National Apprenticeship Week – Tips from the trade

  Posted by: electime      8th February 2023

To support National Apprenticeship Week, Electrical Times hears from team members at the specialist, multi-discipline engineering solutions business, BGEN. All former electrical apprentices, they share their advice on making it in the electrical world for those people thinking about making a career in the sector.

Name

Paul Mannion

Job title

E&I Operations Manager

When did you qualify as an electrician via the apprenticeship route?

1994

Why go down the apprenticeship route?

Apprenticeships are a great pathway into the engineering and construction industry. Not only do they enable the continuation of formal qualifications in the classroom, but with the invaluable workplace and site experience, provides the structured route you need to become a fully qualified electrician.

Apprenticeships have changed in recent years and are increasingly more commonly used as a steppingstone to become engineering and construction professionals – with many companies preferring candidates that have come through the apprenticeship route to inexperienced graduates.

What advice would you give someone thinking about having a career as an electrician?

My advice to anyone looking for a career that gives you job satisfaction by being part of a team that builds and installs something that you can be proud of, then maybe becoming an electrician is the career for you.

The hard work in the early years – it definitely pays off in the future with no limit on progression within the industry.