advice on careers

[rainbow]

hello im 18 and have 9 gcses no a levels as i left, i am currently training to be an electrician but i duno if its for me and would like to be an estate agent after much deliberation anyone know any steps i can take??

thanks

[GDVS]

How long do you have before you finish your training as a sparky? If it's only a year or two then finish it, qualified tradesmen are always in demand and if the estate agent thing doesn't work out you have something to fall back on.

[rainbow]

well with sparkie its like a year in college then get job as aprentice and takes four years i am jus bout to finish the first year and have neally got an aprenticeship, but i would like to know how to go about getting into estate i dont really wanna go back to college for years???

[RECOiL™]

I have a friend who is an electrician, then started getting his own work. He makes roughly £1000 per week. Being seld employeed has obvious tax benefits too. Utilise what your good at or expand your skills in a field you like and do that.


or like me, you can lead a life of general vice.

[rainbow]

the thing is yer im good at it but there are neally no jobs about for training and i think i would like estate better, but the key thing is fiunding an aprenticeship, im one of the last 20 southern leccy are going to selct so i have good chance there but the pay is shat for four years and i dunno how did he go about getting his own work?

[camalbitboy]

I'd say stick out the course. As mentioned above its always something that you can fall back on, and whats more you can travel with it as well!! If you get some experience in a company you can work anywhere in the world, Dubai, Oz, Thailand, and make a mint.

Get some experience for Southern leccy, then work for a private company for a while to understand small businesses. Then set your own up. It'll take a while but

Why do you want to be an estate agent? The hours are cr@p and you are the office dogsbody for the first year/18 months that your there. Estate agents only ever make a decent living if they are either very good, and get a great rep built up, or are complete pondslime who stitch people up, and make very dodgy personal transactions.

Its not exactly a profession that going to help with the ladies either

Sparkies better bet I reckon (Apologies to any estate agent Hexites out there

[rainbow]

lol i know its just the part of what happens if i cant find some1 who will take me on soon as an apprentice then im screwed, basically i need to find a job soon but dont want it to be a waste of time job u know, i really hope southern leccy hire me, but then it takes a few more years to become fully qualified aswell...

[camalbitboy]

It might be worth going through yellow pages and contacting some of the local sparkies Let them know your position, and ask what skills you would need for them to be interested in taking you on, and see what other info they might have that could help you. Helps you get a realisitc idea as to your chances of being taken on.

Also worth keeping an eye out for sparkies down the pub. If you ask them how they got into it, and for any advice, that may help (may cost you a pint though).

The one thing that I learnt from my time on building sites as a chippies mate was that they are always interested in keen, self motivated people. No one wants a slacker on a site, so if you make the effort in going to them it may increase your chances.

Its might be worth contacting Southern leccy too to ask some questions as well. Again, if they get to know your name, and know your interested it helps your odds. Just make sure that you have some good questions to ask them. Maybe even see if you can tag along with a sparkie for a day, or on a course thats already running. They will most prob say no, but you look good, and you never know, they may say yes.

One general thing to remember though is that any career is not necessarily for life, and rarely is. I've been chippies mate, University student, call centre rep, systems analyst, and now work on weather radar imaging systems for the Environment Agency. God knows what I'm gonna do next.

Good luck whatever you do.

[rainbow]

thanks mate well i will see what happens nxt week