Where are these so called apprenticeships

MrsManda

dithedancer wrote: »

Its not only him thats failing

He's not failing, he's passing the courses he has done. He just needs to keep going, not getting past the interview stage four times is hardly any at all. What is he applying for? How many jobs/apprenticeships has he applied for?
Is he willing to move or just applying in your local area?
What is he doing with his days - does he have hobbies, voluntary experience, doing work shadowing?
If he has a good CV it may be worth him asking Connexions or the JC if they do interview skills days

jfdi

http://careers.networkrail.co.uk/apprentices.aspx

It says their Recruitment is on-going. Has he re-applied?

I know they still do them coz there's a Training School near me (but I'm in the south).

Oldernotwiser

Why on earth did he leave education without a job to go to?

SandC

I would advise A levels and a degree to be honest. Even in 'the good old days' (I worked in the rail industry 89-98) electricial engineers didn't get there by apprenticeship but by gaining a degree, then getting into the industry.

heretolearn_2

It is frustrating but he just has to keep plugging away and looking for good training opportunities in the meantime. If he has good exam results perhaps he should look at studying electrical engineering at degree level, as suggested.

Otherwise he might spend the next few years getting nowhere fast.

On the jobs/apprenticeships - they are clearly some there as he's applied and been interviewed, he just hasn't got the job. There's a lot of competition in any field of work these days, and you can't expect someone to just hand him a job because he wants one. He's got to beat all the other applicants. It's not easy.

dave4545454

SandC wrote: »

I would advise A levels and a degree to be honest. Even in 'the good old days' (I worked in the rail industry 89-98) electricial engineers didn't get there by apprenticeship but by gaining a degree, then getting into the industry.

personally i feel that degrees and A levels are useless these days for getting a job, employers are looking for relative experience. i've been trying to get paid work for 18 years without success so far and i've got a 1st honours engineering degree. i never give up though:)

bap98189

keith1966 wrote: »

Sadly in this country it is all too often not what you know but who you know when trying to get a chance of a job.

Of course, but it is also often how hard you try to get one.

Oldernotwiser

bap98189 wrote: »

Of course, but it is also often how hard you try to get one.

More a question of how well you try as opposed to how hard.

Zazen999

To get an apprenticeship he needs to have a job; or apply to colleges for Program Led Apprenticeships - which give him the first year's college based training and then he effectively gets the 'on the job' work in the second year. The college should help him get the placement.

Of course that was the case until earlier this evening; when the Toffs took over.

dithedancer

since i last wrote my son as applied for 6 more jobs, got interviews and is still plugging away. still no feed back from the companies he has had interviews with though. it is so disheartening for the youngsters nowadays they are built up from school to work hard for what they want to do then get let down.