TT How to Find a Job as Electrician

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[00:00:00] Ben: Become an electrician. Why not? It seems like a good idea. They get paid well and electricians, they're never out work. You can find a college willing to sign you up to any training course to become an electrician. What you can't find is a position to actually work as an electrician and learn things you need that money can't buy.

And that's experience. So what is the best way? To get a position as working as an Electrician Toolbox talks for electricians, helping electricians reduce stress, gain back time, and earn more money. Welcome back once again. My name is Ben Polter, your host, and today we're not talking about being an electrician.

We're talking about how to become one. How do you make a start in the electrical trade and progress up to becoming a fully qualified electrician where you can run your own business, your own customers with your own time scheduled? Cuz that's gotta be the goal, right? Now, I know there's a lot of guys out there, electricians that are happy to work for an employer for many reasons, such as there's regular monthly pay and they get holiday pay and the company actually finds you work for you to do every day.

You don't have to worry about any of that. It's an easy life being an employed electrician, I think. And if you are good at that job where you work as an electrician, you can be there for years. , they'll keep you on forever. Cause if you are good at the job, there's no chance you. Sort of guy anywhere else, you're not gonna look anywhere else cuz you are happy with that company that you work for.

You're happy with being a deployed electrician and that company as well will value you for the work that you do. For all the companies that I work for in my time as an electrician. Back in the day when I was younger, I've never been sacked. I've always left. I've only ever been sacked from one job. And that was when I was 16 working for Domino's Pizzas.

I ate the pizzas. So, uh, yeah, they said, Ben, we're gonna let you go. Which is fair play cuz I'd already eaten the pizza. But like so many electricians all over the world, they always want more. They want more money. They want more time off and more responsibility. And this led me down the path of starting up on my own.

So if you are thinking of becoming an electrician, I recommend that you do that too. You start upon your own. Although being an electrician, you can subcontract to a lot of different companies, like when I was doing it when I was younger as well, subcontracted to a lot of different companies and they call it chasing the money.

So if one contractor say, right, we'll get you 20 pound an hour. You'll speak to a few other electricians say, yeah, we are leaving to go to this contract. They'll get you 25 pound an hour, so you'll leave, you'll subcontract to so many different companies and you can chase the money in effect. You can be in London one week and be in Scotland the next week, but you still get paid good money.

And that was brilliant experience. I got so much experience working on site with other electricians back in the day when I was younger, traveling away, lodging away. It was a good time. It was the times when you used to. Get drunk at night sort of thing. And you did have your lodge allowance and you'd, you'd lodge out with basically a load of lads and it was a great experience.

But when you're a little bit older, you sort of like to be at home. I've got a dog now. I've got some responsibilities, I've got the kids and stuff like that. So you want to be a a at home and you want a bit more responsibility at home. You want a bit more of a work life. You're not a young lad anymore.

You don't want to get drunk every night and sit in the pub. So where do you start? So I'm gonna start with the older guys that are sort of my age, around 40, who wanna change careers and become an electrician. And it seems like there's a lot of people doing this at the minute and it's, I think it's a good idea.

Fair play to 'em. Cause if you're not happy with the work you're doing every day, then yeah, do something else. But firstly, Before you look into become an electrician, how do to think why you chose to become an electrician? Cuz there's a hundred electricians out there that will work for 150 pound a day, maybe on site or maybe in domestic premises as well, where they are running their own business.

They'll do work for 150 pound a day. Well, you can earn that much stacking shelves in a supermarket without having to train or do exams for the next three years. So if you are just happy to work sort of for 150 pound a day and that's all you need to earn, that's all, the money you want, then yeah, don't go ahead and become an electrician and retrain three for three years.

Because, yeah, you can do that in Audi or little, I think stacking shelves, so you can get quite good money doing that. So I wouldn't go all out and become an electrician. But there are also plenty of electricians out there that haven't got a certificate to their name. They're good at the job, but they didn't want to do the paperwork side of things and didn't wanna get sitting yours, qualifications.

They didn't want to get that piece of paper, which is so valuable these days. If you've got a bit of paper, prove it that you can do it. That's your first step actually being able to do the job. That's the second step. That's the the the one that matters, I think. Because that's the hard bit, getting the qualifications.

I think sitting in the classroom and jumping through all the hoops and knowing the values, knowing the regulations, that's the hard bit of being an electrician. The bits on site is, I, I, I find that more fun actually doing the work, doing the hands-on work, fixing things and making things work perfectly, beautifully and safe.

That's the best part about being an electrician. Cause you can walk away from a job knowing that. That is a fantastic install and you're proud of your work, the sort of, you get work satisfaction, I'd say. And if you go all out and do the paperwork side of it and get the qualifications to say you are actually a qualified electrician on paper, it's gonna help you a lot more in the future.

