Lots of people choose a career within the electrical industry because it both appeals and motivates them. Although often assigned to as 'Electro-Mechanical Engineering", we will simply refer to this as the Electrical Industry. 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. 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. There are two sets of people for consideration firstly the 'Junior Entrants' and secondly the 'Mature Entrants'.
Mature Entrants who join the industry later on do so with the aim of working for themselves, usually as a one person business. By contrast, Junior entrants would seek to work with an established electrical firm and build their skill-sets as they train. 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 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. As part of the training program an NVQ would be a requirement to attain. This means that work programs or apprenticeships have to be sought in order to arrange the necessary course work and testing phases of work.
Instead of seeking a work-based training environment, the Mature Entrant often seems to focus on working as a self employed person where different qualifications to NVQ's are preferred. 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. 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. 'Mature Entrants' salaries though are often more difficult to work out, but can rise to 70.000 and above as reported in UK newspapers. 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. Furthermore, professional items such as accountancy, tax and insurance need to be considered to make the business work properly. 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. To be fair, high salaries bounded about by the press do require long working hours or help to achieve them.
For the most part there is a strong difference between the Junior and Mature Entrants' working week. Electricians who are 'Junior Entrants' would work a simple 40 hour working week. But due to the needs of the domestic market the Mature Entrant is often more reliant upon when their client base gets back from work. With many self-employed electricians the core of their income comes from items such as business testing and installation and as such operates during the main part of the week.
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. Whereas the mature entrant can gain knowledge from any trade source - even one outside of the core of electrical work. Without a doubt the extra skills help them in their overall employ whether this is commercial or domestic work.
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 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.
About the Author:
(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Navigate to www.electricaltrainingcoursesgb.co.uk or Electrician Courses.
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