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Building - Plumbing - Despatches
Train as a plumber and gas engineer … or electrician
With so many career choices available, we give you an insider view on two popular choices – a plumber and gas engineer, and a fully qualified electrician – finding out why they’re so popular and how easy it is for you to benefit too.
The opportunities available People will always need their plumbing or electrics fixed, bathrooms fitted or electrical equipment installed. A career as a plumber and gas engineer or an electrician can prove both flexible and lucrative. Plus, you have the opportunity to do something practical. If you decide to set up and run your own business, you could choose when you work and what you earn. Or, if you decide to work for a company, you could find yourself in a team surrounded by likeminded individuals – being out, working together and making things happen.
Gaining the skills Choosing a training provider to give you the skills you need can be tricky. To help you choose the most appropriate, go through the following list and consider how each one might help you during your training.
Do they provide flexible courses?
Can you learn when and where you want?
Do they have practical training centres near you?
Will you be trained by professional, supportive and friendly tutors?
Can you train to achieve industryrecognised qualifications?
Do you have waiting lists or can you start when you enrol?
Do you receive support to help you set up a business or gain employment?
Are their courses approved for ELC funding?
Are they a preferred training provider to the Career Transition Partnership (CTP)?
As one of the UK’s leading construction training providers, OLCI Construction Training can meet all the above criteria. You can enrol on an OLCI course to become a plumber and gas engineer, or an electrician.
To discuss your future, call OLCI on Freephone 0800 058 2848.
Published April 2010
Service leaver prepares for a lucrative future on civvy street
Becoming a qualified plumber, electrician or gas engineer offers members of the Services the opportunity to build a successful, profitable and secure career working for a company, or even running their own business. And, as Service leaver Paul Moore discovered, there are courses available that make it easy to fit the training needed around military or other commitments.
A fulltime army career meant Paul Moore needed a plumbing course with total flexibility Paul Moore, 35, was an office manager for the Armed Forces Careers Office in Chichester. He saw that plumbing could provide him with a lucrative career for the future. However, the demands of his Army career meant he needed a course where he could study at his own time and pace.
After searching the internet Paul found the fully accredited OLCI plumbing course, which allows him to study his theory when and where he wants, and offers 13 UK centres where he can book practical sessions when it suits him.
‘Resettlement is all about providing total support’ OLCI is the UK’s largest construction training provider and has years of experience in helping people build new careers. Max Mortimer of OLCI comments: ‘We’ve found what Service leavers really like is total support. So, first, we make it easy to get the right qualifications with flexible training, but we also offer job or business setup support – matching our students with suitable vacancies through our industry contacts and helping them with CVs, job interviews and contacts, or giving them business help like getting customers and doing their books.’
So if you’re considering your future beyond your Forces career, becoming a plumber, electcian or gas engineer offers some exciting opportunities – and you can start training right now!
Call OLCI Construction Training’s career advisers on Freephone: 0800 058 2848.
Published March 2010
New career provides stability for ex-RAF movements controller, Darren Binns
A former RAF movements controller has found a stable career since his resettlement, by retraining as a plumber. Darren Binns, 34, decided to leave the RAF after more than five years of active service, but at first found it hard to adjust to civilian life, saying ‘It was very hard. If you hear something like a car backfiring you panic, but you have to realise that you’re back home and you’re safe. Also, it was hard going from being with the same people 24/7 to being away from them and alone in the house – that’s a big change. You do miss all your mates and the camaraderie.’
However, Darren has found that retraining to become a plumber has given him some stability and focus since leaving the Forces. He came across a company called New Career Skills – a specialist training provider that, having realised there was a shortage of skilled professionals in the construction industry, retrains mature career-changers as electricians, plumbers and professional property marketers – and decided to go for it.
Darren says, ‘The New Career Skills course was really good for location and package; it was perfect for me. I’ve always liked doing DIY, and plumbing is something that interests me – I like the idea of going into homes and meeting different people rather than going to the same place and seeing the same faces every day.’ He is due to complete his course shortly and hopes to work for a plumbing company before setting up his own firm in a few years’ time.
New Career Skills works closely with industry to ensure that its training programmes offer the most up-to-date and relevant skills possible. Learning is flexible and convenient, in order to fit around busy lives. All programmes comprise blended learning, mixing practical hands-on work and theory, and students are given the fullest possible support, which continues after course completion, with advice and support on setting up a business, work placements and finding employment included.
Take your current skills into a new career as a plumber, electrician or gas engineer
Ex-forces people often possess vital skills that can help them become a qualified plumber, electrician or gas engineer. A quick took at yourself will show yow ho many of these skills who already possess, and a longer look at training providers will surely find one or two who meet your requirements over such issues as qualifications, timings, future employment possibilities, and how to get funding.
Every 35 minutes someone needs to join either the UK plumbing (including heating, ventilation and air conditioning skills) or electrical industry just to keep up with demand. And, although there is much media speculation about the future of some construction schemes at present, there is desperate need of them in many parts of the country.
The sector wants people who get things done and work through difficult circumstances. It looks for sole traders just as much as employees for industry giants. Work is varied and interesting and it is usually up to the individual to decide their own balance between work and the rest of their lives.
With 13 fully-equipped training centres nationwide, OLCI have been offering industry recognised qualifications including City & Guilds, EAL and NVQ for some time. They point out that ELC can be used on such courses as Plumbing 6089 NVQ Level 3 and Electrical 2356 NVQ Level 3
