Do you know much about apprenticeships in a trade?

[soulysurfer]

Right well, I'm kind of stereotyping here...in that some tradesmen/women might own transits. Which obviously because transits are the best. So i thought I might be able to get some advice here, also you guys here in transit forums are nicer than most people in other forums!

Basicly... I'm 26...Unemployed at present, and have no money. I graduated from UNI ages ago in something I should of never taken as a degree. So I decided that I would like to try and get into carpentry. A. Because I'm good at it anyway B. Because I would be my own boss and C. Because I would like to travel doing it.

So I found a guy who has basically offered me training in return for free labour. He is offering to start paying a labourers wage after a few weeks.
I don't know anything about apprenticeships, and know that being 26 that I would probably have to pay for NVQ's at college.
I'm so skeptical about the whole thing because I don't know the guy, I don't really want to work for free - even though there is the prospect of work after, and don't know anything about how I would do this as an official apprenticeship or do my training etc. and I would have to travel far or relocate - which in itself is a massive commitment.

Any information would be much appreciated!

[bigbad mothertrucker]

the guy sounds dodgy . he can pay less than the minimum wage ,if you are put through an apprenticeship . but not nothing .If you are unemployed go to the job center and ask advice about going to college or a training course .

my brother went through his apprenticeship as a spark with the sseb (electricity board ) and was well pissed off when his mate came out the army ,went on a 6 week course at tech and came out with a better job than he had .

[knighty1981]

go and do the first day and feel the guy out, see if there's anyone else working for him you can talk too

plus, once you're there working it's easier to talk to him about it, you can tell him you're a bit worried because a mate of yours worked for free for a month and then found out there was no hope of a job at the end and his boss had done it to loads of people...

maybe he just wants to check you're not useless/lazy

plus... the (young) apprentices/trainees I know working in garages only get £30 a week anyway, so you're onto a decent thing if you get money after two weeks



don't think of it as working for free for 2 weeks, think of it as practice/experience

[ake]

We had a guy approach us, asking for an apprenticeship, he offered to work free for a month. We took him up on his offer, but started paying him after week 1. He is 21, so has calmed down a bit compared to a 16 year old, and he's probably the best apprentice we have ever had. He even won apprentice of the year at the college.

I reckon the guy offering the job is just trying to sus you out, if you are keen you will work for nothing for a week or two!
Give it a go, what have you got to lose? Especially if you are not working at the moment

[limitedblack]

Employees want people who want to work, and have common sense, sounds simple but be surprised how many can't do this. You have nothing to lose for a few weeks, but need to make sure it goes official at some point with a course included. It's tough but you need to be good at a trade before anyone wants you, and to get good you need practice by doing the job, catch 22. I started again at the age of 32, went from engineer to plumber/van driver, with half what I earned before, took to it like a duck to water, so give it a go.

[BigMonty]

People pay good money to go on courses to learn basics. So a fortnight training for free would be good as long as you are training and not just sweeping up and making tea.
Personally I would give it a shot. If you are unemployed at the moment what have you got to loose. If its crap you can always walk away.

[darkbluevanman]

Go for it, there is a shortage of good tradesmen, good chippies espec'... don't worry about NVQ's, they're just bit's of paper and don't reflect someones work... chippies of old never had nvqueues....
We have 20+yr welders at work, no qualifications who can do the job blindfolded, we have a temp welder who's come through college... Durrr....

[Beegly]

I had a lad working with me, and he got a nvq level 2 in brickwork just by having his site work assessed by someone from a collage

[ekayak]

best way to look at this offer is to think 2 weeks work experiance followed by the chance of a job at the end we have employed several trainee outdoor pursuits instructors with this type of idea It is very easy to work out the good workers from the bad. if you are still unsure contact your local apprentiship training organisation if the employer isnt aware of them you should be able to find out who they by searching for in work nvq training companys I have worked with a few apprentiship organisations offering leadership training for there apprentesis and having talked to the trainers they will work out an aggreement with the employer if it helps the trainers I have worked with are Hereford Group Training if they are not in your area it might help you to contact them to get some ideas on what is available to yourself

[g-man]

as above, you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain,learn a trade and its for life if you wish,i'm guessing that degree was in media studies or the like......papers are full of vacancies for film directors and journalists........best thing i ever did was get an apprenticeship......hope you get sorted

[barabas]

Yeah come on, tell us what your degree is in? My sister in law got one in 'film studies', lazy sack o shite thought she was going to get a job being paid to watch movies. She's now a cleaner

[mealic]

If you are bold enough to come on an open forum and tell us all that you are a good "chippie" that`s good enough for me!You don`t say whereabouts you are ,so difficult to offer you a job.Rest assured young man......................If I can make money out of you, you`ve got a job.Can you afford to live "darn sarf at the moment"?

[oldyellar]

If you are bold enough to come on an open forum and tell us all that you are a good "chippie" that`s good enough for me!You don`t say whereabouts you are ,so difficult to offer you a job.Rest assured young man......................If I can make money out of you, you`ve got a job.Can you afford to live "darn sarf at the moment"?

whats a Chippie?

[g-man]

like a sparky but different

[Eggski]

If you are bold enough to come on an open forum and tell us all that you are a good "chippie" that`s good enough for me!You don`t say whereabouts you are ,so difficult to offer you a <span class="skimwords-unlinked">job.Rest</span> assured young man......................If I can make money out of you, you`ve got a <span class="skimwords-unlinked">job.Can</span> you afford to live "darn sarf at the moment"?

whats a Chippie?

Their like welders but with wood!