Introducing Electrical Training Courses

Jason Kendall | February 15, 2010

Due to the exciting choices available, the electrical industry offers jobs that many people choose. For simplicity’s sake we will use the phrase Electrical Industry to cover off the more accurate term of “Electro-Mechanical Engineering”. As there are a wide variety of global standards, we will focus on those from the UK and in particular those relating to the domestic and commercial markets. By starting on the main subjects and checking the ‘add-ons’ later on we can review the centre of the electrical industry.

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’.

Many Mature Entrants enter the market so they don’t have to rely on others, especially when they can work on their own building ideas and not have to pay for anyone else to help them. However, people who join as junior entrants like the fact that they can join a recognised firm to pick up the bulk of their practical and work based skills. To be fair, young apprentices leaving school will have a lot of supplementary skills to learn during their early 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.

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. It is recognised that competence and qualifications add to income levels as well as experience and information gained.

The basic salary for Junior Entrants tends to start around the 12-15k mark, but rises regularly to around 30k with the right level of experience. Conversely, the UK newspapers often report experienced mature electricians can expect an income of anything up to 70.000. Regardless of all that is the need to cover off additional costs such as tools, clothes and even a vehicle and all that goes along with that. Allocations for personal/professional insurance will also have to be catered for. That aside, whilst the work is open to market-forces to some degree, the current skills shortage in the UK means that there’s a high work-load available. Without a doubt, the market would allow for some people to work a full seven days a week. 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.)

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.

Any specialist knowledge the Junior Entrant gains whilst in someone’s employ is usually down to the sectors of industry that company works in. However, many mature entrants gain extra skills by learning those trades such as gas and plumbing work. If they are working mostly in the domestic market, this makes it easier for them to take on larger jobs across a range of disciplines (without having to sub-contract.)

‘Green Engineering’ is another area to consider. This requires new skills and working knowledge and is one of the fastest growing areas today. The opportunity to provide both employment and potential service contracts, especially in the UK and the EEC sectors, mean that this area is of interest to both Junior and Mature electricians.

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