the guillibility of the young, and taking advantage

[Gazza77]

Originally Posted by timwilky

I could scream. He is downstairs arguing with everyone that we are not being fair. He is wearing rose tinted specs. They have told him he will be on 40k so will be able to repay the costs etc. If we give him the chance to do it.

My bro is/was a builder (contract manger) until he was laid off in Jan. the industry is on its knees and these clowns are offering unemployed retraining in construction skills with guaranteed work placements at 40k. I cannot understand how.

If the course is capable of guaranteeing a £40k job after 3 months of training, then why aren't the majority of the staff at the training company actually on the courses?!

I'd put money on the fact that the majority of the admin staff etc won't be on anywhere near £40k....

That's the old Matt Groening joke, "If you know so much about making intelligent career decisions, why are you still a careers advisor?"

[timwilky]

Strange that this should appear in todays local paper

Originally Posted by Lancashire Evening Post

605 builders chase just two jobs

Published Date:
18 June 2009
By Matthew Squires
More than 600 out-of-work tradesmen in Lancashire are chasing just TWO vacancies, latest figures reveal.
As it was announced that unemployment was increasing in Lancashire, a new study revealed the true scale of the economic downturn's impact on the county's construction workers.

According to the statistics, 605 jobseekers are looking for building work – chasing a pair of vacancies advertised in the county's job centres.

Meanwhile, figures for the construction trade, which includes bricklayers, plumbers, joiners and masons, shows 1,200 people in the county are chasing just 35 jobs.

The figures, a snapshot of the job market as it stood in April, will raise fears that Lancashire is suffering a "blue-collar recession", leading to the loss of crucial skills and trades.

Conservative work and pensions secretary Theresa May, who published the figures, today called for an "apprenticeship clearing house" to help find apprentices whose firms have gone bankrupt new work or training.

She said: "It is essential that jobseekers in the North West get as much information as possible on what jobs are available in their area and support if they need to retrain in a different industry or sector."

Adrienne Yarwood, lecturer on quantity surveying at the University of Central Lancashire, said: "We have seen an increase in applications for our courses and we have found that trying to get sandwich placements for our students has been difficult this year.

"We need to make sure we don't end up with a skills shortage like after the last recession."

The figures come as separate findings reveal a thousand people are month are now joining the dole queue in Lancashire.

Unemployment is at a 13-year high in the county. The number of people
claiming benefits has increased to 25,903.

Today the county's builders told how the recession has hit them.
Graham Nolan, 28, from Chorley, started working as a bricklayer with his dad, aged just 13.

Earlier this year, the married dad-of-one, who had worked his way up to foreman and then site manager, found himself back on the bottom rung.

He said: "I have gone back down to doing things on my own, little three-day jobs, things like that.

"It is a nightmare. You are putting prices in and doing them for next to nothing.

"When I was site manager I was on a good wage and I got a mortgage off the strength of that – I'm still paying that.

"I have phoned the banks to see if they can give me some help, but they don't want to know.They say it is getting better, but it's not. I'm just trying to survive."

Rick Turner, of R Turner Construction in Wheelton, near Chorley, said: "I used to have a dozen lads on here and there's only myself now.

I spend the majority of my time pricing for people and little is coming back."

Brian Mengella, of Mengella Builders, in Penwortham, said: "I think it is the worst I have ever known it."

Builder Damien Lee, from Higher Bartle, Preston, said: "It has been like this for 12 to 18 months, Basically people are not spending. Work is drying up and enquiries are getting a lot less."

The Tory analysis claimed that, across the North West, there were 1,975 bricklayers and masons chasing three job centre-advertised vacancies and 3,405 carpenters and joiners competing for nine positions.

Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Tories should back Labour plans to spend an extra £5bn to expand Job Centre plus, provide extra training and guarantee jobs for young people.

do you think that will convince him that there is no work. He is a tiler, he knows construction is on its knees, yet he wants to chase pipe dreams. God I cannot believe I write that

Originally Posted by timwilky

.......he wants to chase pipe dreams....

Class

get him down to Stratford to help with the building of the Olympic stadium, at least it would be another British worker on site

simples me ,your lad, 24 cans of larger, and a large hammer i'll make him see sense and im only round the corner

The title reminds me of when my BF told me of a time when he had an apprentice at his works.

The lad of 16 was sweeping the workshop, swarf, fillings and chunks of metal on the floor. He was sweeping around a worker who was milling some brass and the boy said. "is that gold?" The worker said "yes, if you pick up the fillings you could cash them in, be my guest but don't tell the boss"

*******! The poor apprentice started picking up the brass.


Right of passage. he, he.

Did they send him out for a lefthanded sponge, some striped paint and some headlight fluid?

Hi Tim...pipe dreams indeed lol!!

looks like that paper article may get the message across....but if it doesnt...

ask him to do a google search for a plumbers forum.......

not so long ago i was looking to go in a different direction..looked at plumbing..sparky and energy effeciency inspector...all ran by these companies claiming gar.job at end of course...saying there is still a shortage etc....

so i done some research...found some forums.....in all of them...it was people who had done these courses offering to work for free because they needed some experience to go towards getting their grade..or something along those lines.....and most of these people...even though offering to work for free...still couldnt get work.

it might just persuade him that its not the best idea if he can communicate with people via some kind of nerdy forum (couldnt do it myself!!!) that are already doing the course / done the course and cant get work!

HTH