EMPLOYERS
All Apprentices will need to be employed, but you do not need to have an employer before starting training.
While the best choice is for you to be employed soon after you leave school, there is the option for starting off at college and finding an employer at any time during the first year of training.
As soon as On-Site Bristol makes an offer of an Apprenticeship, after testing and interview, we will start looking to match you with a suitable employer. Each year many employers let On-Site Bristol know of apprentice vacancies available for school leavers, but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to find each individual apprentice an employer by the time they end their first year of training.
That’s why we expect young people to try to find their own employer – if both of us are looking out for the right employer, there will be more chance of success.
Most employers offering Electrical Installation Apprenticeships in the last few years have been small companies, often with fewer than ten employees. There have also been larger companies such as Mitie Engineering Services, Lorne Stewart, Jeff Way Electrical Services and Bideems Construction, major housebuilders George Wimpey and local authorities Bristol City Council and South Gloucestershire.
You should try to look out for an employer that will give you experience of domestic electrical installation, as well as industrial and commercial. While the NVQ can be completed with just the industrial and commercial work, you might want to have some domestic experience to help you in your later career.
A good place to start looking for employers, as well as yellow pages, is the Bristol First Directory, published by Bristol City Council. This has details of thousands of construction companies based in Bristol, and allows you to search for specific trades. There should be a copy in your local library, or you can access it online at http://www.burrows.co.uk/bristolfirst/
There are plenty of websites with helpful advice on finding an employer; here are a few you could try
