New Career Skills Opening the Path for Mature Career Changers
New Career Skills helps to address the shortage of skilled workers in the construction industry. Also giving individuals the opportunity to change career and have a less stressful and better paid job as a plumber.
(PRWEB) February 7, 2005 -- New Career Skills (NCS) provider of training in
plumbing, carpentry and electrics for mature career changers, has launched a new
ten-week plumbing course to address the skill shortage in the UK, enabling men
and women of any age to change career with ease. The course which is the only
one of its type in the UK is accredited by the Open College Network, the UK's
foremost provider of accreditation services for adult learning.
The NCS
plumbing course was launched in response to the withdrawal of City & Guilds
6988 plumbing qualification. This meant that those wishing to enter the plumbing
trade from other careers would struggle to find a clear and time-efficient path
to enter the industry. NCS’s course is an improved, updated and expanded version
of the 6988.
As well as offering a complete change in lifestyle,
plumbers’ hours of work are flexible as opposed to the regimented 9am-5pm of
office jobs. The financial rewards of becoming a plumber have been well
documented. Plumbers typically earn between £25,000 and £50,000 a year.
Historically, training to become a plumber was only open to school
leavers (16-24 year olds), via job training and day release college courses,
taking from two to five years to complete with low wages until graduation. For
over 25 year olds, it was virtually impossible as most employers and colleges
wouldn’t consider taking mature students on. Moreover, the traditional method of
training was unsuitable for mature students and younger students keen to get
going in a shorter time.
NCS is one of the few re-skilling providers to
address these major flaws. NCS offer a flexible, blended learning programme
which allows students to complete the theory part of their training at home
using interactive materials and tutor support. Then, when ready, students can
complete four separate one-week practical sessions at one of NCS’s nationwide
Centres of Plumbing Excellence.
Following graduation,
students are unlikely to be short of work. According to the Institute of
Plumbers there are over 30,000 unfilled vacancies and this is growing rapidly as
a result of house building being at its highest level for over 100 years.
The British Plumbing Employers Council estimates that 29,000 new
plumbers will be needed in the next five years.
Furthermore, the average
age of plumbers is currently quite high, meaning that more are leaving the
industry than joining it. Colleges are estimated to only have about 3,000
trainee vacancies per annum of which it has been estimated that only 50%
actually go on to work as plumbers.
Commenting, Tim Adderson, managing
director, NCS, said: “There are other training providers offering courses such
as the C&G 6032, but as anybody in the industry knows, these certificates do
not offer the breadth and depth of training to work to the NVQ2 or to add real
value to most employers. With the plumbing course we have answered the needs of
both industry and mature career changers, many who have work and family
commitments and can’t afford to take weeks off work to train.”
NCS,
established in 1998, is highly experienced in the requirements of the plumbing
industry and the high standards it demands. “The company does not expect its
students to walk out of its programmes and into your kitchen or bathroom, but
sees itself as a provider of qualified and mature individuals with the
confidence, knowledge and motivation to enter the industry and progress on to
NVQ2 and over time to NVQ3. Employers can assume that our students have had the
best training available, otherwise we don’t award them with an NCS certificate.”
NCS graduates have been employed by companies such as: British Gas,
Plumb Local, Initial Building Services, Peoples Plumbers, Dyno Rod, Gas Care,
Awesome Bathrooms & Plumbing, to name but a few.
The first step is
to help graduates find employment within the industry; it is a resource that NCS
hopes to continue developing in the coming year offering further career and
employment advice. After the course, NCS encourages all graduates to return for
further training for completion of their NVQ2, which is currently offered on
block release. It should be a win-win situation with prospective employers
having access to a pool of well-trained motivated mature career
changers.
To find out more please call 0870 766 9196 or go to http://www.newcareerskills.co.uk
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/2/prweb204605.htm