esb recruiting?

mufc4lfe

I heard the esb are taking on apprentices.Do they do this every year at this time or is it a one off?Im 18 doing the leaving cert.Im thining of applying.Any advice please?:D

doolox

This is where the real power is.
In general they are well paid highly skilled well developed jobs.
The ESB recently got paid 3.5% in the teeth of the accursed recession.
Because of power. Because they can pull the plug.
They do not have to listen to bull from higher ups.
They can dictate terms.
The downsides are being on call, working weekends, stress when things fail in bad weather, energy price fluctuations and outside work in ****ty weather when the powerlines are down.
But you get real respect, treated like a real worker and get real money.

I heard recently that the ESB are to take on the redunant electrical apprentices from FAS who can't find work in the construction sector in the current...rabble,rabble,rabble.

http://www.build.ie/national_news.asp?newsid=89252

The Electricity Supply Board is to take on 400 apprentices who were laid off by private sector firms.

The company, which is part owned by the state, is providing apprentices who lost their jobs before they completed their electrical apprenticeships with two-year fixed-term contracts from next month to allow them to complete their training.

The scheme, which will cost the ESB around €2m, is being welcomed by trade unions, who say it will help to keep people off the dole.

Announcing the initiative, ESB Chief Executive Padraig McManus said: "Without full qualifications, apprentices will not be able to work as electricians and their career opportunities will be far more limited.

"ESB Networks has the expertise and resources to enable the apprentices to complete their training and ESB staff are delighted to be able to assist in this very important initiative."

An ESB spokesman said the company had agreed a programme with FAS to begin offering on-the-job training opportunities to redundant apprentices from March.

FAS will write to all redundant electrical apprentices on its register, inviting them to apply for places and it is expected that the first 100 apprentices will have commenced the programme by mid April.

It is estimated that a total of 800 electrical apprentices have lost their jobs while training. As a result they are unable to complete the necessary on-the-job training aspect of their apprenticeship and therefore cannot achieve national craft accreditation.

I'd say its a political stroke to get people off dole and allow them finish apprenticeships.

Since the ESB didn't renew many temporary contracts of experienced staff in the last year, I doubt if there is much of a future in it.

Duff_Man

yeh i think they are just gonna be taking on laid off apprentices....i hope so anyway im in my 2nd year and there isnt a scrap of work out there! its a bad time to think about starting a trade now!

IronMan

They also had another advert in the papers over the weekend. It was for ESB apprentices, not those let off from other employeers who will get their training portions completed by the ESB. These were for new starters, and the opportunity to do a degree in engineering was also included.

Ellechim

They are one of the only companies recruiting at the moment so if you want a job get applying.....worry about some of the issues pointed out by other posters later when you've got a trade.......

doolox

When you are choosing a career look carefully at the political and power base behind it as a guide to how much you will earn in it and how long it will last.
I didn't as it wasn't madly important back in the '70's when I started work.
I drifted into electronics as it was the most like my hobbies at the time of music and a bit like the technical stuff I was interested in at the time.
Since then I have developed an interest in enough to get by at technical level but my maths isn't strong enough to go to degree level or teaching it which I would like to do.

Basically the harder a course is the fewer will do it and the fewer will be available to work at it over time.This will drive up wages.
Things with a life or fire risk tend to need greater skills to handle and bosses will pay more for people in these areas as they cannot afford the risk to life or property if things go wrong. This is why gas fitters, plumbers and electricians get better paid than some other jobs because they are harder to get qualified in and harder to put right if things go wrong.
People in high risk professions like surgeons, pharmacists etc also get paid high because of the risk to life in their jobs.
If I had the choice I would have done a trade and become an electrician instead of electronics because you can become self-employed and make better money than being employed but you need to be good at debt collection and managing money.
You cannot do this in electronics as you need a lot of specialised equipment and parts to effect repairs and these tend to be kept in-house by the companies and are difficult to get on the open market. For generic stuff like PC and laptops though this is changing but you still need a big team to repair or do other stuff in electronics.
It appears that electrics, especially house electrics is more amenable to a one-man operation which allows one the freedom to concentrate on making money instead of being forced into the endless barrage of time-wasting and meetings and politics which passes for corporate life nowadays.
Time served electricians can go on to earn more than technicians in industry, are in greater demand in industry and will be in huge demand when the trends in energy saving, solar heating and automation of buildings takes hold here.
Plumbers will also be in demand.
I am currently training with electricians in FAS and find much of their knowledge very similar to my own. Some of the work is far more physical but people are not necessarily paid more for that. What stopped technicians getting paid more than they are is their plentifullness, willingness to work for little in the face of foreign competition and little or no unionisation.
Because of the difficulty of completing a four years apprenticeship electricians are scarce and so are comparitively highly paid.
In comparison there are 10,000 civil engineers out there and 4000 electronic engineers and a similar no of techs. I dont know how many electricians there are but 400 extra in this country seems small.

the_syco

Duff_Man wrote: »

yeh i think they are just gonna be taking on laid off apprentices....i hope so anyway im in my 2nd year and there isnt a scrap of work out there! its a bad time to think about starting a trade now!

http://www.fas.ie/en/About+Us/News/5th+January+2009.htm

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment Mary Coughlan TD, announced today (Monday 29th December 2008) that FÁS is to implement an Employer Based Redundant Apprentice Rotation scheme in January 2009. Employers who have a past record of providing consistent systematic training will be asked to provide redundant apprentices with an opportunity to complete their on-the-job phase in the following trades:

• Carpentry & Joinery
• Electrical
• Plastering
• Plumbing
• Bricklaying

Good luck!