Willing and Able

[blokeofkent]

Hi,
I know this has been mentioned before,
I passed my NVQ 2 (6089) last year and have now been laid off from my job as a postman.
I find myself with a few grand in the bank and a bit of spare time. No-one wants a newly trained plumber and certainly no one wants to train an ex postie with limited plumbing experience to be a gas engineer.
Is it going to be worth doing a "full" gas course with ACS at someone like Able Skills to put me in a better position in the plumbing/gas job market or is it just a crock of shhhugar as many people will have me believe. Of all of them Able see to be one of the best?
Any thoughts/comments welcome

Steve
Southampton

 

[wildcard]

You won"t be able to do any acs training until you have gained experience working alongside another gas engineer.You really need to get employed by a company to gain experience.
On another note I can"t believe the post office have just privatised & its 2 months till xmas & there laying posties off.

 

[blokeofkent]

Trying to get employed, but it comes with lots of knock backs! Very demoralising. But I will carry on hounding!
As part of the course they're telling me that they will place me with a Gas Safe Engineer to do my portfolio. I'm guessing this might be at an added premium? So if I pay that is it going to be worthwhile? If they're as good as their word will that portfolio be enough to gain what I need to go Gas Safe? I know its no substitute for experience, but I am hoping a course such as this might help me get at least a toe in the door?

 

[twitchboy]

There are some training companies that allow you to do your portfolio over a few days in their facility. Logic have something where if you do their new entrant course, for an extra £500 they will let you do a portfolio onsite in a few days. I don't believe they adverstise it. You need to ask them directly about their building a portfolio add on.

Clearly it's not the best way to build up a portfolio of work but for people who have no other access to on the job training in order to get the portfolio they need it's a good option. Good luck. Just be sure that this is what you really want to do because it's hard out there. If you think it's demoralising now getting knocked back just wait until you are fully qualified and still nobody wants to give you the time of day because you've done a 'short cut' course.

APL Gas Course | Trainee Gas Course | APL Courses | Approved Prior Learning Course