So depending on your financial situation, the course can cost you around seven grand, which yeah, is a lot of money. And this is just the money side of things. It's not just the money you've gotta look into spending, it's the time you've got to take for the studying and the training to know actually, well what, you've gotta pass the exams basically.

So you've got a sort of study to be able to know the knowledge, to be able to pass the exams, the basic knowledge of the electrical industry. And there's gonna be some books, not just for the training to become an electrician, but when you are working as an electrician too, there's the 18th edition wiring regulations and the onsite guide, these two books will be your Bible as an electrician, and they're not cheap ever.

I think they'll cost you both through 'em around 150 pound. But you'll have to keep upgrading them over time as well. Cause there's different amendments that come out. They've come out quite a lot recently. Over the past five years, I think I've had three or four different books from Blue. Well, the minute we're on Brown, So if you've got the brown i e regs, you're up to date.

I think there is a brown wall with the amendment too in it as well. So you've gotta upgrade that to get the the latest book, you get the latest regulations. That's what you're gonna need for your exams and the training to become an electrician. And then the next step. Would could be going down to your local college and finding out what they can offer you for the qualification.

Yes. There is a thousand different courses all online and from my experience, I've phoned a few up just to have interest to say, what can you offer? They'll offer you the course, even if you've got no money or your you, they just want your money off you in , my experience. I just wanna take your money off you to sign you up to say, yep, this is the qualification you need and.

To give you all the, the Gump sort of thing. They'll say, yeah, you can earn five grand a week doing rewires. Yeah, but how are you gonna find that work? They, they'll sell you the spiel in a way, and it's a bit, a bit disheartening. So go down to your local college where you know that they're, they're gonna be there.

There's someone there you can talk to and have a sit down with someone, and you can figure out a time schedule of how long the training's gonna take and what qualifications you're gonna get from that training, and whether you can be funded for that training or you've gotta pay for it yourself. So there's a lot of things to figure out, talk to people, find out exactly what you're gonna do.

Because that's the paperwork side of things. The main part is gonna be the experience and that money cannot buy. And I would highly recommend getting a job as an electrician or an improver as you can get on site. This can be done by applying for jobs in your local area on the, maybe the job site.

There's jobs on therefore approvers or electricians mates, so you can apply for them. I think they're through agencies. Maybe just to get your foot in your door, just to get a bit a bit of experience before you go all out and spend seven grand on a course. Figure out that, yeah, maybe this is what I wanna do.

This is the sort of in. You see that I want to be in. Cause if you've used, you qualified to be an electrician, this is the profession that you're gonna step into for the next maybe 10, 20 years, depending how old you are. And it's gonna be your stepping stone for retirement. But if I was to start all over again at the ripe old age of 41, yeah, I know.

I don't look it but, or sound it. Maybe even if you listen to this on podcast. But yeah, I'm 41 and I would contact local electricians and electrical companies and ask them for a position. Even if you start out as a laborer onsite, while you move up that way sort of thing onsite, you can get there, you get to know them, you get to know the managers, you get to know maybe the brickies, the plumbers, the builders.

You get to know sort of in that trade and you can ask every experience like how, how, how did you train to be an electrician? How did you train to be qualified? And you can sort of. So obviously the same stepping stones that they did, they say, yeah, I had help from this company, which we work for, and they help me get registered with this college to do a a training course.

Then you can say, right, I'd like to do that same path, and because they've done it before, it'll be a massive advantage for you. But another thing I'd do as well, Is I would physically walk into the office of an electrical business and have a conversation with a manager. Maybe ask, look, can we have a cup of tea?

Can we have a sit down? Cause over the years as working for myself as a self-employed electrician, having my own business, I've got hundreds of emails and quite a few letters just been sent to my address as well. Because Mon Google, they send it straight to your house with a cv, with some people looking to get a position.

As an electrician maybe to get some workers' electrician as a laborer just to get their foot in the door, which is fantastic cuz it's, the thing is with a letter or an email, you can easily just go ignore. Or delete, it's actually meeting that person and talking to them. Or maybe on the phone, if you phone someone up for an initial visit to start with saying, Hey, can we just have a cup of tea?

See, maybe you can get a good idea of them. Cuz electrical companies, in my experience, they all know each other. And if they say, oh this, this company's mega busy, you could probably get a position there as electrician mate or even get an apprenticeship or, Yeah, you can get position anywhere in any company.

They, they all know each other, so it'd be good to get your foot in the door, basically. So get in there, have a cup of tea, and chat to 'em and actually meet that person. That's, that's the best idea. Cuz if you wanna stand out from the crowd, that's what you wanna do. You wanna be different from the rest.

Everyone else is sending emails, everyone else is maybe, Given their CV out on the snail mail, what they call it these days, the Royal Mail. So get out there and actually meet 'em and say, hi, my name's Ben. I'm looking for a position. And they could put a name to the face and also they'll think, I'd think the same.

