For many people, an interesting and varied choice often means a career within the electrical industry. Although often assigned to as ‘Electro-Mechanical Engineering”, we will simply refer to this as the Electrical Industry. Also, due to a wide variety of qualifications and standards throughout the world, we’ll focus on those that fit the UK domestic and commercial market. Because of the vast number of options available for a career within the electrical industry, we’ll start by concentrating on the main topics, and come back to the ‘add-ons’ later.
We consider that there are two ways to enter the electrical market. Along with apprenticeships for school leavers, students entering the field at a later phase in their life now have an alternative to more traditional amateur routes. To begin with we have the ‘Junior Entrants’ and then we have the ‘Mature 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. Whereas the ‘Junior Entrants’ train alongside regular electrical employment to pick up practical work place skills as they gain their qualifications. Upon leaving school many apprenticeships provide a fast learning curve for young adults looking to boost their auxiliary skills.
The different ways into electrical work have two distinct types of training: The Junior Entrants syllabus involves NVQ/SVQ’s as well as proving working skills. There is a particular requirement to attain the NVQ qualifications as part of the overall program. This requires being in a directly-related work program or apprenticeship of some type, so as to meet the testing and course-work requirements.
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.) Having said that, the mature student does aim to gain the necessary skills to do the job, whilst at the same time reducing their training costs at all times. 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.
We should differentiate the prospective earnings into the two categories of employed and self-employed. Obviously, with self-employment, there is the added issue of whether the Entrant is part-time (working around another job) or full-time; we will concentrate on full-time. Skill and knowledge levels can often determine salary levels, although this is equally via a proven ability or certification scheme.
‘Junior Entrants’ can expect a basic salary of 12K at the beginning of their training. With application and experience this figure often more than doubles in time. Conversely, the UK newspapers often report experienced mature electricians can expect an income of anything up to 70.000. It should be remembered however that a self employed person must often bear additional costs for items such as vehicles, tools and clothing. They will also have to make allocations for personal or professional insurance and accountancy. 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. In light of the above, a full seven day week is available to most people should they want it. To achieve the high salaries of 70+ thousand then you will need to put in very long hours and commit yourself fully.
Firstly, it is worth pointing out that the working week between the Junior and Mature electricians can vary enormously. For a ‘Junior Entrant’, most work is on a simple working week basis. The Mature market is however often reliant as to when their client base is available, especially in the domestic sector. 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 career in electrical work has been chosen, a Junior Electrician is often at the mercy of their employer when it comes to learning new skills and expertise. Then again, the mature entrant can even go outside of the electrical field to gas work or plumbing work for example. Within the domestic market this allows them to work under a range of headings without having to rely upon sub contract suppliers.
A new trade example is that of the ‘Green Engineer’. This new service to the industry could fit into the overall skill-set of an electrician. The chance to win some big employment and business advantages within the governmental as well as the traditional growth sector means that this area could be attractive to both Junior and Mature Entrants alike.
Copyright 2009 Scott Edwards. Visit CLICK HERE or Electrical Certifications.