Due to the exciting choices available, the electrical industry offers jobs that many people choose. Although often assigned to as ‘Electro-Mechanical Engineering”, we will simply refer to this 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. By starting on the main subjects and checking the ‘add-ons’ later on we can review the centre of the electrical industry.
We consider that there are two ways to enter the electrical market. To being with we have the older apprentice course and then secondly we have the option for those who wish to make a career change to join the industry. Throughout this document we will simply refer to two types of people the ‘Junior’ and the ‘Mature’ entrants.
Mature students, or entrants, often train so that they can become self-employed and work on their own projects without having to pay wages to external electricians. Alternatively, ‘Junior Entrants’ will pick up lots of their work place skills by working with an already reputable electrical company. To be fair, young apprentices leaving school will have a lot of supplementary skills to learn during their early years as a working adult.
Clearly these two options have both differing training styles and methods of entry. Junior Entrants are heavily linked with NVQ’s (or the Scottish equivalent - SVQ’s.) The training itself is similar to non NVQ training, but completion of the full programme means getting the actual qualifications. This requires being in a directly-related work program or apprenticeship of some type, so as to meet the testing and course-work requirements.
By opting to work on a freelance basis, many Mature Entrants appear to focus on those areas that provide profitable and practical solutions other than NVQ’s. For example by concentrating on those qualifications aimed at giving them the best return from their training costs. This method may appear to reduce the levels of knowledge overall, but it does allow for an increase in the speed by which people enter and become more prevalent within the market.
Salaries are often simply broken down to those that relate to self -employed people and those in general employment. 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. Skill and knowledge levels can often determine salary levels, although this is equally via a proven ability or certification scheme.
Basic salary for Junior Entrants can start at around 12 thousand per annum, often going above 35 thousand after several years in industry. ‘Mature Entrants’ salaries though are often more difficult to work out, but can rise to 70.000 and above as reported in UK newspapers. It should be remembered however that a self employed person must often bear additional costs for items such as vehicles, tools and clothing. Allocations for personal/professional insurance will also have to be catered for. 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.
There is often a considerable differential between the working expectations of Mature or Junior Entrants. For a ‘Junior Entrant’, most work is on a simple working week basis. That aside the Mature market is equally affected by when their clients are available - this is especially so within the domestic sector, where evening and weekend work predominates. This alters quite a bit, with lots of self employed electricians gaining much of their income from small office work, which is predominantly Monday to Friday 9am-5pm.
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. Alternatively, the mature entrant can gain other training outside of their chosen field, such as gas and plumbing work. They can take on larger jobs and do all the work themselves then - which is a particularly great benefit to domestic clients.
‘Green Engineering’ is another area to consider. This requires new skills and working knowledge and is one of the fastest growing areas today. 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.
Written by Scott Edwards. Check out Electrical Course or Electrician Qualifications.
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