It’s notable that a career within the electrical industry, with its attractive options, remains a choice for lots of people. Although often assigned to as ‘Electro-Mechanical Engineering”, we will simply refer to this as the Electrical Industry. In addition, we will stay with the UK market and especially items relating to the domestic and commercial sectors rather than global issues. 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.

Essentially, we see two distinct forms of entry into 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. We have to reference individuals so we will plainly do so by ‘Junior’ and ‘Mature’ entrants.

Mature Entrants who join the industry later on do so with the aim of working for themselves, usually as a one person business. Whereas the ‘Junior Entrants’ train alongside regular electrical employment to pick up practical work place skills as they gain their qualifications. To be fair, young apprentices leaving school will have a lot of supplementary skills to learn during their early years as a working adult.

Clearly these two options have both differing training styles and methods of entry. NVQ’s are the key factor for all junior entrants. Whilst the core syllabus is relatively similar to non-NVQ commercial training, there is a particular requirement to attain the actual NVQ qualifications as part of the overall training program. This requires being in a directly-related work program or apprenticeship of some type, so as to meet the testing and course-work requirements.

Instead of seeking a work-based training environment, the Mature Entrant often seems to focus on working as a self employed person where different qualifications to NVQ’s are preferred. Having said that, the mature student does aim to gain the necessary skills to do the job, whilst at the same time reducing their training costs at all times. This method allows for a quicker route to the market and does meet the necessary trading elements for the areas concerned despite reducing the overall qualification set.

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.

‘Junior Entrants’ can expect a basic salary of 12K at the beginning of their training. With application and experience this figure often more than doubles in time. ‘Mature Entrants’ salaries though are often more difficult to work out, but can rise to 70.000 and above as reported in UK newspapers. Often costs such as tools, clothes and even transport need to be assessed and included in the business mix overall. Furthermore, professional items such as accountancy, tax and insurance need to be considered to make the business work properly. That aside, whilst the work is open to market-forces to some degree, the current skills shortage in the UK means that there’s a high work-load available. Working 7 days a week is totally achievable for most people if they want it. It should be understood that the 70-100k figures that we see thrown around in newspapers are not easily achieved, and would either require working long hours or having assistants (or both.)

To be fair, most Junior and Mature electricians experience very different working hours to each other. Most ‘Junior Entrants’ do not work at the weekends. 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. Although by testing and installing various business systems, many self-employed electricians manage to work during a normal working 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.

An up to the minute angle – involving a new level of skills – is that of the so called ‘Green Engineer’. The opportunity to provide both employment and potential service contracts, especially in the UK and the EEC sectors, mean that this area is of interest to both Junior and Mature electricians.

(C) 2009 Scott Edwards. Try Electrical Training Courses or CLICK HERE.