do you think that some training centres should be more honest

[Aqua Tiling]

where do you fish mate

 

[doug boardley]

River Mint, tributary of River Kent

 

[Aqua Tiling]

wheres about is that, have you ever been to the nook in rye, the daily mail uses it as its comp lake, i had a 20lbers this year, biggest was 26, last year i had a 33lb, i went to the comp in august, and a 12 yr girl won it with a 22lb mirror

 

[Saltire69]

I think that when you go on these courses you have to be a bit realistic yourself. You aren't going to finish the course and then bang,your fully booked for the year. I did Darrens course 2 1/2 years ago,now before going i looked into it alot. Not just the course and tiling side of it but also the financial side of it for me. I based my earnings on making just £200 a week as a new business, i thought this could be achievable. So with my savings and earnings i could give my business a good go for about 1 1/2-2yrs to get established. Thankfully i got in with small tile shop and they sent alot of work my way and i'm still tiling now.

Aqua,you have just got to keep going back to the shops all the time and try and get to know them. Try taking some1 you know into the shop and pretend there a client looking for tiles,get them to get some quotes for tiles ect. This will get you talking with the sales person.Good luck for the future.

 

[heavytrevy]

I think these training companies are only part of the problem u guys have in ur industry.
As far as i can tell most of ur construction is unregulated.
Pretty shocking is that these poor souls that do courses are let out into the general public contracting their trade.

This is why ur market during this economic downturn is so cut throat.
Everyman and his dog undercutting each other with no regard to the standard of their wormanship.


The training companies arnt to blame, they see it as a way to make a dollar , as well meaning as they are , there is no way in hell by doing the most comprehensive course could a trainee come even close to matching the standard of a trained experienced tradesman.


The changes need to made at the top.(government)

Trev

 

[b30 villain]

cant comment on INTENSIVE courses. Im doing a 2 yr (2 day a week) level 2 diploma at a goverment run college and they are encouraging us to have a few trades under our belts because of the current climate. Our tutor is an old fella of 65 and had his own construction company employing about 40 people at its peak so knows all about the good and bad times and also encourages 12 to 18 months working with a firm if possible. Never liked the word INTENSIVE. How can you learn all aspects of tiling in 4 weeks its like them dodgy driving courses IMOrrr:

 

[Deleted member 9966]

at university, I was told by lecturers, tutors and careers advisors that I could easily walk out of uni, be immediately employable and be looking at 15-17k per annum and that was back in 2001.

I walked out of uni into 3 months of depressing unemployment because I didn't have any "work experience" and then eventually landed a permanent job 9 months later on 11k per annum.

I believed what the university told me because that is all I heard for 3 years and I didn't know any different. :mad2:

 

[Dan]

about the present work situation?,do we need more tilers when we are all fighting over the scraps that are now left, due to the recc, i was thinking on these lines when the Hungarian lad was looking for work!! an points boys!!

Do you know of which training centre's are not being honest? And what are they saying?

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

well dan type in work for tilers,i just did it and there,impliying you can do the course and make between 17--40k a year for example is this fare, on a guy thats just been made redundant with a little bit of money, and staring into unemployment ,with the situation as it is,??:yikes:

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

I know I have mentioned this before, but I really feel these coarses should not mislead people. They should stress, a 1 day,2 week, 4 week coarse is just a basic introduction to tiling, it's not fair to the student to lead them to believe they can tackle any job after such a short time. I'm sure the guys on here who have been pro fixers for donkeys years can still find certain jobs challenging.

 

[faithhealer]

Isn't this why we have the 'feedback' section for our members? There's worse sharks out there than tiling schools

 

[Danny@ Diamond]

I have been reading through this thread now for quiet a while and being the owner of a training centre i feel its time to jump in.

I really don't understand where all of this assumption comes from that because we are a training centre and students pay us to teach them new skills that we are somehow in the wrong because they don't all go out and instantly earn 40k per year!

There are people on here complaining that they have paid £2500 for their course and have no work, this is nothing to do with the training centre its to do with how the student has gone about advertising and attracting new customers, or seeking employment.

I am so fed up with people assuming that because they have paid for a course that they are going to earn loads of money! I see my company as no different to a college, people enroll on courses with us and we teach them new skills. Included in those skills are relevant business start up skills to enable them to start on the long road to building a successful company and achieving their end goal, which if implemented right at the start and the hard work and countless hours and sleepless nights are put in will result in a comfortable income and good lifestyle.

