The apprentice route
How do I become an electrician?
Possibly the most asked question I get. The following should help you out in your quest to become an electrician via the Modern Apprentice route.
Starting out
Before you even approach a potential employer concentrate on your grades while you are at school, particularly Maths and English. Physics and ICT are also beneficial. Many employers, certainly some of the larger employers, insist on at least C grades in your GCSE's and having these grades can help even further when you get to college as we will find out later when we look at the qualifications.
Finding an employer
The hardest part of becoming an apprentice electrician is finding an employer. There is still some reservation on behalf of employers to take young trainees on mainly due to costs and being let down in the past. Also the employer needs to cover a range of work to enable you to complete your NVQ, at least 2 from commercial, industrial and domestic installations. Without this range, you will not be able to satisfy the requirements of the NVQ so careful consideration needs to be given before starting with your employer.
When approaching a prospective employer, there are some fundamental points you need to take into account. First thing they will judge is your attitude, not whether or not you had 2 weeks work experience with a one man band 3 months ago. Remember, an employer is looking for reliability, punctuality, initiative and motivation above all other skills:
- Source and list the local electrical companies. Yellow Pages, word of mouth, the internet and your college should all be sources of information.
- Send a letter. Professionally written in a professional format and get someone to proof read and grammar check it before it gets sent. It is worth getting someone to help you with this , Connexions or often your local college usually provide this service for free. Remember that although textspeak is how you communicate with your friends, an employer is likely to view this as being illiterate and will not look good.
- Include a CV with the letter highlighting your strong points. Have you had a part time job? Can you demonstrate you have been reliable in the past? Keep the CV short and informative. Your local college or careers advisors such as Connexions may again be able to help you produce a professional quality CV.
- Follow up the letter after a few days with a phone call. Many employers are busy people constantly looking for that next job, letters sent by you may just be filed and forgotten. Let them know you are interested and enthusisatic and most of all, motivated by contacting them once a week via phone reminding them that you are still interested.
- Once you have been successful in finding an employer, immediately contact your local college. Spaces fill quickly so ensure you don't delay, your employer won't always be the one to make the contact.
College and what to expect
Colleges use 2 routes, either in house training and assessing or the use of a managing agent such as the JTL. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and both should be considered. Some trainers provide a day release program and generally cover the technical certificate in 2-3 years, others use a block release program and complete the technical certificate over 2 years. The NVQ should take approximately 3½ to 4 years to complete with the Summit Skills (the sector skills council for electrical apprenticeships) stating 42 months. Both methods of getting qualified are fine and often depend on your employer and their preferred route according to their business model, for example can they spare you for one day a week or is the block release a better option?
While you are at college you will study the following which are known as the technical certificates. For more information, click on the titles:
- City and Guilds 2330 Certificate in Electrotechnology Level 2
- City and Guilds 2330 Certificate in Electrotechnology Level 3
and
As well as the following Key Skills**:
- AON (Application of Number) Level 2
- Communications Level 2
- ICT Level 1
Once you have reached a certain stage, you will also have to undertake an independent Practical Performance Assessment where your learned skills as an electrician will be tested one final time in simulated conditions. This is known as the AM2
*The NVQ is completed in the workplace and units are submitted to the assessor to be assessed. Site visits will also take place during your training, in most cases 3 visits over the course of your apprenticeship is adequate.
**Key Skills can be exempted providing you have satisfactory grades in English, Maths and ICT. If you have a GCSE grade C in English and Maths and a grade E in ICT, then you can produce your certificates at the start of your apprenticeship for exemptions.
Additional Information City and Guilds 2357
The NVQ and the 2330 are due to change in 2010 with the introduction of the new QCF qualifications launched by the government. The QCF is a credit based system that will work similar to the NVQ in that each area will be unit based. It is envisaged that the 2330 will change to underpinning knowledge qualifications for the whole qualification.
As of July 2009, the new schemes are still in development and are currently with the Summit Skills who are looking at ways of improving the qualification and the delivery.
The last registration dates for the C&G2330 are 2010, with the last certification in 2012 for the level 2 and 2013 for the level 3.
The AM2 is also due to change in April 2010 with some major differences. Please keep abreast of the news pages for more information.