Latest / The Electrical Show / Thomas Nagy and Paul Meenan discuss post apprenticeship blues

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Thomas Nagy and Paul Meenan discuss post apprenticeship blues · The Electrical Show

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  The Electrical Show with Thomas Naji. Welcome to the Electrical Show of BOSH Professional
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  here on Fix Radio. I'm your host, Thomas Naji, with Paul Meanan
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  by my side here for the next hour giving you all sorts of electrical insight.
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  Paul, what are we going to talk about today? We're talking about
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  my introduction there into the intro of the show. That's very good. I
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  didn't notice it. We're talking about post apprenticeship blues and guidance and thoughts we
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  may have on the whole coming out of your time experience. Well, it
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  can be hard to find your way after getting some fundamental experience in the trade
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  and it is, to be fair, almost a rite of passage in the
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  industry. So today we are going to be speaking to the ECA's technical manager,
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  Darren Cranis about his thoughts on this topic. Fix Radio time to crack
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  on. You're listening to The Electrical Show with Thomas Najie and with my good
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  friend here Paul Miena. Now we're going to be talking about the post apprenticeship
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  blues and the guidance today and thought this we're joined now by Darren Kranis.
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  Well, can we have the please the swanky drum role from the producer.
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  Here's I think he's so a bit more in depth and technical that I'll do.
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  Who is a technical manager? Dan Crannis is the technical manager at the
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  ECA. Darren, thank you once again for joining us as aaron. How
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  does the ECA support apprentices in particular many different aspects of One of the foremost
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  things we've got is fee colleges and training providers can join our Educational Associate members
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  so they can have access to all our resource So I know a lot of
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  people say that our resources are kept under lock and key. We really do
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  open that up for sort of the young talent coming through. I've heard of
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  the apprentices each year come through JTL, So we have governance with JTL,
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  and we also help will shape the contents of these modern apprenticeships, the domestic
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  Apprenticeship which is coming in and also the new far and Security Apprenticeship that's been
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  running for a couple of years, as well as supports to sort of local
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  colleges fees and we have a great Apprenticeship of the Year awards which really does
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  showcase young talent. Paul, I didn't know that. I didn't know that.
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  I've literally in the last two weeks's been to a college and I left
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  just wanting to cry because they needed support. But this sort of stuff you
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  do realize, Darren, you've shot yourself in the foot now because I'm just
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  going to throw you under every single college of visit and go right, I'm
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  going to knock on the ECA's door and go can you come and support this
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  college? Because there's I'm noticing in my little travels there's a lot of colleges
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  need a lot of support. And while you guys do some fine stuff,
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  I think the elephant in the room is the employers. I'm really seeing the
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  employers. There's not enough employers take on apprentices, and I'm going into college's
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  field of apprentices who don't have work. It is a difficult thing because when
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  when trainees, when apprentices go from their level two is it to the level
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  three, they have to find a job. That's when they get the level
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  three, they've got to find occupation and they seem to be struggling with that.
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  Yeah, when I started, everybody had a job. It was like
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  maybe one person in the class that we might be out of work and JTL
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  what they're doing their bit and everybody was doing their bit, as you know,
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  within the frameworks and the funding that's there, but it does seem I'm
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  noticing the numbers of people out of work period is increasing on a level which
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  frightens me. But it's good to know that you guys are doing stuff to
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  support the colleges. I didn't know that, So thanks for that, Darren.
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  Why is it? Why is it important? Because it was Actually that's
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  actually the next question I wanted to ask placing your young learners with the right
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  contractors. How do you actually do that process? How do you find the
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  right fit for you know, for a learner for a contractor. Well,
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  from experience, I think it comes down to a relationship. You know,
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  they must fit in with the company's mols and ethics. I think that's that's
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  really important. And you know, apprentices learners, they all have different development
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  requirements, so not every apprentice will learn at the same pace. So it
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  needs to be a realistic expectation from both the employer and the apprentice. And
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  you know, the employer, like we said previously, is eight of the
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  support of the training, you know for that young leader. So it's really
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  important that they're supportive and they're not just treatis just as paid for labor.
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  What would be your advice for somebody who's finishing their apprenticeship down Any final thoughts
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  on that? Just just a piece of advice, doesn't matter. What just
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  saying that as a piece of good advice they can takeaway someone who's finishing their
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  apprenticeship their next step what to do well? You never stop learning, and
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  so you continue to learn and flourish. So it may be the end of
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  your Level three apprenticeship, but not the end of your journey. So you
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  should continue to learn and progress throughout your career. You make yourself a learning
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  development plan and set yourself realistic goals. Some of them may change, but
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  like I say, there's a wealth information out there. It's a great industry.
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  Really open your eyes and ears and go for it. Yeah, it's
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  kind of like learning to drive. You start to learn to drive once you
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  pass your test sort of thing. It's not you've finished there, it's just
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  that's that's the start of your journey. So one hundred percent with you on
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  that. Any final thoughts, Paul, The end is just the beginning.