Now i know what argument is coming next, don't compare yourself to a college because a college course lasts a lot longer and you learn more. This is absolute rubbish, students completing 4 & 6 week programmes with us are more competent and confident than any college trained tiler i have come across so far. I have spoken with hundreds of trades people who have gone through the college route and the majority all say that attending 1 - 2 days a week is incredibly hard as by the time you get back the following week you have already started to forget exercises that you were shown the week before. \i can also compare the company to a college because we employ the same staff that a college would i.e qualified Tutors / Assessors and Internal Verifiers, not have a go ex trades people as lots of training centres do who assume that because they have worked in a trade that somehow qualifies them to teach others, for instance if i happened to be good at maths would that entitle me to go and work at a school and become a maths teacher ? The answer is NO because I would no be qualified to do so, so just because you can tile does not mean you could teach others !

Also all of these tilers that have no work, do they all phone the college back to complain that they have no work and no earnings after spending cash and time attending a 2 year course, I guarantee the answer is NO. So why is it an assumption that because someone has paid 2 - 2.5K on a course that this is some kind of guarantee of work.

What our students pay us for is tuition / advise / support and guidance, if they choose to ignore our advice and suggestions and this results in no work, whose fault is that.

What you are basically saying is that people should stop learning new skills, stop going to colleges / university's / further education / adult learning etc because there is no work apparently. It is not just the construction industry that has been affected by the economy, it is every industry so my question again, should the whole country just stop learning because there are no jobs ? Sounds a little ridiculous now doesn't it.

Fact is that this year a lot of training centres will simply go bust as people are slowly starting to realise that it is important to research what company they are planning on trusting with their future career, and what we will be left with are accredited training facilities that offer fully approved training and qualifications.

I think I have made my point and my advise to potential students would be, don't come to us expecting fortunes come expecting to learn new skills at one of the country's best equipped facilities and if these new skills are applied right you will start to build a successful career.

All the best

 

[Aston]

hi danny

you may have made a valid point is one aspect of your post!

maybe the tiling training centers should just keep their syllabus's of teaching tiling and leave the business start up out of the whole scenario, that way you eliminate yourself from the unfair critisism.

as you said, your teachers all have the relevant tiling training so your covered there but, just from a lamens points of view, 'what credentials to you/any tile training center have to teach business start up and income potential' i really think you are leaving yourselves open to unfair critisism which is a shame because NETT, yourselves and Chase all have good reputations on here.

people who want to learn to tile should do your courses if thats what they want but for business start up, then maybe they should go to their local business link, or bank or relevant accredited organisation.....business is a serious subject and i think it should be like finacial advisors, they have to be accredited..

we live in a world where blame and accountability is worse than ever, dont leave yourself open to this, just teach tiling an cover your own back, thats what i'd do

 

[Danny@ Diamond]

hi danny

people who want to learn to tile should do your courses if thats what they want but for business start up, then maybe they should go to their local business link, or bank or relevant accredited organisation.....business is a serious subject and i think it should be like finacial advisors, they have to be accredited..

I cant speak on behalf of the other training centres mentioned in your post, but Diamond have covered that point.

We have regular sessions with Barclays business start up advisers at the centre when delivering business start up training. The advisers that deliver this training have been with Barclays anywhere between 10 - 20 years and hold qualifications and relevant experience in business start up.

We are also in the process of arranging for our marketing company to attend sessions at the centre to deliver marketing advise to students, again this is done by qualified marketing consultants.

So again to clarify we have covered those points.

All the best

 

[Colour Republic]

Hi Danny,

I'm not sure that any of this was directed at Diamond but more training centres in general, rightly or wrongly some people do have that view of them. I myself don't know enough of them to form a solid opinion but I have seen some wild figures by some.

I think it's the advertising that is sometimes employed by these people, can give unrealistic figures. I've not seen Diamonds advertising so not sure how you deal with this.

Do you have any figures available on what newly trained tilers go on to earn in years 1,2 and 3 on average? Is that figure readily available to training centres? If so do you give this information to potential students before they start on the course? It goes without saying some will be very successful early on and other won't make but there must be an average? In any walk of life you get out what you put in but I would have thought it's the minority not the majority that go on to achieve £40k+ in the first 3 or 4 years.

It's not just tiling it’s plumbing centres too have a reputation in the industry for showing inflated earnings.