Wages

[admin]

After reading the forums and the advice given, the appliance repair business seems to be a very interesting profession. If I had the correct trainning and quallifications, on average what would my gross wages be working for a private service provider.

[kwatt]

Depends on who you work for but the “normal” salary for an engineer is £18-25K dependent on skills, area and experience.

K.

[Cam]

Re: Wages

Hi

I’m just wondering how much new entrants working as domestic appliance technicians get paid? I’m updating some careers information on the role and the old figure for new people is £10,000.

Also, how easy is it to get into this profession as a young school leaver with no experience? What’s the best training route to follow?

Cam

[Alex]

Re: Wages

Cam wrote: Also, how easy is it to get into this profession as a young school leaver with no experience? What’s the best training route to follow?

Cam

The going rate does tend to vary according to skill levels as well as areas. £18 to £25k is about the areas to look at.

Some engineers only carry out laundry work, whereas others are trained to CORGI gas levels or refrigeration technicians. If you get a tech. who is multi-skilled, it is an asset to your business, and you have to pay over the going rate just to keep him.

As regards coming into this profession from school I doubt if there would be any appeal. I left school in the mid sixties, and those days to get a trade was a high achievement; it was either that, join the forces or go into the local factory. Anyone over 50 will know what I’m talking about. I have dealt with the local careers advice centre on a few occasions and there has never been any interest, except those who failed their exams, or found there wasn’t a job for them out there and they are clutching at straws by September. Every one of these I’ve taken on hasn’t lasted more than 6 weeks.

We have tried school leavers in the past, and if there was any enthusiasm out there, we will get someone trained and up & running. Unfortunately we need young people that are willing to be adaptable and learn. It also takes a few years to get the experience, and we need to remove from customers the impression we “sent a boy” to attend their product. I used to get told that when I was in my 30’s. On top of that, most of us have vans insured for over 25’s only, but that can be changed. There is the fear that a lot of potential employers hold, where they spend a small fortune to train someone, who decides the job is not for them, or even worse that the person I have put through all the training leaves and sets up in competition with me.

Regretfully this industry doesn’t carry any recognised qualifications, only experience & skill levels dictate who can do the work in general. When it comes to Gas there are criteria laid down, but usually for plumbers who have been through an apprenticeship. The only qualified City & Guilds techs. you will find repairing products have gained the qualification through another route, i.e. apprentice electrician or plumber & then progressed into this work.

The best way someone can come into this profession from school, is to approach all the reasonably sized companies, knock on the doors and tell them they really want to do this, and will be prepared to attend training courses and accept a low pay whilst on training. Somehow, I can’t see it happening. I will always listen to any prospective trainees.

Alex

[Cam]

Re: Wages

Hi

Thanks for your detailed response to my post! I’m trying to give a realistic but positive view of the Domestic Appliances Repair industry for some careers info for young people! As you say, the impression I’m getting is that more mature applicants with experience are welcomed with open arms, but that for younger applicants it’s that “can’t get a job without experience/can’t get experience” Catch-22 scenario…

My impression from my research and from your response, is that there are a lot of varied opportunities out there for Domestic Appliance Repair Technicians, but that it is tough to get the initial foot in the door…

Cam

[Martin]

Re: Wages

Cam wrote:but that it is tough to get the initial foot in the door…

Cam,

As Alex commented, the best, possibly even the only way youngsters can enter this profession is by joining a national service organisation.(The likes of Hotpoint, Hoover, British Gas Etc) They usually have set training procedures/training schools and the finances to recruit them in the first place.

The only difficulty with that however is they don’t too often have openings for new recuits. Also when they do it is likely not to be in the region the prospective applicant resides 😕

Martin

[Dave_Conway]

Re: Wages

I don’t entirely disagree Martin, but, as Alex mentioned, I also listen to all applicants, and would welcome with open arms any new blood to the trade who may take an interest in this profession. The underlying problem is that as a poorly funded industry in general, we don’t have the cash to pay “top dollar” to the young and eager and they are put off by the low starting wage.