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  I've always said to youngsters. Once you've got the NBQ, your am to
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  your goal card. That's the beginning start. Yeah, that's when you start.
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  That's when you're trusted to be let loose and go out all the previous
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  business and the changing rooms getting dressed and now you're out of the track.
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  Had any mistakes now, mate, it's get it right first time. Darren,
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  You're a superstar. Thank you very much. You're a gentleman. Thank
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  you. Fix Radio. I'm Thomas Nagie with Paul Meanan on the Electrical show
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  here with Bosch Professional, continuing our conversation about the post apprentice ship blues.
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  Now how we deal with the pressure of what comes next, which apparently is
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  it is an issue now, Paul, tell us a bit about how how
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  you were educated, what kind of apprenticeship you had, because yours was quite
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  a wild and varied apprenticeship, it's led to believe, yes, so it's
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  put in a very succinct manner. Born and bred in Tottenham. Failed every
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  single GCS under the sun, which is a big issue now apparently because you
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  have to have them to go to college. Went to college barely scraped for
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  everything. I got an apprenticeship via the Yellow Pages and ringing up every contractor
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  in North London. Unfortunately that company closed after a year. So it was
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  a domestic light commercial apprenticeship with a company in Camden in North London, and
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  then I managed to get onto the railways and Mick McGrath, Tom Gaffney and
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  John Barry of a company called Emicho, now one of the top ten contractors
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  in the UK. I was their first apprentice, Love them dearly, and
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  they broke me, beasted me, taught me everything I needed to know and
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  I at times went home crying. But my god, did they reinforced have
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  the confidence in your own ability. By the time I finished my four year
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  apprenticeship, I was running jobs and that was a whole another apprenticeship. The
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  trouble is with apprenticeships in this industry, we just think it's a three or
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  four year star. The minute you go from domestic to industrial, it's another
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  apprenticeship. It doesn't matter what your age is. If you go from industrial
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  to domestic, it's another apprenticeship, it really is. There's so many nuances
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  you've got to realize. And so for me it was a split apprenticeship and
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  I kind of just fell into running jobs and I was always scared of everything,
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  but I just got put in front of what I was scared of,
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  and I had to master it. And I think mastering your fear in a
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  trade is one of the best skills to be mindful of. Yeah, without
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  a doubt. So what about you, Tom, then tell us about how
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  you learned your trade and how you got to where you are today. Well,
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  that's a different story. I did four years. I did four years
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  at college and that was I think, actually that was where I made a
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  mistake, because I did my four years at college and a second I qualified.
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  I jumped ship and worked for myself. And looking back at it,
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  I can genuinely say as a good piece of sound advice, in my opinion,
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  as soon as you get qualified, there are so many young people like
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  Osh, you want to want to start me o business, want to work
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  for myself? Don't just don't you if you're working for somebody and you're happy
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  there, make the mistakes there, you know where you are a little bit
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  protected, where you've got a little bit of back up and a bit of
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  you know, you've got resources, and you've got time to You've got the
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  whole of your life. You don't have to just jump ship the second the
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  second you qualify, because in all honesty. That was what I did.
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  And honestly, I swear to God, the first two years I made so
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  any mistakes and like I mean, I look back, I look back now.
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  I mean honestly, I shiver thinking about the way I left some of
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  the stuff because you just you just you literally you were so green. You
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  just did your whim too. Yeah bye, yeah, God bless you all
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  later. Yeah, same year. If I if I remembered the address of
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  some of the places I worked, I would go back with some screw jobs.
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  Go. Can I just go upstairs for ten minutes and just change some
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  of your wiring a place? Howefully? Sorry, I did a job here
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  literally about sixteen years ago. Can I just come back quickly and there's a
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  few things I want to change? But you just didn't know because that was
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  just you were just working with what you thought you knew and that was it.
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  So definite piece of advice. Just stay with the company and just learn
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  and learn a bit more. Life isn't a race, it's a journey.
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  Serve your time. Yeah, it's an old phrase that was used many years
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  ago. It's got a new context now. But you have to serve your
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  time, even if you're not doing a formal apprenticeship. Put the work in
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  and serve the time in the trade. If you serve your time, even
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  if it's self self motivated and self driven, you will get the respect you
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  need to be successful by your peers in this industry. One could not agree
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  more. Electrical Show with Thomas Nagie on fixed Radio The Builders Station. Continuing
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  the Electrical Show, I'm Thomas Nagie with Paul Mina, and we're talking about
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  how to deal with the pressure of what comes after you qualify in your training,
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  college or academy, wherever it is that you're taking your training. You've
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  got your qualifications, and ultimately, what do we do next? Paul,
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  what is the next? It's not work for yourself. We know that.
