240 replies to this topic

[sonikk4]

A lot depends on what apprenticeship scheme you go for.

To give you an idea, Aviation apprenticeships are better paid to start with. In the first year which is mainly classroom work you get just over £13k, the second year where you start to do OJT you are then over £14k plus just over £2k in shift pay. The final year (its been dropped from 4 to 3 years) you get about £15.5K and then shift pay on top of that.

So starting pay per hr is £6.71. A marked difference from a lot of other apprenticeship schemes. Don't get me wrong this may not be the same for all aviation apprenticeships just the company i work for for. Its heavily subscribed to as well each year. The next application dates should be the end of this month beginning of next.

To add to this the qualification you get (level 3 NVQ) plus modules towards your B1 licence is well worth having. No its not a degree but the Licence side of the qualification counts towards two years of a degree.

[Shifty]

It just seems outrageous to me that in the modern day, firms can get away with things like this. Its not the 1970s anymore; 20 quid for a days work is taking advantage, plain and simple. Especially as he is not technically on his Apprenticeship until September. Where does he stand if it gets to August or something, and the owners turns around and says, sorry we aren't/can't do your apprenticeship anymore. He then has worked for 8 months for sod all.

While I see the benefit to an apprenticeship, uni definitely seems a better option to me. If it worked properly and he received full training etc over a period of a couple of years then fair enough.

Or the chap could be seeing if he's worth spending time and effort training before his apprenticeship starts? This could a sneaky and un-official trial period, you're right he could turn around and say sod off after it, thats the gamble.

I did an engineering apprenticeship 20+ years ago and have never been out of work, I earn very good money as a result of it as well. Firms have been doing it for years, you may remember the YTS schemes of years ago? I was on one of them at college, had mates who worked full time for £30 -£35(as I recall) a week. If you were luck the money got topped up by your employer but they didn't have to.

If you get a good one they can be the best thing to happen to happen to you, all of my mates who did them are in full time employment and have done well out of them(mechanics, engineers, electricians etc)

[Artful Dodger]

take the good with the bad, stick at it. if you go to him and say i dont want to work until september he could well say well bugger off then.

and being a good employee, being interested in your work and being helpful isnt brown nosing. asking to finish the bosses job, making him cups of tea and being a bit too attached to him only is brown nosing

[mk3 Cooper S]

It just seems outrageous to me that in the modern day, firms can get away with things like this. Its not the 1970s anymore; 20 quid for a days work is taking advantage, plain and simple. Especially as he is not technically on his Apprenticeship until September. Where does he stand if it gets to August or something, and the owners turns around and says, sorry we aren't/can't do your apprenticeship anymore. He then has worked for 8 months for sod all.

While I see the benefit to an apprenticeship, uni definitely seems a better option to me. If it worked properly and he received full training etc over a period of a couple of years then fair enough.

Or the chap could be seeing if he's worth spending time and effort training before his apprenticeship starts? This could a sneaky and un-official trial period, you're right he could turn around and say sod off after it, thats the gamble.

I did an engineering apprenticeship 20+ years ago and have never been out of work, I earn very good money as a result of it as well. Firms have been doing it for years, you may remember the YTS schemes of years ago? I was on one of them at college, had mates who worked full time for £30 -£35(as I recall) a week. If you were luck the money got topped up by your employer but they didn't have to.

If you get a good one they can be the best thing to happen to happen to you, all of my mates who did them are in full time employment and have done well out of them(mechanics, engineers, electricians etc)

Yep me too,Appenticships are the way forward - employers hold them in very high regard. unlike some middle of the road degree that everyone seems to atain these days.

If you are concerned about the initial pay then you are probably not suited. It is the long game.
I am paid very well for the best job in the world but my experience makes me worth it. Some degree qualified graduates cant tie there shoes in my experience.

[JustSteve]

The problem with my apprenticeship is that it honestly is cheap labour.. When I've fully qualified I will only earn £6.50 and be the most qualified person there

[The Matt]

I did my apprenticeship, started in '95 after I finished college. £69 a week for a minimum of 44 hours wasn't great, but after the first year it went up to about £150 a week, then £200 a week, then £300..... it's a good way in to a trade.

I got my NVQ, C&G and became an MOT tester and learned a lot from working at that garage. It works out in the long run mate. I'm now on a totally different career path a World apart from where I started, but the job in the garage was an important first step.

[valve bounce]

when i started in the dealership were i work i was on £3 per hour. i had 25 miles per day to travel so the first 2 hours of the day were covering traveling. so i worked very hard, was always polite to the management etc. my service manager even paid me cash to repair her car one saturday afternoon after it failed it mot. i worked 11 months before i was signed up for collage, then after id been there 19 months the workshop had another bay built and kitted out, my boss told me it was mine as i was better than the other apprentice who had been there longer. a few weeks later the big boss noticed how hard i was working and what kind of jobs i was doing and doubled my wages, then about 6months late his son (2nd in command) was really impressed when he found out id been rebuilding gearboxes, replacing clutches, doing head gaskets etc and put my wages up another 80p.

ive been there just over 3 years now and im an mot tester. so work hard, be polite if theres not alot to do then find some thing to do. i once spent 2 days redoing the yard at work with tarmac plannings, diesel out of the scrap cars and the breakdown truck as a roller, 2 years on its still good.

rob

Edited by valve bounce, 12 February 2013 - 10:33 PM.