They'd thinking about, this guy's gone all out. He's turned up and he's actually coming to the office asking. So he is, he's got a bit of gum about him. And you like that? I, I'd appreciate that a lot more, I think. And it might get disheartening, and I've know some people that have done it, they've applied for so many jobs and never got any.

But if you go to a hundred different electrical bus businesses and you get one, yes, but that's all you need, that's spot on. You. You need one yes to get that job because you're not looking for a a hundred yeses, you're just looking for one, one to get you in that door, one for you to make the impression, and once you just start out in your electrical career.

So don't give up. And keep trying. If you want to become an electrician, make that your goal. Get into every electrical business, , if any of them said to you, there's a bit of a chance, maybe next month, they're right in your diary. Pop back next month for another company to show that you haven't forgot to show that you are a bit more, you've got a bit more initiative or a bit more, bit more about you than everyone else.

You'll stand out from the crowd, like I said. Now to move on to the younger generation, I think it is completely different for maybe if you are 15, 16 to 19 years old, something like that. Cause your main goal there would be to get an apprenticeship, cuz within apprenticeship you'll be paid to learn along with actually doing the job.

And that's the best way they learn cuz you can afford to maybe have that low wage. Because , I remember when I was younger, I got paid 78 pound a week. Yeah, it's bad. I'll think back now. How the hell did I survive? Because I went out partying most nights. But yeah, I dunno how I survived on 78 pound a week.

Things were cheaper back then. It makes me sound old. I know. But go out there and get apprenticeship with the best bet. Get your foot in the door. Because also with an apprenticeship you'll be, have the experience with working with other electricians and working with other trades and also interacting with customers, which will be very vital if you are gonna back your own business in the long run would be a good idea if you inter interact with customers and, and see how you talk to customers and say, well, the questions maybe what customers ask so you can be the most efficient you can for the future.

And another thing to maybe look into if you are approaching different bus businesses to have an apprenticeship is the government in the uk, they'll give a company money to take on an apprentice. So look into that before approaching so you can sweeten the deal maybe saying, look, if I did this government funded apprenticeship with yourself, you'll get paid.

And I think a lot of companies will think, Hmm, that's a good idea. I like this guy's angle. I say guys, but obviously girls as well. Cause I believe that there's as many females these days that want to become an electrician at a young age as there are males. When I did my apprenticeship back in 1999, the electrical trade never had any females in, not that I knew of.

I didn't, didn't meet any female electricians. But there is a lot out there at the moment that are, are good at their job, to be honest. But being that young person, you wanna make a good first impression. You wanna be confident, walk in there like, I don't know, you wanna be confident when you walk into maybe the office and say, hi, my name's Ben once again and I'd like an apprenticeship.

This is what I'm looking for. Can we have a talk about maybe taking me on as an apprenticeship? Cuz in my eyes, the younger generation is kind of a bit of a reputation as not really wanting to start from the bottom. And like I say, I was paid 78 pound a week when I started my apprenticeship. So be prepared for a small wage to start with.

What I will say though is if is if you are a younger generation kind of person that's looking to get into the electrical industry, the days are gone. Where the older guys on site can treat apprentices like slaves. I don't agree with it and I don't think it's fair at all. If someone belows below me on site ask me a question, however stupid it may sound, I'll always do my best to explain and I am a fan of the banter.

And send in the lads for , go down the wholesalers with some sky hooks cuz Yeah, it's funny and it's. It's good banter, I think to them to get to know as well that you'll get sent for some stupid things. Sky hook, sparks for the grinders, all these sort of things. But bullying and making the lads feel like shit is not something I'll stand by and watch.

Not onsite, not in a domestic premises, not anywhere. It's not fair if that lad's there to learn and maybe ask a stupid question. Then, yeah, you gotta explain to 'em why it was stupid. Because if you take the mick out, the person, then they're just gonna just do it again and again and not understand. Or maybe I've seen it in the past, they're gonna go home and quit cuz they don't like the way they're treated and maybe the younger generation, my kids are self, they're not susceptible so much for the banter that we got.

Maybe when we were younger it was hard graft. So these days just help them out a little bit because basically these kids are our future. But the main thing for anyone wanting to become electrician, whatever age you are, I would say is make a plan. Because I always remember this, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail and figure out where you want to be and how you're going to get there, and just take one step at a time and then before you know it, you'll be qualified and thinking about starting up on your own and on that journey you can also.

Join the toolbox talks for electricians Facebook group. And remember, there's no such thing as a stupid question. Ask away someone are bound to help you out and answer. So have a wonderful day, and you'll hear from me next Monday and every Monday at 6:00 AM So until next time, I'll see you again.