Hard to find an apprentice!!!

[STEVO]

Hi all,

I have been looking at trying out an apprentice to see if it saves me a bit of time and helps to speed up the jobs as i am not the fastest of tilers unfortunately.
Sadly, it is proving to be a bit of a battle to find someone.
The only college (which shall remain nameless)in the locality to offer a tiling course have sent me a couple of lads to try out. both have not worked out due to other circumstances. But what is even more disappointing is that the lads told me they learnt precious little from the course!!
Sadly, it sounds like the tutor they had was a total waste of space, spent more time off ill or sat playing on his iphone!! He has now apparently cleared off to aussie to work.
He taught them nothing about priming, different addies, little on marking out and planning and not even how to tile around a window!
Sounds like the few lads who took the course wasted 9 months for nothing in return.
This got me thinking i could do a miles better job than that and wondered what it would take to become a tiling tutor in a college?

Anyway, my search continues! And if anyone should know what you need to be a tutor, let me know!#

cheers.
Just thought i would share this sad

[whitebeam]

Some tough luck there mate..

New a heating engineer (gas) who done teaching at a college for plumbing, had to go on a teaching course and the money was'nt bad either.

[GirlRacerRed]

Paul

Have you contacted the National Apprenticeship Service and told them of your plight? We had similar problems with a local college sending us engineering apprentices to try out. They'd all been in the same class but had all learned at different rates and apparently different things??

I'm currently looking for a chemistry lab technician apprentice and local colleges don't offer the lab tech apprenticeships so I've had to go direct to the NAS. I'm sure the guy I spoke to is based in Manchester so they I think they have an office up there. Worth checking out their website too as I'm sure they match apprentices looking for work with employers looking for apprentices.

[Brian the Tile]

hi STEVO i know whitch colledge you mean i sent my stepson there but had to pull him out for simlar reasons ,i used to live up there,they learnt more about everything else than tiling alright if you need scaffolding when you tile a bathroom though he could sort that out no problem,migh be an idea for you to try the citb they should be able to help you out, construction industry training board,good luck

[northstar]

best trying a different college, they always have students looking for apprenticeships.

[b30 villain]

I think my tutor said he was on 22 quid an hour through the agency

[365drills]

I will send you our Chelsea as your apprentice. She knows how to use diamond core tile drills.
But you will have to make her a cup of tea in the morning.

[Gall.B]

Think certificates are needed, The lecturers at our college all had drink problems due to the place being like the wild west, not a nice place cops where up every lunch time.

[tilerjason]

Send her to me lol

[tilerjason]

I was looking for someone to take me on for months , nvq level 2 , city & guilds level 2 diploma with a distinction and cscs card, I sent 100s of letters to companies but no luck so ended up setting up myself. Feel free to give us a shout if you ever need a hand in or around northwest

[hillhead]

I'll take her first please, although Richard i'm sure has...

[rooders]

alright stevo. try contacting BAL. i think you need level 3 gnvq to become a tutor but that qualification is easily obtainable if you have been tiling for over a certain amount of years. cant remember how many it is exactly. As for people learning the trade itself i have always been a firm believer that you will always learn so so much more working by the side of a good tiler full time. forget the college route. then after 3-4 years do an on site assesment where the college send someone out to assess you at work over a few months. then you will get a qualification and a truck load of more "REAL" working experience and also you can see how to run a buisness, talk to customers, pricing up and the general day to day running of a self employed tradesmen... Where to find somebody who is keen and a hard grafter is another story!!! but they do exist!! Im currently thinking about taking somebody on myself.

[peteablard]

Hi Stevo, I had a nipper to help me out for a while, it worked quite well on smaller jobs where there was always something for him to do i.e. lots of cuts or when the tiling was easy enough to let him loose (Working along me and a mate doing over 400m2 of 100mmx100mm in a commercial showers.) The problem I found was on larger jobs like big floors he would spend more time stood watching than actually helping speed me up. I suppose what I'm getting at is if you want to spend time training someone and then hoping they will stay and work with you (Rather than learn then set up on their own!) then initially it will slow you down even more. If you just want an extra pair of hands then you need to have a good look at what type of jobs you spend most of your time doing and work out if you can keep someone busy enough to make it worth while.

[ROBSON MCGREGOR]

Hi Stevo, we had a boy out with us & all he done was our grouting, it was a big help as we were running 4 sites at the time, we dropped him off & we would go 2 another site then picked him back up at nite. it could be a bit of hassle at times but it did help us. theres no better thing than on site experience, thats how i started by going out with my m8 for 2+ years now we both work together & have work coming out of our ears, we dont advertise at all, not even on the van, so we must be doing something right.

[AKOTiler]

hi guys
A few months back i finished my wall & floor tiling level 2 diploma & since finishing i too have contacted several companies for work as an apprentice to no avail. i am 24 years old and tiling is my chosen career, i drive and am able to travel around berkshire if needed. if anyone has work in the south east , berkshire area and would be looking to employ an apprentice please contact me via pm.