Rachel Snow - Now A Plumber

Step mum nudges Rachel in the right direction

She missed her friends and family and being footloose and fancy free was beginning to pall. She wanted to come home.

The problem was what to do to earn a living when she got back to the UK. She had a degree in Sociology and had also been in the catering industry working as a chef for some years, but none of these careers appealed to her any longer.

Rachel was single and wanted to stay that way, and she looked forward to being back home and spending time with her extended family of nephews and nieces. All she needed now was a new career to give her life direction and purpose and which would earn her a decent income.

 

It was her step mother who suggested she try a trade.

“She said why didn’t I think of something like a trade and that narrowed down what I wanted. That was when I came up with plumbing.”

So Rachel decided to find out whether she would like to be a plumber. She did a taster course, and this proved to be an excellent decision, as she discovered that plumbing was something she really enjoyed!

“That’s when I thought, well, this is my new career of choice”

Her next step was to find a plumbing course that would give her the right plumbing qualifications whilst allowing her to continue working to earn the necessary monthly income that we all need to survive.

After searching around she found New Career Skills, a company who offered training for Domestic Plumbers that could be done at the student’s chosen pace, with a lot of the learning being done at home. This meant Rachel could continue to work as a chef and still do her plumbing training until she was ready to make the change to being a full time plumber.

So she started her plumbing course, and things went very well. She was learning a lot and the future was looking very promising. Even when she went through a short period of self doubt, there were understanding people there to help her through it;

“I had a little moment in one of the Practical Training sessions when I thought maybe I was fooling myself that at the end of the entire Practical I would be qualified. But the tutors were great – they said to me ‘Rachel, come on!, Look how much you’ve learnt, look how far you have come! Of course you are never going to learn in months what took us 20 plus years to learn.’ And that put it all into perspective for me!”

During the course of her training Rachel was introduced to the Career Advisors at New Career Search. New Career Search is a company that is there to support and assist students who are job searching or setting up their own business. The service is free to any students doing a course with NCS.

“I was very impressed with the service. Whenever I come down for the practical sessions whatever questions I have they take the time to help me. I know they are only a phone call away. If I ever need help or advice I know they will point me in the right direction.”

As Rachel neared the end of her course, it was time to think about how she would use her newly learned skills. This is where NCS could help, suggesting ways in which she could improve her chances of either getting a job or setting up a successful small business. One of the most frequent pieces of advice from the career advisors at NCS is that networking is known to get the best results.

This definitely proved to be the case for Rachel. Before she had even finished the course, she found herself in a situation where she had the opportunity of a job with a local qualified plumber that would take her towards Corgi gas registration and the possibility of a share in his business.

“One of my sister’s friends is an interior designer and this plumber did some work for them at one time.”

So through this contact a meeting was arranged between Rachel and the plumber.

“When we met he mentioned that his downfall is the paperwork side so I said jokingly, ‘Well, I’ll take care of the paperwork if you’ll train me up!’”

To her surprise he agreed and they are now working out the finer details of their partnership.

Rachel has nothing but good things ahead of her. She plans to complete her course in September 2006. Then she can truly start on her new career. She will then still have the support of NCS for another 12 months.

She is feeling very positive now about her future as a plumber. She had this to say about her new employer:

“He is interested in doing thermal panelling and he plans to open a shop as well to promote this – I am very interested in the idea so it’s all very exciting!”

Their current arrangement means she can spend 4 days of the week helping him with the plumbing work and working towards her Corgi gas registration, and in return she will spend a day doing his paperwork. She has started already doing some plumbing work with him which is helping her to improve her skills.

“As soon as I started going out with this plumber it all started making sense! Because he does a lot of renovations I could look round the house and see how it all comes together and how it all fits in and what you do from day one when you go into a house. It’s given me so much more confidence!”

When asked whether she thought being a female plumber would make it harder for her she replied:

“Oh God, no! I’m so excited – I just think there is so much opportunity. I think being a female is a definite asset.”

We all have choices in life, and when we take control of deciding our own future and then do something about it, as Rachel has done, success is more than possible - it can become a reality!

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