To suggest everyone's DC train as roofers, builders and other "trades"?

[PolkerrisBeach]

Because I've spent about a month trying to get people to do work in the house and NOBODY'S INTERESTED. Nobody wants to come and quote for smaller jobs like putting four skylights in an extension ceiling, taking down a wall between two rooms and plastering.

They're all too busy doing 50k extensions and loft conversions.

So if anyone has a child considering their future, send them to learn to be an electrician / builder / roofer / carpenter - they are all so busy that they're turning work away.

Metoodear congratulations to your son.

I know they set the bar high on personal attributes as they are recruiting employees not students.

I look at it that degree level trainees are an investment whereas students nowadays are too often cash cows.

I know graduates with jobs where they don't need to be graduates. Maybe that's where the myth of no jobs for graduates comes from.

I know quiet a few people who hit 30s hadn't done degrees but worked up and found only way to progress was to get a degree - few took few years out and went to university and others did OU.

They all did it and paid off for all but one who then emigrated - but they all had mortgages and children so wasn't easy option at all.

I don't think that's right but it was across few sectors - so those degrees may well come in futher down the line.

Yes I've seen that too bigKite.

@slice the whole graduate's doing jobs that don't need a degree is quite complicated. There are so many jobs the previously didn't require a degree but now ask for one. It can also vary depending on the sector.

For many people though, even if they are in a 'non-graduate' job it was more than likely the skills they learned at university that made the. Employable and will hopefully help them progress.

Yes, careers advice in schools and colleges across England has been woefully lacking for a while now.There are signs that this is improving though.

Parents often aren't the best at giving careers advice as the often want their children to persue a similar education route that they did and usually talk about jobs that were popular when they were young instead of preparing them for careers of the future.

Higher apprenticeships are an interesting development but often misunderstood by parents and students.

I agree to an extent but it is definitely dependant on where you are. We had a lot of small 1-2hr jobs that needed doing when we first moved into our home last year and we had no issues finding very experienced people to do them as there are so many tradesmen around here and they all want more reviews on check-a-trade so that they get come higher on the list. so they do lots of small jobs to get more reviews (all of them told us this outright whilst asking for reviews and asked us to recommend them to people we knew for smaller jobs, quite a few would do it on the way home from a bigger job).

Brickies are getting paid 240 quid a day on the site my dp manages-alot more than I earn with my degree and professional qualification. It's bloody hard physical
Work and fine if you are youngish I would guess-maybe not so great as you get older.

I think it's well worth anyone learning a trade (if not because you will always at some point need to do work on your own house) and it is possible to learn on the job and get paid a bit as well. Especially good for kids that are like I was and you areif what you want to do career wise. I did a general degree and haven't used it once-so it was a waste of money really.
I'm happy for the DD's to go to uni but only if they've got a fairly definite career path in mind.

I wouldn't be too sure that trades always pay better than professional careers. One of my closest (male) friends at school went into bricklaying at 16 , whereas I stayed on at school and went to uni and became a teacher. He was raking it in in comparison to me until we were about 25 as I was at uni and then just starting out, but my salary kept rising and his was stuck at the same level as it was when he finished his apprenticeship and now I earn around 3 times as much as him as a senior teacher. He also has no pension and, coming up for 40, he is starting to struggle physically with bad knees.

Young people have to follow their passions, whether that is the trades or a degree, but can't assume that either route will lead to becoming rich.

I think that you can't just stick at one career.

Ds is learning a trade but also over the next few years he will also learn tiling, kitchen fitting, painting and decorating, laying flooring etc so he can turn his hand to most things house related. He will also pursue another career completely different and at the end he is hoping to have enough income off housing or his other career or a bit of both to live comfortably.

His sister has her own business that pays well when she gets jobs but they are few and far between so she does other stuff just to earn something. She too is pursuing something similar to her db

Again she is saving hard to invest her money so she too can have a comfortable future.

I wish I had been advised by someone when I was at school and I would have not wasted years trying to fit in with what everyone else advised what I should do
It was a case of people trying to push a square peg into a round hole

Brickies are getting paid 240 quid a day on the site my dp manages-alot more than I earn with my degree and professional qualification.

But do they get the same perks as permanent employment or are they classified as self employed?

If the latter, no sick pay, no paid holidays, no pension, no redundancy/notice, paying their own national insurance, no job security.

The "perks" such as employer contributions to pension schemes, in-house training, holidays, job security, etc., are often forgotten by salaried employees.

£90 per day is a more realistic rate for employed workers depending on the level of their qualifications.

Conversely, although there are shortages in all areas of the building industry right now, the future doesn’t look great job wise. Technology will change many jobs and many will no longer be needed

£30 per hour £240 per day is about right for a subbie but as pacer says they have no employment benefits for that. The cost of taking & keeping their qualifications up to date alone can be thousands. And whilst they are taking the courses they are not earning.

Then there is no sick pay, holiday pay, pension etc.

Also it goes without saying most people’s careers are over before they’re 50 and it’s extremely bad for your health and body

Agree that learning a trade is a great path for many people but I personally am absolutely hopeless at anything practical. I could never ever be an electrician or plumber and admire them immensely!

As it is I’m happy with my career and although it’s completely unrelated to my degree and didn’t specifically require one, I wholeheartedly believe that the skills I learnt academically were what made me successful in the role (a non academic role)

Roofing is hard. Working at height in all weathers.

Plumbing fucks your knees right up. Yes a young mans game.

Plastering. Gets your back.

Also to be successful at your trade you need to be good at all the other business ‘stuff’ - marketing, invoicing, quoting, dealing with sunbbies, customers etc which isn’t easy.