Newly qualified and a bit frustrated

[Dan79]

Hi all!

I've joined this forum as I'm soon to finish a college welding course and I'm now looking for work.
I decided to take up welding as I made the mistake of turning down an apprenticeship at the age of 16. I'm now 34!

The problem is that every single job wants previous experience or apprentice trained. I'm just coming to the end of my course after which I'll have a level 2 NVQ PEO in Welding & Fabrication and a level 2 Btec in mechanical engineering. I'm a competent welder with MIG and MMA. I can read planning drawings, can use a variety of workshop machinery and am keen to start a long term career with a company. But everywhere I go I'm turned away due to lack of experience
Does anyone have any tips for me? I'm starting to think my college course was just a waste of time and its very disheartening. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dan79]

Also I apologise if this isn't the right place to post something like this. I wasn't too sure where would be the right thread so I thought I'd just use it as my introduction!

 

[zardoz]

getting in with no experience is tough. I am in the same boat. I also turned down apprenticeship when i was a kid too. What a pair of idiots we are eh ? I send off a dozen applications a week for welding jobs and am lucky if i get one reply a fortnight. In this economic climate its just not a good time to be trying to break in to the welding industry with no experience.

Probably the only places that will take us on are places that do stuff like skip repair, and container repair. where you get all the worst jobs for lousy pay. Once you have 6 months of experience you can try and move on. The only two places like that that i can find within 10 miles of me dont even reply. I hope you have a better time with your search.

Good luck and welcome to the forum. Cheer up you young whippersnapper. It's not all bad. You could be 50, like me

 

[the repair man]

Something that you wont get as official advice, but it will certainly get you attention and make them take more notice of you is this.
Make a project or two, do a good job! Take a couple of pics, esp of the weld quality and attach it to your C.V
Most people in this line of work will be curious enough to look, and will at least see it's something you do because you like to, not just a job.
I took on a lad years ago, he had btec mech engineering, he was actually all theory, no common sense, but he had shown me a motorbike he was rebuilding. I liked his enthusiasm and attention to detail and the fact he was seeing a job through til the end. We are still friends 18 years later!

 

[zardoz]

Good advice RM. I will give that some thought and see what i can do.

 

[Dan79]

Something that you wont get as official advice, but it will certainly get you attention and make them take more notice of you is this.
Make a project or two, do a good job! Take a couple of pics, esp of the weld quality and attach it to your C.V
Most people in this line of work will be curious enough to look, and will at least see it's something you do because you like to, not just a job.
I took on a lad years ago, he had btec mech engineering, he was actually all theory, no common sense, but he had shown me a motorbike he was rebuilding. I liked his enthusiasm and attention to detail and the fact he was seeing a job through til the end. We are still friends 18 years later!

That's a really good idea. Unfortunately I don't have any equipment of my own. I'm also unable to take on personal projects using college kit either. The only photos I have are for various vertical and horizontal corner joints, butt joints and a bit of plate fabrication made using the iron-worker and plasma cutter. These were my test pieces for my course. Some have been cut and acid penetration tested. Do you think they'd be suitable? They're all pretty good welds!

 

[the repair man]

That's a really good idea. Unfortunately I don't have any equipment of my own. I'm also unable to take on personal projects using college kit either. The only photos I have are for various vertical and horizontal corner joints, butt joints and a bit of plate fabrication made using the iron-worker and plasma cutter. These were my test pieces for my course. Some have been cut and acid penetration tested. Do you think they'd be suitable? They're all pretty good welds!

I really couldn't say, but as an engineer and a nosey ******, if someone attached pics to their c.v, I would have to look out of curiosity. If the work is good it also shows confidence in your work. I also think it will make your cv/application more memorable.

Have you mailed a few local engineering / fabrication places and asked if you could offer some free help, it gets a foot in the door and even though you'd make a lot of cups of tea you would gain valuable experience and references and show willing.
Best of luck

 

[the repair man]

It would be worth asking a few guys on here, if someone is local to you, I'm sure many will let you come and have a go at a project. I would for one.

 

[Dan79]

I really couldn't say, but as an engineer and a nosey ******, if someone attached pics to their c.v, I would have to look out of curiosity. If the work is good it also shows confidence in your work. I also think it will make your cv/application more memorable.

Have you mailed a few local engineering / fabrication places and asked if you could offer some free help, it gets a foot in the door and even though you'd make a lot of cups of tea you would gain valuable experience and references and show willing.
Best of luck

I'd jump at the chance to offer free help in a workshop, but its really not an option for me. I'm currently holding down a rubbish job in a bookies that only just covers my rent and bills. Its a full time job and one of my days off is spent at college, so I really don't get any spare time.
I will go ahead and start attaching some photos to my CV though. Its all pretty simple work which is cleanly done, but I think it'll just make my CV stand out and get noticed.
I was also thinking of signing up to some agencies to see if I can get any temp work just to get something on my CV. Do you have much experience of agency work? Are they ever likely to offer work to someone with little experience?

 

[the repair man]

I'd jump at the chance to offer free help in a workshop, but its really not an option for me. I'm currently holding down a rubbish job in a bookies that only just covers my rent and bills. Its a full time job and one of my days off is spent at college, so I really don't get any spare time.
I will go ahead and start attaching some photos to my CV though. Its all pretty simple work which is cleanly done, but I think it'll just make my CV stand out and get noticed.
I was also thinking of signing up to some agencies to see if I can get any temp work just to get something on my CV. Do you have much experience of agency work? Are they ever likely to offer work to someone with little experience?

YES most agencies don't care who they send, so long as they get paid!
You are in an all too common predicament these days, I have a business that is on the brink of becoming fairly successful, but I daren't give up my job, which is in turn limiting my business as I'm turning work away.
I have taken the plunge before with varying success, but have too many kids and bills to take chances now, so I'm having to work all the hours god sends, and it's killing me, sadly you just have to be patient and plug away.
Save get yourself a welder / grinder, a few bits and bobs then advertise on facebook classifieds, gumtree etc if your work is good you will start getting more and more. I went from one main client to 26 in about 2 months, and it was almost all word of mouth!

 

[Robotstar5]

I was also thinking of signing up to some agencies to see if I can get any temp work just to get something on my CV. Do you have much experience of agency work? Are they ever likely to offer work to someone with little experience?

Agencies rely on what you tell them, generally any company they place you with will ask you to do a "trade test" to prove you can set up a welder and do a couple of passable welds.

Last place I was at had "welders" turning up with no mask and hadn't got a ckue how to set up a welder!

 

[Dan79]

It would be worth asking a few guys on here, if someone is local to you, I'm sure many will let you come and have a go at a project. I would for one.

That's a really good idea. I'm in Sheffield (the Steel City!) so I reckon there should be a few people on here who could help me.
What part of the forum do you think would be the best place to post a "Someone give me a chance please!" thread in?