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  Also, before we just get into this, I'd like to apologize Jack,
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  our producer here, decided that wet Dream was the song of choice on the
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  last outray horrend. I couldn't say, how can I say that? I
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  just read it on our Crims Shee and I started laughing so awfully. Sorry,
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  Jack, our producer, He's not going to be here long. He's
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  useless, man, Paul, how do we start recently qualified spark? How
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  do we Yeah, it's a scary world, so we know not to jump
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  ships straight away. I think that's genuinely a bad thing to do. Stay
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  with the company and master your trade. Further, best way of wording this,
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  I could say, continue with resilience because it ain't going to get easier.
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  Go after what you're scared of, because I can tell you now,
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  when I was fully qualified, I had all the bells and the whistles and
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  all the tickets. I it took me probably ten years before that gut pain,
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  which was not IBS, in case anyone's thinking it was IBS. That
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  gut pain that you know, when somebody had turned to you look for an
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  answer. You had to know because you were qualified and you had the card
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  and everything else. There is still for me a four to five year cooling
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  off period at the end of apprenticeship where you really are consciously becoming aware of
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  what you can and can't do. Absolutely it's too big an industry fundamentals.
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  Yeah, you can get down pretty quick, but again it all depends on
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  the sector, the area working. And if you're metal munching for three or
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  four years, you know that's you're going to be BRILLIANTD But the rest of
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  the skills that you need for to be electrician. You're going to be rusty
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  as hell, so you're going to have a natural fear for it. So
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  just go after what you you're scared off and just master it. Absolutely,
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  go after the things that make you uncomfortable. That is definitely a good piece
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  of advice, I think one hundred percent. How about resources like training and
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  material because again going back to CPD, so just continual professional development. Where
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  can we where can we look for more material or depends on what mooda and
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  if it's a Friday night and a bottle of wine. John Ward, he's
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  a YouTuber. Here, here's dulcet tones will most we love John. He's
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  a good friend of mine. He's a YouTuber. He's one. When I
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  first started looking at YouTubers, there was there was very limited. There was
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  basically there were Sparking Ninja, which is again excellent content, this this electrician
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  called Tom Najie. There was John Ward, and then there was this other
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  fantastic resource called gsh Electrical Gary Hayers, which I recommend to every single person
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  in the industry. It's phenomenal content. I would be lying if I didn't
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  say I have not learned tons from that wonderful YouTube channel. So for me,
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  first start off for ten sparking injur gsh John Ward, they're the ones
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  good call the electrical show on fixed radio. That is it for today's electrical
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  show where we've been talking about post apprenticeship blues. Now let's finish up with
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  some advice. Paul, put yourself in the shoes as someone that's just just
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  finished their apprenticeship. What should come next? Please don't follow this bit of
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  advice. When I finished my apprenticeship, I wanted to go and spread my
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  wings. I wanted to learn more. I wanted to Yeah, I had
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  this massive hunger for wanting to understand everything that I was working in near or
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  around. So I just went mental. I needed money and I did work
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  day and night. So I would always say to an apprentice, if you're
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  being invested in, invest back, if you're not being invested in advice,
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  if you're not being invested in, then move on, but just diversify your
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  skills as quick as you can. I went. I did centrally eating Moreton
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  British gas from the railways. You know, I wanted to do all sorts
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  of stuff on signaling and everything I could do that involves wiring and electricity in
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  every way, shape or form, just to build that knowledge. Yeah,
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  because I knew the more I learned, the more I earned. I didn't
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  know that phrase, but I knew the more knowledge I certainly would earn more
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  money. And I could command that. So we need to work and we
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  need to earn. And if we can do both in the same job,
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  that's that's happy days. That's cookie. Though. Most of the youngsters out
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  there now that are coming through and the adult learners are under incredible pressures to
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  provide for families, so you can't blame them if they do leave. But
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  if you are employing apprentices, please have honest conversations with them. I think
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  that's a sound place to end it. But you know, just before you
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  go, if you could start all over again in our industry and just start
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  your journey and education, now what approach would you do. I'd go into
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  smart homes. Yeah, yeah, smart the way you do it, smart
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  homes and green I would integrate smart homes and energy storage and PV. I
• 15:03
  know it weren't around when I first started, but the smart home stuff I
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  would have been at the cutting edge because an electrician with telecoms and smart in
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  their portfolio is just lethal, just the extra sharp knife they're they're on him,
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  and especially with the way technology is now, it's going to be more
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  and more of that. Yeah, we're going to continue talking education next week
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  actually, and we're going to discuss how we learn as electricians. So join
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  us at the usual time from three pm on Thursday on Fix Radio. Now
• 15:33
  you can don't forget. You can download this as a podcast from wherever you
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  get them online. To make sure you subscribe to get all the new ones
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  as they come out. You can also subscribe actually, by the way,
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  also get to see a little clip every week of where I'm working. That's
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  into a drawer as well to win a Moquita site Radio and I think on
• 16:07
  that note, we're going to end the show with ocean color scene the Riverboat
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