For many people, an interesting and varied choice often means a career within the electrical industry. Whilst the original term is ‘Electro-Mechanical Engineering’ we will simply refer to the subject as the Electrical Industry. Also, due to a wide variety of qualifications and standards throughout the world, we’ll focus on those that fit the UK domestic and commercial market. Due to the huge list of opportunities available for a career in the electrical industry, we have to begin by focusing on the main areas and look at the ‘add-ons’ later on.
Really there are two main ways to enter the electrical market. Whilst many candidates opt to join later on in their life, there still exists the more traditional route of the apprenticeship. Throughout this document we will simply refer to two types of people the ‘Junior’ and the ‘Mature’ entrants.
Principally, Mature Entrants join the electrical workplace later on, and focus on becoming self employed. This means working on their own and not having to pay salaries to anyone else. However, people who join as junior entrants like the fact that they can join a recognised firm to pick up the bulk of their practical and work based skills. After they leave school a young apprentice will have many skills to learn during their first few years of working life.
These two distinct types of entry have two separate modes of training: 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. This means that work programs or apprenticeships have to be sought in order to arrange the necessary course work and testing phases of work.
By working independently and without the need for NVQ assessments, many Mature Entrants can concentrate on those areas that provide the biggest profit and offer the largest practical solutions for themselves. 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.
We should differentiate the prospective earnings into the two categories of employed and self-employed. 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. It is recognised that competence and qualifications add to income levels as well as experience and information gained.
Although starting wages for ‘Junior Entrants’ are around 13k p.a. they can rise above 30k p.a. but this does depend on their level of experience. However, with incomes of 70,000 or more a year, a ‘Mature Entrants’ salary can often be more difficult to judge. It should be remembered however that a self employed person must often bear additional costs for items such as vehicles, tools and clothing. They will also have to make allocations for personal or professional insurance and accountancy. With the current skills shortage in the UK, there is a high work load demand available. Therefore, working seven days a week (if a student wanted) is a possibility for most. It should be noted that figures of 70-100k p.a. advertised are not necessarily easy to come by and would require some long working hours to obtain them.
For the most part there is a strong difference between the Junior and Mature Entrants’ working week. ‘Junior Entrants’ would normally be required to work Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. 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.
If a Junior Electrician chooses an electrical career, then the main business actions of their company often dictate the type of expertise that they gain. But by securing work within the fields of gas or plumbing many mature entrants can gain knowledge outside of their chosen path. Without a doubt the extra skills help them in their overall employ whether this is commercial or domestic work.
One new, fast growing area – one that invokes a wide array of skills sets and is new to the industry overall – is that of the ‘Green Engineer’. 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.
(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Pop to Electrician Qualifications or Electrical Training Courses.