior and Mature Entrants. Most ‘Junior Entrants’ do not work at the weekends. While on the other hand, the opportunities in the domestic market (where mature entrants often work) can be heavily dependent upon when the clients get home. Although by testing and installing various business systems, many self-employed electricians manage to work during a normal working week.
Any specialist knowledge the Junior Entrant gains whilst in someone’s employ is usually down to the sectors of industry that company works in. But by securing work within the fields of gas or plumbing many mature entrants can gain knowledge outside of their chosen path. This gives them the chance to complete work for domestic clients without having to sub contract jobs out every time.
One fresh approach is that of the ‘Green Engineer’. Looking together to the UK and the EEC this activity could be of benefit to both Junior and Mature Entrants, providing new growth and opportunities to both disciplines.
Copyright 2009 Scott Edwards. Try Electrical Training Courses or Part P Electrical.