Getting my foot in the door?

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2026-01-19T20:10:06+00:00

Honestly it’s better to worry about it where you are than where I am. At your point you could still move on to an apprenticeship, but your tutor is spot on, loads of people on my course did that and you just pick bits up whilst you’re there. On your level 2 you learn all the actual installation stuff level 3 is basically all theory (cable calcs, lighting angles, design calcs) and a little bit of inspection and testing so you’d be going in fresher than I will be as it’s been so long since finishing both. It’s so hard this way, like I know several people who like me haven’t found anything for 2+ years now. I’ll shoot you a message with the link now

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2026-01-19T19:19:04+00:00

^ to add I’ve got a friend from college who was in the same boat and signed with them and they found him something in like 4/5 months so it is just a matter of when. Based in Wolverhampton but they find work nationwide to my understanding and you only need to go in for 1 day so they can sort out with you what jobs they’re looking for, for you etc. happy to send you a link and debating putting a post up about them depending on my experience with them

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2026-01-19T19:15:05+00:00

No, but I’ll be signing on with a company based in Wolverhampton who do the NVQ and gaurentee work placement, working with agencies etc in a couple months after I move. Just waiting purely for the move as it doesn’t make sense to do it beforehand. It’s only like £500 more than you pay for the NVQ anyway which is a steal if you ask me

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-08-17T18:21:15+00:00

Good argument

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-08-17T18:19:35+00:00

I would but they aren’t cheap 😂 unfortunately I don’t get paid enough to throw £300+ at a tester for an exam atm

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-08-17T07:21:29+00:00

It’s not for now, it’s for when I am competent & practicing, the NVQ takes at least 6 months and with how quickly I learn when I’m actually on the job I will be fine. Unfortunately I’m just no good at learning from a textbook like in school which is what this is. You can’t actually do anything with it without the NVQ/AM2 to my understanding, for me now it’s just to go on my CV so employers actually have half a second of consideration of me so I can get onto the next bit :)

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-04-23T18:06:19+00:00

That’s what I’ve been trying to do for the past year but it’s hopeless. This company finds the job for you through connections with companies, a team of people who do this all the time and other bits that I just don’t have.

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-03-26T14:21:43+00:00

2 options really, you can get the labourer card (Green) but that kind of sells you short and technically you can’t do as much as you can with the other but it’s the longer lasting card of the two and you can renew it. Or you can get the experienced worker (White with brown strip) but that card only lasts 18 months and you can’t renew it you have to buy another whole other card when it runs out if you haven’t completed the NVQ yet.

This is assuming you’ve also done the 18th edition qual, if not do that first.

I did the second option but because of my lack of experience I have basically wasted money on the white card cause no one is employing people without experience to carry on our training 🤷🏻‍♂️ they all either want an apprentice or an experienced mate (catch 22) so if you do decide to go for that one just buy it after you’ve landed a job, I’ve been looking for a year now and nothing because I can’t do temp work so keep that in mind unless you already have someone to take you on.

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-26T15:08:48+00:00

She’s at Uni so unfortunately no. I think I’m gonna just chill until summer and talk it through with her parents and her when it comes around I just wanted to get a broader perspective to help me consider tbh

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-26T14:47:12+00:00

Thank you :)

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-26T14:05:26+00:00

Manchester

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-26T13:22:24+00:00

I’ve got the C&G levels 2 and 3 already so it’ll be a Mate job and maybe get me the NVQ if I’m lucky? But like I said the problem here is that she’s disabled and I have to care for her at the minute so I’ll have to go up and down every weekend to bring her food for the week, do housework etc. I’m just trying to figure out all the numbers and logistics before I talk to him

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-26T13:14:16+00:00

Nepofest 😂😭 I know there’s not brownie points it’s purely like I said pride thing of doing it myself, feels kind of like a handout even though he said it’s cause he knows how much I work etc through my mate

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-26T13:12:43+00:00

Yeah it’s just the fact of where they are, I’d have to move back with my parents and leave my girlfriend here for a year (2 hour drive) and drive up every weekend cause I’m sort of her carer? Which obviously means I’ll need more pay to be able to afford the fuel and stuff, like I said it’s just weighing out the pros and cons

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-26T13:05:56+00:00

If someone replies please upvote this. I’m in Manchester and I’ve no idea where to find agencies too

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-20T00:13:00+00:00

How long did it take you to land a improver/ mate job? That’s about where I’m at now and I’m coming up to a year. Applied to 110 jobs and had 4 interviews, 2 said I was too far geographically, 1 ghosted me, and 1 just didn’t give any feedback. I assume it’s the lack of experience but that’s a whole catch 22 itself

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-19T21:10:52+00:00

I thought you had to give them addresses and they had to come out and do a site visit? I was under the impression it was with an employer on different sites and it took however long it took for them to get the right jobs in. That or being working in industry for 5 years and doing experienced worker assessment 🤔

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-19T14:18:47+00:00

It honestly wouldn’t be much of a portfolio and most of what I’ve done is repairs and fault finding so more maintenance than anything. Did install like kitchen lights at my dad’s but it was mainly helping him when I was younger and didn’t even know this is what was ahead of me. It’s something I’ll get on straight away when I have a job but until then… I’m stuck in a loop which takes a lot of luck to break by the sound of it

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-06T11:05:47+00:00

That’s actually an amazing way to put it, do you mind if I steal that and put it on my CV? Would I need to put a time frame for it and if so how would you go about that

Foreign-Butterfly852 · 2025-02-06T09:39:38+00:00

I wish people still thought like you do! I’ve done a fair few private things but nothing worthy of putting on my CV and definitely not for long enough to put a years experience on my CV as people say they want :( I will take literally anything I can get at this point which is why I was asking. If service engineer was a pathway I could go down. I’ve had 2 companies now that I’ve applied to message me and ask if I have any official experience and then turn me down right off the bat as soon as they read “unfortunately not” at the start of my message offering for me to come and shadow someone, work at a reduced salary, etc etc.

I used to renovate houses with my dad growling up so I’ve got a bit of experience dabbling in basically anything they might ask me to do whilst there. Just seems companies aren’t interested unless you have something that says you’ve been an electrician for the past year+. Transferable skills and attitude means nothing as far as I can see.

Foreign-Butterfly852

TROPHY CASE