Mature Electrical Careers – The Facts

It’s notable that a career within the electrical industry, with its attractive options, remains a choice for lots of people. From here on we will use the phrase of electrical Industry to explain the more accurate term of “Electro-Mechanical Engineering”. Equally we’ll focus on those credentials that fit the UK domestic and commercial sector rather than those from around the world. 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.

We consider that there are two ways to enter the electrical market. Along with apprenticeships for school leavers, students entering the field at a later phase in their life now have an alternative to more traditional amateur routes. To begin with we have the ‘Junior Entrants’ and then we have the ‘Mature Entrants’.

Primarily, those who join the industry later on, (the Mature Entrants,) generally do so with the aim of becoming self-employed at some point, or to work on their own building projects etc. without having to pay wages to external electricians. 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. During their first years in the working environment, a young apprentice, or junior entrant, will have a host of additional skills to learn.

The distinct types of entry have differing styles of training – Junior entrants go through NVQ training in England and Wales, and SVQ training in Scotland. 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.

Many mature students gain entry into the market without the NVQ element, and simply choose the most commercially practical route to self employed work. Instead most of them aim for the techniques that will get them up and running as quickly as possible and give them the best return against the cost to train in the first place. 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.

So we have two defined routes laid out – one being for general employment and the other centred on self-employment. For the sake of this document we will assume that everyone involved in electrical employment is working full-time. Certainly, whilst salary levels can be affected by knowledge and qualifications, they can also be affected by competence and aptitude.

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. Conversely, the UK newspapers often report experienced mature electricians can expect an income of anything up to 70.000. 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. 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. Certainly, working a full week is a realistic possibility for those who want to. To achieve the high salaries of 70+ thousand then you will need to put in very long hours and commit yourself fully.

To be fair, most Junior and Mature electricians experience very different working hours to each other. Monday to Friday 9-5 would be the working week of most ‘Junior Entrants’. That aside the Mature market is equally affected by when their clients are available – this is especially so within the domestic sector, where evening and weekend work predominates. There are however lots of opportunities for self-employed electricians to do work on small business systems during normal office hours.

To be fair it’s often the boss of a company who states the type of specialist knowledge that Junior Entrants gain whilst in their employ. Whereas the mature entrant can gain knowledge from any trade source – even one outside of the core of electrical work. Without a doubt the extra skills help them in their overall employ whether this is commercial or domestic work.

‘Green Engineering’ is another area to consider. This requires new skills and working knowledge and is one of the fastest growing areas today. 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.

(C) 2009 S. Edwards. Visit www.Retraining4Adults.co.uk/oretadu.html or Electrical Courses.

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