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.
Really there are two main 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. We have to reference individuals so we will plainly do so by ‘Junior’ and ‘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.
Entry has two separate approaches to teaching. It is the involvement with NVQ’s (or SVQ’s for Scotland), that differentiate the Junior Entrants. The core syllabus is similar to non NVQ commercial training, but the certification is compulsory. Often, this means that students have to gain an apprenticeship in order to be able to realise the course work and testing requirements of the job.
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.
Any specialist knowledge the Junior Entrant gains whilst in someone’s employ is usually down to the sectors of industry that company works in. The mature entrant, on the other hand, may seek training outside of their core electrical field, possibly including plumbing and gas work. Within the domestic market this allows them to work under a range of headings without having to rely upon sub contract suppliers.
‘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.
(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Pop over to Electrician Qualifications or CLICK HERE.
Tags: advice, career, computer, education, games, hobbies, home, money, self improvement, shop, software, technology, Uncategorized, web, work