Trade training

[Jonboy_t]

I'm thinking about a complete change of career - from being unemployed to actually having a job!

I've been a Finance Manager for a few years and recently lost my job (last Monday actually) and am having an utter nightmare trying to get anything at all, temping or permanent. A discussion with a friend of mine has opened my eyes to the possibility of training in a trade - plumbing specifically - but I'm unsure where to start looking for the qualifications and courses.

I'm a pretty handy DIY'er and have done a lot of quite significant plumbing work on my own home (2 new bathrooms, replumbed 2 kitchens completely), obviously not to the quality one would get with a qualified plumber, but it was DIY! I feel I have a pretty good background knowledge to get me started but would still be looking to train from the very beginning so I could forge a proper trade from it.

Does anyone have any experience in training in a trade without getting into apprenticeships and would anyone recommend somewhere/a company to actually sign up to for the training?

[caterhamboy]

Hi jonboy, the market is very badly affected at the moment, and a lot of time served plumbers,electricians, brickies etc. are really struggling. A lot of people have been in the same situation as you and re-trained spending a lot of money on "fast track" courses only to find that the qualifications gained are worthless ( no matter what the salesman tells you) and no one will give them a job, and they haven't got enough experience to go it alone. If you still really want to be a plumber my advice would be to sign up with your local college for a course over 2-3yrs where the qualifications will be recognized and try and gain some experience during this time.

Hope this helps.

[RichardB108]

I had been in a similar situation as you. Even after taking course after course, I still could not get a job. So even though I had different qualifications, employers were saying that what I am missing is experience. I have decided to take on a voluntary place just to get some experience and after 3 month got a full time position! (I have got the place through http://www.experienceworks.co.uk ). I would suggest to you to try voluntary work rather than some course, it might takes less time and money and you know whether the type of job is for you or not.

[Jonboy_t]

Cheers for the advice guys. A college course would be my preferred method as the home training/day release kind of thing would just be untenable whilst I'm (hopefully) working too.

I've got a couple of mates (more acquaintances really) that are in trades and they are saying that times are pretty tough at the moment too. What I was hoping to do would be to work at getting qualified, gain some experience by working alongside anyone that'll have me (the voluntary option seems a good one) and then once things start to pick up and I am fully trained and have some experience, move into full time and then eventually go out on my own/as a partnership. The plan is that this will be in a few years once things with the economy settles down a little and people are back in a more stable state.

It's all a long game really, but I've come to realise recently that unless you are your own boss, there's plenty of other people who will screw you over at any opportunity and I really don't want to be part of that scene any more!