Help!: Apprentership wanted

[pete fearn]

Hi i live in Louth, near Grimsby, am 42 and looking for someone willing to take me on as an apprentise, i know you can get funding for taking on an apprentise from train to gain. I have done a one week tiling course and now wish to get my NVQ level 2.
Not coming from the area, any info on bigger tiling firms that i could contact would be usefull, any were in lincolnshire, or north humberside.
I have been told about the course from chase tiling, but i am also looking at this approch incase funding does not come through.
Yours thankfully Pete Fearn
PS getting CSCS card in 3 weeks

[smartile]

good luck in your search mate.

[pete fearn]

cheers i know its going to be hard to find someone to take me on but we live in hope

[enduro]

My advice would be do a longer tiling course, the set up on your own as i think this would be your only chance at the moment, as a lot of tilers are struggling to find work for themselves, let alone a apprentice. Good luck anyway

[tiler burden]

totally agree with enduro.

after 4 weeks, you will be more confident. i did a 1 week course but to be fair it hardly covered floor tiling and the setting out techniques were really basic. even the natural stone course was brief in comparison to what i have recently learned. the recent course i did was 3 weeks and i opted to do a week plumbing. there was a women there who was doing a city and guilds in plumbing and she said she learned more about plumbing in a week there, than what she had learned in the first 6 months of college.

apparently diamond is very comprhensive, so speak to kenny or phil from chase, just realised your from grimsby so that might be better. theres grants out there now that will pay 60% of the course fees!! get out there and grab them and learn the rest on here from all the lads!!

at your age you'll pick up quick because you have too. its hard to get a good timeserved tiler to learn from so make your own luck to begin with and see what transpires. you could share work after your course and earn and learn ;0)

all the best mate
ed

[pete fearn]

i fully agree with you, thats why i want a hands on apprenership rather than a few weeks at collage, i am unemployed so all course fees are going to be dear for me. you get payed to take on an apprentise, thats why i was looking for a bigger company to take me on

[bj F]

Hi don’t mean to be rude but you have two hopes and one of them is bob.
But the best of luck to ya.

[Woody123]

Pete

Have you not got any friends or family that need any tiling doing, you could do it for them cheapish and learn that way, you will soon build your confidence. I know it is scary at first but i was in the same boat as you and i tried looking for someone to take me on to build confidence but in the end no one was intrested. I done my own bathroom (if your un-employed i know this is probably not an option for you) and i am on my first paying job at the minute and have another 2 lined up (one is a recommendation from my current customer as im doing 2 of his bathrooms) i must say i was nervous at first but you get more relaxed as you go along and i have also learned loads that i can take into the next bathroom and thats just from doing a couple of jobs. Have faith in your ability and things will be fine.

[pete fearn]

its not the confidence i need, its the knowledge and the skill that i need to learn and i am not going to get that in a few weeks on a course or sat in a classroom.
As from 2010 all tilers will need NVQ level2, not only those working on sites but ALL and if you havent got it or are working towards it what then?
There is a shortage of skilled trades people in this country and i can now see why, you get payed by the goverment to teach someone to learn a trade but still its a closed shop, no wonder this coutry is in the s**t

[whitebeam]

The domestics arn't going be asking for your nvq probably would'nt know one if it fell on there heads, The skill shortage should a work shortage at the moment from what some of the guys are saying

[pjtiler]

42,s a bit old to be brewing up going to the chippy and sweeping up with the odd bit of grouting thrown in mate

[pete fearn]

domestics asking for it or not you will still have to have it, as for work shortage its not going to last for ever unless more forigners come in to fill the skills shortage

[pete fearn]

42,s a bit old to be brewing up going to the chippy and sweeping up with the odd bit of grouting thrown in mate

i wouldnt expect anyother reply, its bad enough not being given a chance to prove what you can do without this crap.
by the way i am also a CITY AND GUILDS quilified decorator, but after 18years in the same job i thought it would be good to try something else.

