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Dorin

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Hi, my name is Dorin, 33 years old, and have recently qualified as an electrician. I am looking to build experience in the trade and would like to volunteer myself for unpaid work in the Poole/Bournemouth area during the evenings and weekends. I currently work full-time but do have annual leave to book to work some weekdays if required. I am enthusiastic, hard working and reliable. I have my own transport however no tools. If anyone has any work, is willing to mentor or requires a helping hand, please PM me. I would be very grateful for the opportunity. 

 
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what training / qualifications do you have. seems a bit odd that you are 'qualified' but dont have any experience... youd expect someone qualified to be able to go do the job on their own unsupervised... sounds more like a short course teaching you the absolute basics but in reality its meaningless

 
Welcome to the forum, I have removed your phone number, as its not normally sensible to broadcast personal contact details on a public forum, unless you are willing to be bombarded with spam messages/calls.  Obviously if you are happy with this risk you can add it back on again to another post.  You mention being qualified, but don't say what actual qualifications you have, which would be essential detail for anyone considering your proposal. The forum is littered with old posts from people thinking they have completed a course to become and electrician, when all they have actually done is an introduction to the wiring regulations and Portable Appliance Testing.

I wish you well with your search, but I wouldn't put much hope on getting results from a forum such as this. You probably need to go door knocking on local contractors, or agencies in your local area. Most contacts for work come from "who you know", not "what you know", and I doubt many of a our forum members are actually looking for strangers of unknown ability, or reliability, to do any labouring work, (without any of their own tools), for customers, even if they were working evenings/weekends and could cover the insurance premiums in case you caused damaged to the customers installation or property. Unfortunately I think you will find a lot of red-tape, legal obligations, duties and responsibilities that make taking on casual labour a high risk venture for small businesses. Aside from the electrical experience you are looking for, consider who you think would be footing the bill if you had an accident causing injury to yourself and damage to both tools and customer property? 

Doc H.

 
Hi Andy, you guessed it, it's a short course ( Building Regulations, 18th Edition, PA Testing, EICR ). 

Hi Doc Hudson, thank you for removing the phone number and for taking the time to reply to me. 

It makes sense what you say and if there's no one willing to take me for a job or two, at least maybe I can get some information about what to do next. I have been to agencies around Bournemouth/Poole area with no response ( I might go again next week). Should I try via an apprenticeship? 

I do not know anyone in this trade, but I know I like it, somehow I have to succeed. 

 
Although the concept of doing unpaid work theoretically sounds like it should help someone, in the world of electrical installation it often doesn't work out, especially if you are trying to get some hands-on experience. e.g. If it were just using a wheelbarrow to transport earth from a trench to a skip, then the more cheap manpower you can get the better. But irrespective of if you are being paid or not,  when a customer is paying someone for the work you are helping with, then the customer has legal rights to have those goods and services provided in a manner that is fit for purpose and of merchantable quality. And upon completion of the work for compliance with BS7671 someone will have to sign the declarations on the electrical certificate to take responsibility for design, installation, inspection & testing of the electrical work. So if it is not you signing the paperwork, someone else is going to have to check over all that you have done, which could be more time consuming than if they had just done it themselves in the first place.

If a business has costed a job with minimal leeway for any delays or complications that may arise, having to supervise and follow someone round who is not competent to work alone, then they will be unwilling to take on board anyone, even if they were offering to work for free. Unless you can find a company that is looking to expand and take on some unskilled labour then it is going to be a very hard slog. It's experienced tradesmen that are in demand, but there are fewer and fewer large companies able to take on those who are still looking to gain the experience. The forum is littered with posts from others exactly like you, wanting to get there foot on the ladder, but finding very few ladders are actually out there to start climbing. 

Doc H.    

 
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Thank you for the heads up and appreciate your quick response. I'm a hard worker and quick learner and I know from past similar experiences that getting the job without experience is the hardest thing, nobody regrets for giving me a chance.

Is an apprenticeship a good idea if they consider me? I will try to find companies around here that, as you say, are trying to expand. Should I call, email or go at there door? I have a lot of questions because is quite hard for me to understand how everything works here. 

Thank you 

 
I may be wrong but historically the rule of thumb used to be a person doing physical door knocking, asking face to face for work, was considered to be more likely to pull their weight and get stuck into a job, compared to an anonymous letter writer, expecting a prospective employer to contact them back. (obviously some of this goes back to the days of factories which typically had signs on the gate stating what vacancies were available). But to try and put this into context of modern communication, sending random incorrectly addressed e-mails with attached 20 page PDF CV is most likely going to go straight into the delete & trash pile. Too many people try to waffle and blag their way with quantity over quality, but if you are an employer and you get 250+ email job applications with pages and pages of irrelevant waffle about wiring up your grandma's pantry light, your uncle Bobs loft socket and the next door neighbours garden pond pump & light, in reality no one is going to read much past the first few paragraphs before deciding if it is bin material.

"First Impressions" was and still is a fundamental governing factor to if further interest, communication or activity will occur. You have got to think about what are the key selling points to make a prospective employer interested in you. Advertising is and was pretty much the same, (and hasn't changed),  for Cars, TV's, Phones, Clothes, Holidays, Make-up, Ready-Meals, Fitted wardrobes, Garden tools, Kitchen appliances, etc, etc, And persons wanting to sell themselves to be the preferred choice over the competition. For any job vacancy you must use similar techniques to those used by successful advertising. Get the fundamental key selling points covered on the opening front page with pointers and direction to any relevant more comprehensive detail that can be read further on later.

Some companies have websites that include pages about their key staff, including names and their job role within the company. If you can google a prospective employer, then address any letters, emails, phone calls, or physical visits, asking to speak to a specific persons e.g. Mr/Mrs/Miss Clarke (Head of recruitment / Engineering manager etc),  it is more likely to at least be read and/or evaluated than a bland 'Dear Sirs' email sent to contact form at Widget&Sons.co.uk.

It sounds to me as though you are just going to have to start a long hard graft, pushing and trying any and every door, searching for anything from apprentice to mate to tea boy to cleaner! If anyone says they have no vacancies at the moment, thank them very much for considering you, then ask again a few months later in-case circumstances have changed. Do NOT give up trying as the construction industry and all of its associated services can have a high level of flux and change.

Doc H.

 
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