[mk3 Cooper S]

The problem with my apprenticeship is that it honestly is cheap labour.. When I've fully qualified I will only earn £6.50 and be the most qualified person there

Thats the time to move to another job

[Black.Ghost]

I agree about some graduates not being able to tie their own laces. But conversely, there are some people who can't write their own name. A degree does not automatically write people off, and an apprenticeship should not give someone an advantage over a degree. Each qualification and experience should be taken on its merits. People that do the hiring and firing are generally well experienced in working out who the best people are for the jobs.

Im not against apprenticeships, I'm really not. For some people they are definitely the right way to go. But I'm also against people getting used for cheap labour.

Ok so maybe saying you'll start in September isn't the best plan, I'll concede that. Stick it out and see how it goes. I would also listen more to those people who have actually had experience of the apprenticeship scheme rather than my thoughts from the side line.

When it comes to the doing **** jobs bit, that you need to suck up, we all need to do that from time to time, its part of life. Unless you are born into money, its fairly inevitable and not a real drama. The way I see stuff like that is you are getting paid the same regardless. I would also agree about the comments relating to finding stuff to do when there is nothing to do.

The things I will stick by though is the brown nosing and don't let yourself get walked over. There's a difference between putting up with some **** jobs and having the employer taking the piss. Its just a little disappointing that in this day and age, there is no legislation to protect people in Craig's position of cheap (virtually free) labour under the guise of an apprenticeship scheme. I hope that when the training starts proper in September, it gets a lot more interesting.

I hope it works out for you in the end though.

[Shifty]

I did also try and clarify my (poorly phrased) brown nosing as well.

As artful said its about being a model employee, helpful polite and willing. Not being a slimey grease ball who goes for a crap everytime the boss farts!

[MaxAndPaddy]

It does seem unfair that your apprenticeship wont start till September yet your getting the same wages when technically you should be on minimum wage. But you dont want to rock the boat before its even started.

Its tough being the employer too, I dont mean you when I say this.... but they'l get kids that arnt really interested dont turn up for work, walk out after only a few weeks/months etc etc You need to settle in prove yourself (back to the brown nosing again) and they need to see that your in it for the long haul then you may be surprised. The £2.65 is the minimum they are allowed to give you but that doesnt mean thats how it will stay

Its early days give it time

Remember that once you've done a year and turn 19 you go onto minimum wage which takes you up to the £4.98 per hour immediately

[Black.Ghost]

I did also try and clarify my (poorly phrased) brown nosing as well.

As artful said its about being a model employee, helpful polite and willing. Not being a slimey grease ball who goes for a crap everytime the boss farts!

I know, don't worry I won't hold it against you!

[Shifty]

I did also try and clarify my (poorly phrased) brown nosing as well.

As artful said its about being a model employee, helpful polite and willing. Not being a slimey grease ball who goes for a crap everytime the boss farts!

I know, don't worry I won't hold it against you!

You ain't gonna sleep your way to the top with that kinda talk!!!

[Noah]

I think this stands for most things, there is a difference between, brown-nosing and doing what someone who is intrigued and excited. I go into college extra days because it means I get to do something that I enjoy, because of that I'm trusted to do bigger jobs, on my teachers cars. A Cambelt on a Mitsi Warrior, Clutch on an Astra Van etc etc.

It's the same with you at work Craig, keep you head down and get on with your work and you will be appreciated greatly, you've been there less than 2 weeks. I think Steve has said the most apt thing of all. At two weeks, in he doesn't know you. He hasn't got trust in you yet, so he's gonna pay you that. Yes you're technically not an apprentice but what it does mean is you're getting ahead of everyone else. I know £20 a day isn't a-lot, it really isn't but just one of those things that we all have to endure at somepoint.

Chin Up.

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Thanks for the replies everybody, I've read them all.

I left this morning. Because I'm a quitter and that's what I do.

I really wasn't getting on with the guy at all, and being with him for 8 hours a day was all just building up. He expected me to have experience in everything we were doing, I had to remind him that I am an 'apprentice' to stop him huffing and puffing whenever I got something wrong, which under the pressure he was putting me in by standing eagle eyed staring whilst I did something I'd just told him I wasn't confident with was a lot.

He also seemed to be trying to catch me out as a liar in everything, not just in the work. He'd talk to me and try and trick me into saying the wrong things and then do this awkward silence followed by a small laugh, it was just massively patronising and not nice really. I'm not a liar and didn't lie to him once, but he just didn't seem to trust me or something along those lines! It just made me feel uneasy.

I know that it was potentially a good opportunity, but I was dreading each day let alone knowing I have another 3 years and 8 months of it. I'd rather just leave now so that he can find somebody else to take on before September than stay and just end up leaving during.

I know that from other peoples points of view I could have stuck it out, more than for 15 days, but after 3 days I think I'd realised that I wasn't going to get on with him, and that never really went away. He played the nice guy for my first week, and then on the first day back last week he'd just changed, treating me as though I'd been there and known him for years.

Thanks for the replies though everybody. It has been a boost in confidence just to have gotten the job, and I won't base the rest of what I apply for on this experience, but I feel sure to say that repairing and servicing isn't really for me.

Edited by Mini-Mad-Craig, 19 February 2013 - 08:29 AM.