The state of training in the building trade

[Zampa]

Answering another thread prompted the question to me...

What do us tradespeople think of the current situation regards apprentices..training..colleges NVQ's etc..

What hope are there for perspective trainees when companies can now employ cheap foreign labour to do a sometimes excellent job fr not much more than it would cost to emply a trainee?

Thoughts?

 

[eggplant]

hat hope are there for perspective trainees when companies can now employ cheap foreign labour to do a sometimes excellent job fr not much more than it would cost to emply a trainee

not much hope at all I'd say - which makes one think what state of affairs we will be in in several years, with trainees all on the dole because no one needs a trainee for the reasons you mentioned, where will all the experience come from, abroad?. A sobering thought indeed.

 

[JohnD]

It may end up like some British engineering firms, which are going to collapse in 5 years time or so because almost all the technical staff are in their late 50's, and will retire in a big bunch.

 

[Thermo]

im proud to say ive taken on a school leaver and im putting him through college on day release. Hes keen and quick to learn and a very hard worker, its costing me money but i think hes worth it and its nice to pass something on as well. its a pity more employers dont see things that way.

 

[2scoops0406]

I'm afraid it's endemic in all industries, take mine, IT, there is a massive shortage of software developers these shortages cannot be filled by homegrown talent, as very few youngers want to get involved in the software side of things as it is perceived as being a difficult option. Unfortunately the companies themselves are also to blame as they won't train anyone.

 

[Diyisfun]

im proud to say ive taken on a school leaver and im putting him through college on day release. Hes keen and quick to learn and a very hard worker, its costing me money but i think hes worth it and its nice to pass something on as well. its a pity more employers dont see things that way.

Well done Thermo, I hope you tell your school leaver you pleased with him/her. To many people only say bad things, a pat on the back goes further than a kick up the jacksee

 

[masona]

What do us tradespeople think of the current situation regards apprentices..training..colleges NVQ's etc..

Our local Building Technology Centre where I have done 7 yrs apprenticeship training, 22 massive workshops for plastering, plumbing, carpentry, bricklaying and so on. Blair government is hell bent of getting students into University for no reason and that's what they did, knocked the whole building down and built a new University and guess what? The building is now half empty with students

My gut feeling is, the government is trying to kill the building trades and has betrayed British electors. They have ruined our country.

Tony Blair in 1983,
'We’ll negotiate a withdrawal from the EEC which has drained our natural resources and destroyed jobs.’

 

[Thermo]

Well done Thermo, I hope you tell your school leaver you pleased with him/her. To many people only say bad things, a pat on the back goes further than a kick up the jacksee

i know exactly what its like to get sod all praise, and as you say a little bit goes a long way, so when praise is due its given!

Its really sad to read a thread about this, the lad i employ has about 20-30 close friends. Theyve all gone onto do some sort of trade at college, and they are all struggling to find any sort of placement or employment. I try and give them a few days where i can. Admittadly its only labouring and obviously its a fairly cheap source of labour from my view compared to an older labourer, but its money in their pocket and im willing to give them a reference for any job they go for providing they have the right work attitude. I just think its so sad that after years of moaning that we cant get people in training for a trade, the industires now go for the cheap option.

 

[Dawnbb]

It can be even worse for people wanting to retrain into a trade as a second career, apprenticeships are aimed at people below 24, and if possible, 16 or 17 year olds.

Not something I want to do personally (I think I have 2 left hands) but I used to work in a college and the number of adults wanting to do courses but not being able to get the work placement element was huge.

 

[D.S.D]

son started his plumbing course with the final aim to be corgi in about 5/6 years. In the top 5 of the class for both years. They told us that he would have no prob getting a placement for his 3,4 and 5 years as plumbers approach the college for workers and my sons name is at the top. Guess what no one approached them and he must have sent 30 to 40 CV's and letters to prospective employers. All said No not taking anyone on. His third year started Sept and it is a requirement that he be working with a registered plumber. He isn't so no more course and a waste of two years. feel sorry for the boy. Also no one on that course is starting the third year as none of them have placements. I hear they are still touting college plumbing places at the local schools though. What a crock !!!

 

[splinter]

Well DSD,
You have just found out about the biggest lie in the building industry "there is a shortage of trades in the industry" They have been saying this since the 60s ,and in reality there never has been .
Now colleges in every town in the country are conning kids into taking NVQs in carpentry,plumbing and bricklaying etc just so they can fill their colleges up. They are not interested if these kids get a placement or not or even weither the kids have the right apptitude for the job
I read somewhere that over 20,000 kids a year go on carpentry courses a year in this country ,the building industry cannot even keep the trades in the industry employed let alone all these kids,still if they can ever afford to buy a house they will have some DIY exsperience to do work around the house.

 

[Zampa]

I sympathise total DSD...one of the problems, especially with the pumbing situation was the media attention it got a few years back about plumbers all being on somewhere in the region of 70-100k a year...we all know that total *******s (except softus who probably on twice that! )..

It caused a massive upserge in misguided people applying for places..some made it..most didnt after they realsied you need to be pretty smart to do the job.

Private companies also jumped on the bandwagon claiming that once you had your NVQ which was possible in a matter of months (more *******s) then you were on the way to £10000000000000000000000's of pounds.

The one that did make it found that they were out there self employed and hardly any work coming in...no one bother bothered to tell them about the other stuff like ACOPS, ACS and CORGI they would have to sepnd a fortune on too...

This has still produce a glut of plumbers..all working along and finding the competition hard

aNOTHER PROBLEM...WHEN A TRAINEE STARTS WITH A PLUMBER THERE IS VERY LITTLE FOR THEM TO DO EXCEPT FOR PASSING A SPANNER etc (sorry caps) ...so not cost effective for a plumber to take them on

One lastly...some may find this offensive..I apologise..but out of all the trades I used to approach with a view of taking a trainee, the one that would come out with the ''why should I train someone up who will end up competing with me in the future' excuse was plumbers..

Selfish yes...narrow minded maybe, short sighted possible...trying to protect what they had...definate.

I used to remind them that it was a good job the bloke who trained them didnt have that attitude..

Rightly or wrongly this seemed to be the biggest problem placing trainees.

 

[2scoops0406]

Well, you know what they say, if you think training is expensive, you'll find out how much ignorance costs. Too much of knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing in this country.

 

[Nige F]

What do us tradespeople think of the current situation regards apprentices..training..colleges NVQ's etc..

Our local Building Technology Centre where I have done 7 yrs apprenticeship training, 22 massive workshops for plastering, plumbing, carpentry, bricklaying and so on. Blair government is hell bent of getting students into University for no reason and that's what they did, knocked the whole building down and built a new University and guess what? The building is now half empty with students

My gut feeling is, the government is trying to kill the building trades and has betrayed British electors. They have ruined our country.

Tony Blair in 1983,
'We’ll negotiate a withdrawal from the EEC which has drained our natural resources and destroyed jobs.’

No different to Th****er and "care in the community" hospital closures They are both as bad as each other BUT DON`T worry as long as we`ve got Buy to Let and Chinese Goods @ ASDA