The new generation of electricians.

I was invited to spend the day at south & city college birmingham the other week.

They held an Elex day for the electrical apprentices.

The first of many, as I saw it as a success.

There were a few electricians from social media there too, where we were put up against each other on a time trial to wire a double socket.

Stay tuned to find out who won.

Tool box talk for electricians, helping electricians reduce stress, gain back time and earn more money.

Hello and welcome back once again. Ben Poulter your host of tool box talk for electricians podcast here and I must be getting noticed as I was invited along with

Ryan Davis and Kasper from RD Electrical

Chris Sparky

Not to mention super rod, wago and plenty of other brands .

It was the first event I have been invited to so I wasn't sure what to expect. I half expected to have to do a presentation in front of the students with nothing prepaid - I was just going to sing a song.

I met up with Chris to start with, Chris has been on the podcast before and we get along great.

He does some great videos explaining the flow and switching of electricity, if you haven't seen, get over to his channel and check him out.

I also had a great conversation with Steve Palmer who runs a facebook group for adults who are training to be electricians.

We had a conversation about electricians who have done an apprenticeship look down on electricians who do a short course.

It's true they do, I will admit I used to too until I actually met a few electricians who actually did the course and some of them are better sparks than the electricians I went to college with.

But Steve runs a group on facebook and had the guts to stand up in front of all the students and do a presentation - I will tell you more about that later.

The feeling I got from talking to some of the students is that its very difficult to find a placement.

And a placement is whats needed to progress in the electrical industry, you can do as much theory as you like in a classroom, but as soon as you are out on site - you are put to the test and you confidence will grow.

This is just what some of the students need.

One of the students told me he was going to do a year in each trade, electrician, plumber, carpenter, builder.

I would assume because he wanted to have his own building company.

Huge mistake if you ask me, a little knowledge of every trade is dangerous - that's why the part p regulation for electrical was brought about.

To stop builders with a little knowledge of electrics doing it themselves.

Being a jack of all trades may sound appealing at first, but if you specialise in one, it will be better for you in the long run.

The thing is I can understand why one man band self employed electricians don't really want to have an apprentice.

With smaller jobs a one man band does, they need to get in and out as quick as possible.

1st fix ands on to the next - there isn't much time to train a young lad the ropes.

That's if you have the patience to do it.

The best idea for someone training to be an electrician is to get on site with a company. You can have a go at a lot of tasks before being any good.

There is a bit more time to make mistakes and learn from them.

When a student says “I sent 50 emails last month” well if you haven't got a position - it didn't work!

Get off your ass and walk into the offices to meet the manager or foreman on site, dress smart and make a good impression.

All you need is one YES.

Even if they give you a trial and it doesn't work out - ask them why so you can do better the next time.

Getting your foot inside the door is the hardest part, once you're in there you need to be so handy to the company that they never want to let you go.

I can imagine that it's out of the younger generations comfort zone to walk into an office, I blame social media for this.

But all the old gits like me will respect that a lot more than an email.

The next part of the day was a challenge…..

One socket wired in singles from a small 2 way board.

They put me up against Chris! Chris who attend 2 major electrical events and won the speed trial at both of them!

Great - We stood back to back and went for it.

In the next cubicle was Ryan Davis and Kasper - I so wanted to see Kastper, Ryans apprentice beat him.

The results were as follows

Kasper 5:44

Me 3.44

Ryan 3.18

Chris 2.42

Yes Chris took the crown once again, and we didn't hear the last of it!

That was the pace set for the students, and there were 4 prizes up for grabs, so all the students were there also giving it a go.

I was half expecting one of the young guns to get to the top of the leaderboard, but it shows that if you do it every day for the next 10 years, you get pretty fast.

Ok Chris - if you're listening, not as fast as you - yes we know.

After lunch was a Q&A Tech talk.

With Steve Palmer standing at the front of the classroom to get the conversation going.

I tell you now, young lads are not inclined to ask questions much.

They had 5 electricians who have built their own business one way or another, you would have thought there would be plenty of questions - other than how much do you earn.

But in a room full of people, there were only a few questions.

I get it, it may be intimidating to ask questions in a room full of people, but if you are thinking it, you can guarantee there are a few others in the room thinking that too.

One of the things that I dont think is touched on in college is the business side of being an electrician.

Being in any trade to be honest.

The paperwork side and keeping a constant flow of customers, at the end of the day you can be the best electrician in the world - but if you don't have anyone to do the work for, there's no point.

This is one of the things Im doing with the podcast. Trying to help business owners get off the ground and up and running.

There are so many mistakes you can make and yes - I will admit I made few of them.

But Im trying to be open and honest about how I have been able to continually stay self employed for the last 20 years as an electrician.

Don't get me wrong, there have been times I have considered getting a job for a company - but never actually done it.

So wherever you are, on site, in the van or even in someone's house (I do try not to swear) Put the tool box talk for electricians podcast on and let it plant a seed in your head on some ideas on how to grow your business.

Until next time