I will don't worry, but I dont see what knowledge having employed lots of people would give me in how not to judge a book by its cover, that's primary school stuff.

I will talk more to you about this in 25 years when I have had 30+ years experience though

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- Dave
http://www.pamperhouse.net
http://www.invertedcircle.co.uk

In all fairness to those that have decided to change their chosen profession - why shouldn't they?

I've found a changing work ethic in all walks of life and businesses that never seems to surprise me.

I find a large number of children (I say children, because that's how I feel a large majority of them come across) have a TERRIBLE attitude towards work, people they work with the the people that pay their wages - the customer.

I had a mate who is a sparky who had a number of college go'ers at any given point. They were more interested in writing their names on the inside of back boxes (or in the case of one, who I threw out of my house - a wall) or playing with their phones.

Look at the older generation of people who decided that they don't want to be stuck behind a desk and want to get on the tools, look at what SOME of them bring (again, not all....):

- Experience (be it DIY, their CC course, day to day life)
- a THIRST to learn, they WANT this to succeed and have a vested interest in making this happen
- The ability to communicate!!!!!!! How many times have I NOT purchased something because the person selling couldn't string a sentence together "init, yeah....warramsayinman izit like know" ??????????????????

I'm sure there is much more to this, but some of the best experiences I've had of late are people that have had to adapt to the changing economy and put themselves out into a job they never trained for and knocked the service element out of the ball park.

Speak to them and go from there, don't just dismiss them....everyone starts somewhere. If you don't like them - NEXT!

BG

But that's not the case with the Plumbing trade, nobody in the established Plumbing trade wanted the CC/CCCs, they have been mislead by the Sunday newspapers & media hype; that wrongly stated that a Plumber was on £80K a year and there was a shortage of Plumbers - none of this was/is true. So, all the hard of thinking dafties jumped on the bandwagon.

Now where are we in 2011? We have 1000s of time-served ex-site Plumbers, Poles, Lats, Handymen etc etc & oh of course your CC/CCCs all looking for work!! And, we still have the con men that are running these mickey mouse courses still recruiting these poor people(well, they'll be even poorer after spending £6K on a 8 week useless courses).

We don't want the CC/CCCs, we don't need the CC/CCCs. For the limited amount of work that's out there, just give us the kids straight from Skool, we can teach them the trade the way it's always been.

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Totally disagree with a lot of the things being said in this topic. I know people who have changed their career mainly because there was no work in their chosen profession/trade in their locality or because they were very good diy'ers in crap jobs and made a very good fist of it. I have often found that if someone has a good attitude and is highly skilled in one profession/trade then they will be just as good in another profession/trade, given a chance.

All the people that I know who have been on these short courses or fast track courses have been people who are highly motivated to succeed in their new career because they know if they don't, they will look pretty stupid so give the person an interview and judge him from that, possibly even give him a practical and/or theory test.

Now, I must confess to being a bit biased as I know that if I get made redundant from my job in the next couple of years, I will go on a fast track course or maybe even two asap lol


Cheers, John

You will get good and bad in both camps. Difference is a youngster won't have to earn a proper wage before he's worth it.

Someone that's been on a course with a couple of kids and a mortgage to pay expects to earn a decent wage right away when they can't generate one. They may well be keen and read up on everything but they are too slow and don't have the technique to make them worth it.

My preference is for someone about 19 that's dead keen and reasonably mature but young enough not to be carrying all the baggage

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to be honest I am torn here, I started with my father when I was 19 (that was 7 years ago), was mad keen as well my father though is/was a so called CCC... he did what he need to do to make end meet and I follow him.

but I do think I am only just getting in to my stride now. at a point were no matter what I find in a house I can handle it. had to work out a lot of stuff for my self which really should of been told in the first place.

but I agree with d*ck. the young person should be given the chance over some fat middle-age bloke that could of just as easily got a job as bus driver... youth unemployment in this country is chronic

but as always the cream with rise, the good ones with be the 10% that is fixing the other 90% cock-ups

I am teaching my father now, telling him off for not checking for leaks or not flushing the rads right. he is a old bloke now and this plumbing game was the last throw of the dice for him. very must doubt he will be changing jobs

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ok my thought

you can possibly learn the basics in a short period but only if you are within the 5-10% that can remember that much detail within a short time span this is further reduced buy having basic "practical skills" to build upon plus the further hinderance of needing the perfect tutor to get all the facts across
even then you need several years off practical to be up to speed

if someone comes to you after one off these courses and is good it will be nothing to do with the course but everything to do with the individual

_________________
we are all ------------------still learning

Most of them do the course and head straight for the agency's.

I've had more than enough experience from that supply.

Let me tell you about one that didn't realise you had to solvent weld the soil pipe, just pushed it together job done.

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We have about 5-6 guys in their 20s that we can ask to go to a job and cut'n'screw steel pipe, Lead burn a chimney flashing, fit a bathroom suite or fit oil-gas-SF boilers.........etc etc. We have a very diverse workload, so we need highly skilled guys that'll hit the ground running. So, we need time-served guys, not Someone that's going to consult a book all day, take hours to do a simple job & still get it wrong!!


Edited by mod 6

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