Katherine Barlow (27) - Now An Electrician

From University Graduate To Electrician

Training to become an electrician wasn't the first step for Katherine, now 27, on graduating from university.

In fact she entered a graduate training programme in retail and until last year worked full time, managing a store in London. It was a good job but it wasn't what she wanted out of life.

"I started to think about my career and I knew it was time for a change," she says.

"In the long run, I'd love to go into property development and I started looking into the skills I'd need. I enjoyed that so much that I thought I'd like to set up a company or work for a business in the electrical industry."

 

When Katherine began to research where she could retrain, one provider stood out.

"I did a lot of research on the internet and New Career Skills were one of - if not the only - ones I found that didn't have any negative reviews. It wasn't the most local place at the time - although they've since opened a centre in Watford - but my research suggested that it was worth the effort and that's certainly what I found."

New Career Skills specialises in retraining mature career changers for careers as plumbers, electricians and in renewables and microgeneration.

Katherine began her electrical installers course in July 2010, completing it ahead of schedule, in January.

Her current employers were supportive of Katherine retraining, "I went down to three days a week and would do my studying for two days and have weekends off. I took holidays to attend the courses.

"I really got on well with that. I've been fortunate to go through education and have a university degree so I've got the ability to pick up what I read quite quickly. And the courses themselves were really good fun."

Katherine was the only woman on the course but says that for the other students the novelty factor wore off very quickly and it wasn't an issue.

She says that the course has given her exactly what she wanted and the aftercare offered by New Career Skills has been a huge bonus.

"I've really been impressed with the aftercare. When they told me about it I thought: ‘it's free, it's not going to be that good,' but actually it's been brilliant.

"They found me work experience with their ACCESS programme which was fantastic and they found me an ex NCS student to help me finish a job I've been doing. I've been really impressed with the amount and variety of support they've had to offer.

"They've even found something that might turn into a full time job for me, so I'm looking into that at the moment."

Whether she is working for someone else or following her original plan of running her own businesses, Katherine knows that she has made the right choice for her career.

"I'm not very good at sitting down," she laughs.

"I've never had a desk job. I don't have any issues with being up ladders and things like that. When I decided to do this, I don't think anyone was surprised."

To find out more about the industry, the electrician courses, New Career Skills and to get your questions answered, please Request An Information Pack

 

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