Career path and future

[Waterboymatt]

Hello guys

I wish to call upon your wisdom and experience, I am 25 and I have recentlying enrolled at college to do a city and guilds 6035 L2 plumbing course. From what I have read on this forum they are not recognised in the plumbing world and I understand that so my query is,

how could I get a job with a plumber to earn nvqs without experience?

Can the course I'm doing help me get some work with a plumber so I can move on to the next stage of the training?

I've read of people who have completed the course I'm enrolled on not being able to find work after due to experience so would a viable option be to phone local plumbing entrepreneurs and offer my services one day a week to gain some relevant experience?

I was also lead to believe because of my age I couldn't have done the apprenticeship.

Any help would be really appreciated I just want a plan of action!

Thanks

 

[Ch4 plumbing]

You can do an apprenticeship at any age you will just have to self fund, I had a guy of 45 doing an apprenticeship alongside me

 

[Toggles]

Hi WaterBoyMatt

Firstly, unless it has recently changed. There is no law against you doing an apprenticeship at 25yrs old, the difficulty is that colleges get more funding for the under 25yr olds, unfair but true. I would fight with them, get yourself on the waiting list if not for this sept then next year.

In the meantime, the 6035 technical certificate is the part apprentices study on day release, so you will not be qualified without the NVQ to go with it, which you know already

On the plus side, start the course while still continuing to find an apprenticeship, if you get the 6035 completed before you start as an apprentice then you wouldn't have to attend college on day release as you would have already completed it.

The down side is that 6035 takes a year and apprenticeship is 4yrs, this would become 5yrs for you in this way of doing it......
However, if you are skilled, a good learner and apply yourself there is nothing whatsoever to stop you completing the level 2 Nvq in one year as opposed to 2 years, which would put you back on track ...yay!

1. You are NOT too old to have an apprenticeship.
2. As an apprentice it is generally expected that you will have l little to no experience thats why its an apprenticeship.
3.. Its up to you to make yourself and your personal worth known to a potential employer to get an apprenticeship, so get letters/ cv's and phone calls out there, just be determined.
4. As extra backup, when you do have an apprenticeship placement, a college is not allowed to refuse you, yes, they have to take you on )))))))

Finally, the course you will be doing, will show that you are committed to career/ training in plumbing which does give peace of mind and encouragement to potential employers as so many apprentices do drop out after discovering its not for them.

Sorry if this is blunt with typo's, typing fast as there's some junk on the box I want to watch lol.... Hope I've helped a little

Best of luck to you

 

[Toggles]

You can do an apprenticeship at any age you will just have to self fund, I had a guy of 45 doing an apprenticeship alongside me

How to word this delicately ?
Funding is down to the college or independent training provider, if you know your rights and the criteria, funding is available to over 25's . Most decent colleges/ staff will avoid learners self funding and it generally only happens when that person has completed their tech cert 6035 and employer cant be signed up properly due to not having liability insurance or failing the H&S requirements. Then the learner generally self funds to enable him/her to complete the whole course framework ..... Just get decent employer and all should be fine

 

[Waterboymatt]

Hello, thank you very much for the detailed response, this is exactly the kind of help and advice I was looking for. I only have one issue about the apprenticeship and that's the money, I can't afford to go down from nearly £8ph to under £3ph. So I'm not quite sure what the answer is yet but thank you for the help.

 

[Toggles]

Hello, thank you very much for the detailed response, this is exactly the kind of help and advice I was looking for. I only have one issue about the apprenticeship and that's the money, I can't afford to go down from nearly £8ph to under £3ph. So I'm not quite sure what the answer is yet but thank you for the help.

Hi and your'e welcome Waterboymatt

My understanding of it is : you work at the lower end, something like £3.50 p/h for your 'first' year only. After the first year you will then go up to what ever the national minimum wage is for your age range ..approx £6.50 I believe ?

Try these links for more info, there based up to 2014... you'll have to search for 2015 figures though.

https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage/what-is-the-minimum-wage

You can also contact the local college "Work Based Learning" department who will have all up to date info and figures applicable to. Don't forget not to let them fob you off because of age!

I do understand the wage drop, I dropped from £350 p/wk to £140 p/wk to do my apprenticeship....... was worth the sacrifice in the long term and did pay off for me, so glad I did it and took the chance Don't forget you will likely get the opportunity to work with a few plumbers at the weekends if youre a worker and apply yourself, we've all had to train at some point and are often happy to help out newbies along the way...