Generally if one of the 1st questions asked of me is “How much will I be paid ?” I will loose interest in even the prospect of offering employment, I know the money matters to us all but it shouldn’t be the be all and end all of a profession.

I am only too happy to train youngsters with an interest in this trade, three of my best engineers have come straight from school, two are still here, one left to go to Comet for a higher salary but worse working conditions (another problem).

Working for a manfucturer does not put many in good stead for the muti-skilled engineer as in general they will only get to repair a couple of brands, even though they may be looking at a few different named appliances, ultimately they will all come from the same factory so will gain little knowledege in the way of multi branded appliance repairs.

Sadly the way the industry is presently there is little spare cash in the bank to invest in training, so in the main we can only pay a low starting wage, but once the engineer has gained a few skills and the trainee becomes able to earn some money then things start to happen, this can take a while though.

I’m not trying to be a doom and gloom merchant with this, just realistic with the way I see it at the moment. If we’re unrealistic in the way we encourage new people in to the trade, they will become dissolusioned and will paint a poor general picture.

Things are on the up though, appliance prices seem to have levelled out of late stopping the ridiculous price reductions we have seen giving an unrealisticly low retail price of the product which ultimatly effects the amount of cash out there in the industry.

There, I feel better now 😉

Dave.

[Cam]

Re: Wages

Hi

I seem to have sparked off a bit of a debate/heated discussion here which is no bad thing! Thanks for the responses – I will endeavour to give a realistic but encouraging view of the industry!

Cam

[Alex]

Re: Wages

Cam wrote: Thanks for the responses – I will endeavour to give a realistic but encouraging view of the industry!
Cam

Please feel free to do so, any accolades or testimonies gratefully accepted.

If any prospective trainee approaches, I do take an interest as long as the interest they show is genuine.

I have been talking to the engineering recruitment officer for one of the biggest chemical factories in the town, and he tells me he is having great difficulty now in getting apprentices, this in all affiliated trades, from plumbing, electrical, pipefitting, machine maintenance etc. In fact he is working closely with the Nuclear Energy Authority at a local power station, and they are pooling rescources. The supply is from the local colleges as well as schools and recruitment centres. Between them thay take about 30 apprentices a year.

[Penguin45]

East Driffield College in N. Yorks offer a vocational course in appliance service; there is also Graham Dixon in Hull who does private courses. He also wrote a very funny book.

Regards,
Penguin.

[Cam]

Re: Wages

Thanks for that info – but do employers take these kind of courses seriously? I know DASA is in the process of developing new qualifications and I presume that these would be approved by potential employers.

[Dave_Conway]

Re: Wages

Cam wrote:Thanks for that info – but do employers take these kind of courses seriously?

I certainly would, sadly there are very few appliance service courses available nationally, there are none at all in this area as far as I am aware.

Cam wrote:I know DASA is in the process of developing new qualifications and I presume that these would be approved by potential employers.

I think this has now ceased due to the recent changes withing DASA, i.e. Chris Hayter is no longer “director”.

Dave.

[admin]

Re: Wages

Hello

After reading the above dedate. I would like to add my experience’s on the matter.
Im am a 21 year old aircraft engineer who has been looking to charge career and become a white goods engineer for nearly a year now.
As i have found no one wants to know ….no trainee jobs…….no apprenticeships…………………………………………………………………………

steve

[kwatt]

Hi Steve,

Quite simply that’s most likely down to the fact that not many of us can actually afford to train, we simply cannot carry “dead weight”, you either earn or you’re out. 🙁

It’s the world we live in I’m afraid, but there are some out there that are training but they may be hard to find, all I can suggest is that you don’t give up.

K.

[Martin]

Re: Wages

SteveMedd wrote:Im am a 21 year old aircraft engineer

Steve,

Why on earth would you want to downgrade into this business from aeronautics trade I wonder? From ‘high flying’ to being fully ‘grounded’ in this down at earth trade 🙁

Richard Branson will surely with pay much more than the likes of Mr Merloni does in this game I reckon 😉

Martin

[Author]

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