Canadian moving to London

[justinyarn]

Hello,

I'm an electrician from Vancouver moving to London for 2 years in October, and I had a couple questions. I'm ticketed in Canada and I'm curious how companies in the UK are about hiring foreigners, is it expected that I obtain UK certifications right away?

Is there more than the 17th Edition and 2391 certification that I should be researching?

Typically, how does one look for a job there? I've browsed gumtree, but I'm told most people use agencies over there, could anyone recommend good ones to look into?

Approximately what could I expect to be making, assuming I'm working as a journeyman with 4 years experience in construction or renovations?

Any information and advice would be greatly appreciated, I'm kind of diving in blind and the reality of the situation is sinking in.

Thanks, Justin

 

[rujebogdy]

Hello,and welcome to the forum. You should be able to get your qualifications transferred but you will still need to get your 17th edition and ecs exam. My advice is once you get here you send your qualifications to NARIC and also book an 17th edition course and ecs exam.once you get those,send them to jib and they will send you a card which will be written on the back all your qualifications. Companies in London are allright with foreign workforce as long they have relevant qualifications( sometimes they don't care for the electrical mates). The best is looking at agencies and the money u can get is 12-14

 

[Zeespark]

Hia Justin, I won't ask why you are moving from the second nicest city on earth to the big smoke. What areas of electrics are you looking at doing? if its residential then looking through the Yellow Pages might be worth a shot. What area of London are you looking at moving to? Welcome to the forum.

AndyGuinness

 

[Evans Electric]

Hi Justin , I too won't ask why someone would be actually COMING here when most sparks would like to be leaving . ( Australia -NZ )

Anyway the poles who come here don't seem to have any problems .

Is your system the same as the US , as in, 110V Single phase , 240v 3 phase distribution ?

Ours is 240v SP domestic with 400v 3 phase distribution .

If you're going to London you may get work on the Olympic sites.

And welcome to the Forum.

 

[batty]

welcome to the forum.

 

[justinyarn]

Thanks for the responses. I'm moving away from this beautiful city just for a change of pace, I've always been intrigued by London and the UK, and with the proximity to Europe and the English speaking, my girlfriend and I figured we'd give it a try. We're looking to live in Zone 2 on the North side of the river, but that's a loose plan at best.

I was hoping that there'd be an increase of construction jobs with the Olympics, I was working crazy overtime here for the 6 months before the winter games getting venues ready.

My experience is mostly in residential and commercial construction (concrete high rises, wood frame houses, warehouses and office spaces), as well as renovations of the same, with a small amount of hospital upgrades and industrial upgrades. So ideally, to transfer what skills I have, I'd be looking at doing the same.

When people need work here they just call every company in the phone book, so that was my original plan. I just keep hearing more about agencies (Which we don't use here at all) and I was hoping to get some insight on how they work, and which ones to use.

Our power in Canada is the same as the US, but I've worked with a couple UK expats here and they've told me the work is generally the same there. Different slang and terms, different phase colors, but mostly the same work. I'm hoping I can pass for an electrician there.

I've looked at some online books for the 17th edition and 2391 on electacourse.com that I was thinking of getting to study, but I was just wondering if it's common to get a job before getting these certifications. There are plenty of foreign electricians in my company here that have yet to get Canadian certification.

I just looked into that NARIC website, thank you, looks like a good way to see how my certification will transfer over. I noticed on some job postings there were several different safety courses people asked you to have, would you say ECS is the most recognized, looks the most specific. Lastly, I saw the JIB as well as NICEIC as two things people asked you to be registered with, could anyone explain these to me?

Thanks again for the responses, it helps a lot to clear up some of these questions.

 

[Zeespark]

Justin, the NICEIC are an electrical enrollment body, concerned primarily with the electrical side of the industry. If you wish to do the 17th Edition and the 2391, then go to a standard college, they are generally a lot cheaper. With regards to residential wiring, things are a tad different here. In Canada, most houses are timber built. Here in the UK its normally a block and brick construction. One thing to consider is in Canada, if you wish to feed cables between floors, you remove a percentage of the ceiling to do so. Here you have to take up the upper floors floor boards, along with furniture, carpet, and underlay if you are lucky. I used to live in West London so I am familiar with most of the local colleges. If you need any further assistance, please give anyone here, including Myself a shout, we would be happy to help.

AndyGuinness

 

[rhd23]

Justin,

I am thinking about moving to canada, will I be able to switch my qualifications over and sit an exam? our is it not that simple. I am an approved electrician on the ecs card scheme.

Rich

 

[Evans Electric]

Justin , one thing you will need is if you intend to work on building sites is a CSCS card , you may not get onsite without one . It is a Health & Safety thing, quite easy to do , most questions are common sense, takes about 3/4 hour to sit. As a sparks you could contact the ECA who organise the tests. For Greater London their phone number is 01708330710 I believe .

