It\’s notable that a career within the electrical industry, with its attractive options, remains a choice for lots of people. Whilst the original term is \’Electro-Mechanical Engineering\’ we will simply refer to the subject as the Electrical Industry. Furthermore, we will focus on the UK market and the domestic and commercial elements rather than those from elsewhere around the world. 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. 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. To begin with we have the \’Junior Entrants\’ and then we have the \’Mature Entrants\’.
People who do not want to pay any extra salaries, but want to enter the industry with the focus of being self employed are who we refer to as Mature Entrants. By contrast, Junior entrants would seek to work with an established electrical firm and build their skill-sets as they train. This could be a young apprentice\’s first position since leaving school, so it will be necessary to pick up supplementary working skills.
Entry has two separate approaches to teaching. It is the involvement with NVQ\’s (or SVQ\’s for Scotland), that differentiate the Junior Entrants. There is a particular requirement to attain the NVQ qualifications as part of the overall program. \’Junior Entrants\’ will have to be in an apprenticeship of some sort in order to achieve the testing and course work required.
Mature Entrants do not appear to seek the NVQ element but instead they go after the most commercially suitable qualifications. In the main the person will aim to gain the best from their investment costs against the return for that training. Whilst this may seem to reduce the overall qualification set, this meets the trade requirements for the areas involved, and thus provides a quicker and more direct commercial route to the market.
Salaries are often simply broken down to those that relate to self -employed people and those in general employment. With self-employment a person may be working on a part-time or full time basis -to that end we will assume they are working full time. Skill and knowledge levels can often determine salary levels, although this is equally via a proven ability or certification scheme.
Wages for \’Junior Entrants\’ can become as high as 30,000 or more per annum with the right experience, although starting salaries are around 12,000. On the other hand experienced self-employed electricians have been known to earn around 70 thousand or more within the UK. That aside, many added costs need to be remembered by self employed people in order to make their business work. Self employed people also have to allow for added expenses. In the UK there is a lot of work for electrical professions due to a short fall of current skilled people. In light of the above, a full seven day week is available to most people should they want it. Whilst figures of seventy to a hundred thousand are often bandied around in the press, they do not often inform you of the long hours you would need to work to achieve this.
In light of the above, it is often understood that there is wild variance between the working expectations of Junior and Mature Entrants. Electricians who are \’Junior Entrants\’ would work a simple 40 hour working week. While on the other hand, the opportunities in the domestic market (where mature entrants often work) can be heavily dependent upon when the clients get home. There are however lots of opportunities for self-employed electricians to do work on small business systems during normal office hours.
Any specialist knowledge the Junior Entrant gains whilst in someone\’s employ is usually down to the sectors of industry that company works in. But by securing work within the fields of gas or plumbing many mature entrants can gain knowledge outside of their chosen path. Within the domestic market this allows them to work under a range of headings without having to rely upon sub contract suppliers.
An area that is relatively new to the industry overall, yet requires new expertise is that of \’Green Engineering\’. 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.
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