[Woody123]

Pete

i only did a week's course at NETT and i thought it gave me all the essentials i needed to go out and do a good job Tiling, which i have done on my current job. You could go out with someone and they could be crap and you will pick up thier bad habits. If you know the basics/essentials then your better off going at it by yourself. Dont take on to much at first and you will quickly learn. Probably learn more in a couple of jobs on your own than 10 jobs with someone else as thier apprentice cos i think even if you did find one they would have you mixing addy up outside and cleaning up so i don't think you will learn that much. Which course did you do?

[pjtiler]

i wouldnt expect anyother reply, its bad enough not being given a chance to prove what you can do without this crap.
by the way i am also a CITY AND GUILDS quilified decorator, but after 18years in the same job i thought it would be good to try something else.

well you know what lads do for the 1st 6 months
stick to what you know mate
there no repete work in tiling

[pete fearn]

i done the foundation course, 1 week with the yorkshire tiling accadamy, great bunch of guys, but very basic course

[pete fearn]

you know what i am going to get some advertising up and running and do the NVQ as a part time course and see what happens, s**t or bust

[whitebeam]

What are they going to do pete if found not in possession of an nvq, I've known a very few guys who have done gas work without corgi and seem to get away with it ? I may add I'll be 54 when that happens so not to concerned about it, I could always get a job in topps

[Woody123]

Have you looked at the princess trust schemes n stuff like that mate? I don't know your full situation but im pretty sure they will offer more help to people who are currently unemployed and maybe you could get a grant or something and like a previous poster said do a more in depth Tiling course to give you abit more knowledge. Also this forum is a great source of knowledge as i have found out if your ever stuck on things........

[salmonfisher]

(you get payed by the government to teach someone to learn a trade but still its a closed shop)
i enquired about grants for employing someone last year, all that was available was a £40 per week subsidy for 6 months if i employed someone over 18 and been unemployed for 6 months
even paying min wage i would still have to find £160 per week, nat insurance, holiday pay and extra insurance costs. training someone would cost me money until they are good enough to make me money, its hard to make 1 good wage never mind 2

[salmonfisher]

Have you looked at the princess trust schemes n stuff like that mate? I don't know your full situation but im pretty sure they will offer more help to people who are currently unemployed and maybe you could get a grant or something and like a previous poster said do a more in depth Tiling course to give you abit more knowledge. Also this forum is a great source of knowledge as i have found out if your ever stuck on things........

princess trust schemes only if your under 30 over that and all you get is a grant towords a computer

(or it was 5 years back when i started)

[monty]

you can get upto £4500 loan with the princess trust with the first £250 as a grant and the rest you pay 3% interest on. I've just been accepted for £1500 wich i'm going to use for advertising.

[ryanmc0305]

hi pete ,
i was unemployed and had all costs paid for me to do my ica level 2 at college ! which with photo evidence canbe converted to a nvq level 2 ! there are loads of people there your age , so why not do that ???

Gud luck

[scone2006]

agreed

[bigneil]

It doesnt really matter how many courses a person takes or how many bits of paper say you can stick tiles on. you are going to need on the job practical experience. i seriously doubt that anyone is going to take on an apprentice so you should probably take matters into your own hands, Why not put an ad in the local paper for one week advertising tiling work at competeative rates, then when you start getting phone calls go and look at a few jobs and be honest with the customers about your experience level and if it looks too ambitious for you just say so. You can pick a straight forward job to start, come back here to us lot and get advice on the correct adhesive and grout etc. Once you have a few of those under your belt there could be no stopping you.

[pete fearn]

advertising out and a few jobs coming in so its working out, at the moment but still going to do nvq 2.

[Lee1973]

Pete by the time 2010 comes around you'll be an experienced tiler. Aren't NVQ's all about transfering your work knowledge etc into an NVQ through an NVQ assessor? in that case all you have to do in 2010 is prove the work you have done. Find out to what level an "NVQ level 2" is and get up to it through your own work. As for the Apprenticeship I think its down to confidence I say that because I asked a tiler if I could go out with him to get hands on experience, mainly down to the fact that its nerve racking doing something new on your own! but when you think about it who wants someone squeezing into a bathroom with you looking over your shoulder when your trying to lay tiles!!! sod it mate have confidence in what you know and if you don't feel happy about the job don't do, start off small and build up good luck matey

Lee.

advertising out and a few jobs coming in so its working out, at the moment but still going to do nvq 2.