Anything else I can help you out with, don't hesitate to ask ok, good luck


A note for CROPPIE........... Yay! I'm at my 100 Mr Crops, can I have my pass to enter the Arms now ???? LOL

 

[mataveli666]

hi Waterboymatt,

im 32 now and was in exactly the same position as you 4 years ago and have just finished my NVQ this week. Not gonna lie m8 it was a pain in the backside for the first year but because i was over 25 i qualified for tax credits that topped it up a little. But thankfully the lad i served my time with wasn't tight and i got a few back handers off him if you catch my drift. All in all best thing thing i ever did and good luck hope this helps

 

[Kay101]

How to word this delicately ?
Funding is down to the college or independent training provider, if you know your rights and the criteria, funding is available to over 25's . Most decent colleges/ staff will avoid learners self funding and it generally only happens when that person has completed their tech cert 6035 and employer cant be signed up properly due to not having liability insurance or failing the H&S requirements. Then the learner generally self funds to enable him/her to complete the whole course framework ..... Just get decent employer and all should be fine

funding is not down to the college or provider! The government set the rules on funding, a centre couldn't simply claim more just because they want to
if the funding is very low for a 25 year old they couldn't afford to run a group as they would lose money

a plumber wouldn't fit a job for a loss

 

[Kay101]

Hi WaterBoyMatt

Firstly, unless it has recently changed. There is no law against you doing an apprenticeship at 25yrs old, the difficulty is that colleges get more funding for the under 25yr olds, unfair but true. I would fight with them, get yourself on the waiting list if not for this sept then next year.

In the meantime, the 6035 technical certificate is the part apprentices study on day release, so you will not be qualified without the NVQ to go with it, which you know already

On the plus side, start the course while still continuing to find an apprenticeship, if you get the 6035 completed before you start as an apprentice then you wouldn't have to attend college on day release as you would have already completed it.

The down side is that 6035 takes a year and apprenticeship is 4yrs, this would become 5yrs for you in this way of doing it......
However, if you are skilled, a good learner and apply yourself there is nothing whatsoever to stop you completing the level 2 Nvq in one year as opposed to 2 years, which would put you back on track ...yay!

1. You are NOT too old to have an apprenticeship.
2. As an apprentice it is generally expected that you will have l little to no experience thats why its an apprenticeship.
3.. Its up to you to make yourself and your personal worth known to a potential employer to get an apprenticeship, so get letters/ cv's and phone calls out there, just be determined.
4. As extra backup, when you do have an apprenticeship placement, a college is not allowed to refuse you, yes, they have to take you on )))))))

Finally, the course you will be doing, will show that you are committed to career/ training in plumbing which does give peace of mind and encouragement to potential employers as so many apprentices do drop out after discovering its not for them.

Sorry if this is blunt with typo's, typing fast as there's some junk on the box I want to watch lol.... Hope I've helped a little

Best of luck to you

Won't take four years if you have the 6035, will take less time

 

[Waterboymatt]

Thank you all I relish in hearing about all of your experiences as it is making the picture of what I'm going to do much clearer, I've set my heart on this and I'm going to get there in the end. Only 5 weeks now until my course starts and by june/July next I will that diploma which I hope will make me more employable. Now say I get a job with a plumber or a firm how do I go about getting the nvqs needed, since I would have the theory side already would I still need to go to college once a week? Thank you again for all the help

 

[mataveli666]

Thank you all I relish in hearing about all of your experiences as it is making the picture of what I'm going to do much clearer, I've set my heart on this and I'm going to get there in the end. Only 5 weeks now until my course starts and by june/July next I will that diploma which I hope will make me more employable. Now say I get a job with a plumber or a firm how do I go about getting the nvqs needed, since I would have the theory side already would I still need to go to college once a week? Thank you again for all the help

You just have to complete on site folders and collect evidence to prove competency good luck.

 

[Toggles]

funding is not down to the college or provider! The government set the rules on funding, a centre couldn't simply claim more just because they want to
if the funding is very low for a 25 year old they couldn't afford to run a group as they would lose money

a plumber wouldn't fit a job for a loss

Hmmmmm, Kay, where exactly did I say "A college could/would claim more?" In truth, they do 'get' more for under 25's, and if a learner goes "to" a college or training provider, it is them (the college) who will almost 'always' sort the funding for the learner ACCORDING to the criteria set out by Government (Of which I also don't believe I said otherwise???)

Yes, Its less money for over 25's, but a college also has an obligation to accommodate at least some at this age, so In fact they could afford a set number of over 25's


Please get your facts right before you retaliate inaccurately here and end up misguiding others! Thank you!

 

[Toggles]

Won't take four years if you have the 6035, will take less time

Again Inaccurate!
1 year on 6035 = Technical certificate only (Not fully qualified at this stage). Then onto AT LEAST 1 year more to complete the NVQ side and convert the whole qualification , both combined to a 6189-11 (Qualified level 2 plumber status)
Then a further 2 years to complete the level 3 - 6189-33 diploma (Tech cert and NVQ together) = Fully qualified "Advanced Plumber status and GAS"

Again, you are welcome for the corrections for your inaccuracies listed above

 

[Waterboymatt]

Hello guys, the help and advice I got last time on this forum was invaluable so I`m here again to try and get some more of it! I have started my L2 6035 course at the start of the month with 2 nights of theory and 1 night of practical per week and im happy to say I am loving it but now i want more... I want to try and work in the trade as well, I have a plan and i just want to know if I`m making the right move or wasting my time. I passed my CITB health and safety and applied for a provisional CSCS card which arrived yesterday so the plan is to get "on site" as a general labourer and try and worm my self in with the plumbers. But even still i thought some site experience would do me some good. So the question is... Is this worth doing or is there a better tried and tested way. Thanks