Lots of people choose a career within the electrical industry because it both appeals and motivates them. Whilst the original term is ‘Electro-Mechanical Engineering’ we will simply refer to the subject as the Electrical Industry. In addition, we will stay with the UK market and especially items relating to the domestic and commercial sectors rather than global issues. Due to the huge list of opportunities available for a career in the electrical industry, we have to begin by focusing on the main areas and look at the ‘add-ons’ later on.
The electrical market has in our opinion two methods of entry. Whilst many candidates opt to join later on in their life, there still exists the more traditional route of the apprenticeship. To clarify, we’ll label each of them as the ‘Mature Entrants’ and the ‘Junior Entrants’.
Principally, Mature Entrants join the electrical workplace later on, and focus on becoming self employed. This means working on their own and not having to pay salaries to anyone else. On the other hand, to gain further credentials and experience ‘Junior Entrants’ tend to work for a recognised electrical firm. Often a young apprentice will be in their first job since leaving school, and will therefore have a host of ancillary skills to learn during their first few years as a working adult.
The distinct types of entry have differing styles of training - Junior entrants go through NVQ training in England and Wales, and SVQ training in Scotland. The core syllabus is similar to non NVQ commercial training, but the certification is compulsory. ‘Junior Entrants’ will have to be in an apprenticeship of some sort in order to achieve the testing and course work required.
Mature Entrants, with the possible aim of entering the market from a self-employed perspective, seem to focus on attaining the most commercially viable qualifications (without the need for the NVQ element.) Instead most of them aim for the techniques that will get them up and running as quickly as possible and give them the best return against the cost to train in the first place. This method allows for a quicker route to the market and does meet the necessary trading elements for the areas concerned despite reducing the overall qualification set.
With regard to regular earning potential we have two clear paths - one for employees and the other for the self-employed. Whilst self-employed people can choose the hours that they work, we assume that they are working full time for the purpose of this review. Certainly, whilst salary levels can be affected by knowledge and qualifications, they can also be affected by competence and aptitude.
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’ salaries though are often more difficult to work out, but can rise to 70.000 and above as reported in UK newspapers. Irrespective of this salary level many self-employed people also need to manage extra business costs such as tools, clothes and vans. Earmarked within this is the need to cover additional expenses such as accountancy or insurance. With the current skills shortage in the UK, there is a high work load demand available. If a student wanted to work every day of the week this would be possible in some areas. To be fair, high salaries bounded about by the press do require long working hours or help to achieve them.
It should be noted that the working week for most electricians differs between the Junior and Mature Entrant markets. Monday to Friday 9-5 would be the working week of most ‘Junior Entrants’. To be fair, if the Mature electrician is focused on the domestic market then they often find themselves working out of hours, especially to support their clients when they get home. And yet, a huge number of self-employed electricians operate during the main part of the working week by focusing on office and small business systems.
Once a Junior Entrant is employed within a company, then any follow-on knowledge they gain is often down to the employers’ activity as opposed to anything else. But by securing work within the fields of gas or plumbing many mature entrants can gain knowledge outside of their chosen path. Within the domestic market this allows them to work under a range of headings without having to rely upon sub contract suppliers.
One fresh approach is that of the ‘Green Engineer’. The curiosity of both Junior and Mature Electricians to this new industry is well founded especially when considering the power of the UK and the EEC markets in areas of growth and governmental projects.
(C) 2009 Scott Edwards. Pop over to www.MatureStudentTraining.co.uk/nmatstr.html or Electrical Certifications.
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