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Lots of people choose a career within the electrical industry because it both appeals and motivates them. Although often assigned to as ’Electro-Mechanical Engineering”, we will simply refer to this 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. By starting on the main subjects and checking the ’add-ons’ later on we can review the centre of the electrical industry.

The electrical market has in our opinion two methods of entry. The primary route is the apprenticeship which is considered the more traditional and then we have the second phase for those who are joining at a later stage. There are two sets of people for consideration firstly the ’Junior Entrants’ and secondly the ’Mature Entrants’.

Many Mature Entrants enter the market so they don’t have to rely on others, especially when they can work on their own building ideas and not have to pay for anyone else to help them. Those who join as Junior Entrants, on the other hand, appear to do so with the aim of joining an established electrical firm – in order to gain further qualifications and experience whilst picking up practical and other work-place skills. During their first years in the working environment, a young apprentice, or junior entrant, will have a host of additional skills to learn.

Clearly these two options have both differing training styles and methods of entry. Junior Entrants are heavily linked with NVQ’s (or the Scottish equivalent – SVQ’s.) The training itself is similar to non NVQ training, but completion of the full programme means getting the actual qualifications. As a result students often have to find their own work programmes to give them the relevant testing and course work covered by most apprenticeships.

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.

In terms of typical earnings, we have two clear routes – those relating to employment and those for self-employment. Obviously, with self-employment, there is the added issue of whether the Entrant is part-time (working around another job) or full-time; we will concentrate on full-time. Salary options are often affected both by the know- how and the knack for doing things as well as any perceived formal levels of understanding.

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. Mature Entrants are more difficult to assess, and incomes up to and above 70k are regularly reported within the UK Press. It should be remembered however that a self employed person must often bear additional costs for items such as vehicles, tools and clothing. Earmarked within this is the need to cover additional expenses such as accountancy or insurance. Whilst there is lots of available work, a severe skills shortage means electricians are very much in demand. Certainly, working a full week is a realistic possibility for those who want to. 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.

There is often a considerable differential between the working expectations of Mature or Junior Entrants. ’Junior Entrants’ would normally be required to work Monday-Friday 9am-5pm. Whereas the Mature market can be more dependent on the domestic market for some – i.e. weekend and evening work, when their clients are available and back from work. 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.

Once a Junior Entrant is employed within a company, then any follow-on knowledge they gain is often down to the employers’ activity as opposed to anything else. Then again, the mature entrant can even go outside of the electrical field to gas work or plumbing work for example. Certainly if they are employed within the domestic sector this makes it easier to take on work without having to rely upon other people.

’Green Engineering’ is another area to consider. This requires new skills and working knowledge and is one of the fastest growing areas today. With expected growth through new employment contracts and business options, this new entity is extremely attractive to many Junior and Mature Electricians, especially when considering the UK and EEC support overall.

Copyright Scott Edwards. Visit City and Guilds 2391 2392 or City and Guilds Electrical Courses.

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