There are a couple of London based Forumites who may be of better help.

I think some firms may take you on without taking British qualifications .

You'd be better working direct for a firm in my opinion , there are agencies , basically suppliers of labour , you work for the agency , they make a profit out of your expertise while sitting on their ***** in a nice warm room while you're out in the cold , grafting.

Stay in touch with the Forum and let us know how you're getting on.

(And remember , look left before crossing the road ) ( And yes London's traffic IS the worst in the country ) ( And please don't judge the rest of the country by London!!!!)

 

[justinyarn]

Andy - I was hoping to be able to just study the cdrom of the 17th edition i saw online, and then just write the test somewhere rather than actually taking a course. Is that a realistic option there? What are a couple colleges you'd recommend that offer the course I could look into? Thanks.

Rich - Yes, in Canada you can challenge our Red Seal Interprovincial exam for about $150. Check out this website, red-seal.ca, we have construction electrician and industrial electrician as two different exams.

In British Columbia you deal with the ITA, itabc.ca, I think it's slightly different for each province, where are you thinking of moving?

Evan's Electric - Thank you for the info on the CSCS, I'll make that a priority. As for agencies, that was my impression hearing about them as a foreigner. Didn't really see the point and wasn't keen on paying them. So you're saying it would be quite reasonable to skip that process and just put in some leg work calling and emailing any company I look up online/in the phone book? Is it normal there to just go to a large site and talk to the foreman, some people will do that here.

Oswald - Noted, there's a lot of parts of Canada that look like the North Pole too. Hopefully I end up somewhere at least 2nd world. I'll save my judgment of the rest of the country after I get to take a few trips elsewhere. May even end up in Manchester if a job opportunity at BBC presents itself for my girlfriend.

Thanks again for the help!

-Justin

 

[Evans Electric]

Justin , I'm self employed so haven't had to look for a job as you will doing for years , but yes do the leg work and leave the agencies as a last resort.

Another option , which you may not be aware of is there is a a lot of what we call "subbing" here (as in sub contracting) So you become self employed and a contractor takes you on as a "Subby" . There is an income tax system peculiar to the construction industry called CIS , where the contractor will stop a straight 20% from your earnings.

The system works both ways , if the job finishes and theres nothing else, your on yer bike, likewise if the jobs a crock of $ h i t you can walk . This may be your best option . What you must always do under the CIS system is make sure you get a record of tax stopped from the contractor as some of them have been known to not pay your tax in at the end of the month , then at the end of the year when you submit your own return , you have no proof it was stopped and will have to pay it again, happened to my neighbour.

To give you an example , I'm self employed , I quote for jobs in industry, commercial or domestic , theres just me , if a job is two or three handed , there are two local sparks who would join me for , say , 4 weeks , the understanding is that its just for this job, if it needed 4 sparks to finish in time ,say, you could work for me for a month , I have to deduct 20% tax which I would send off at the end of the month and submit a return to the CIS showing what has been deducted from yourself and my two mates.

Then one of them may ask me to help them for a week ,say, and do the same tax thing.

Also are you aware that the recession has hit hard here , I work about 2 days a week at the most ,these days and its nearly all domestic work. As always , the further north you go the worst the unemployment .

 

[philbas]

And then move to Gods own country YORKSHIRE

ducks

 

[Evans Electric]

Just noticed Oswald's post and agree, contrary to popular opinion, this is NOT a land of milk and honey and the streets of London (or any other city ) are not paved with gold.

Parts of Britain are still beautiful other parts are grotty, most cities are full of immigrants and so called asylum seekers who come here to claim off our benefit system , not work and send half the money home, its because we have become the stupid big soft idiots of Europe. Nobody understands how we manage to support all these people and if you're English you are way down the pecking order.

I do not include Canadians in the above as many of us have not forgotten your countrymen who never returned from the Normandy beaches all those years ago.

 

[Zeespark]

College of North West London Justin, and if you do home study at some colleges, you just have to pay an exam fee of around

 

[justinyarn]

I have been to the UK briefly, just spent 1 week in London though, so I certainly wouldn't say i have any idea. I appreciate the advice, but the reality is I have nothing tying me there if things are not going well, I'm more than capable of jumping ship. 2 years is just the length of my visa, not the length of a lease i signed or anything.

I am aware of the recession, but not necessarily the extent of it. We were also in one up until this spring, but depending on who you talked to you would hear a different story. I know personally that although my company had layoffs, nobody I considered a stellar employee was let go, and even the half decent ones found work elsewhere if they were looking. So maybe naively I was just hoping I'd be able to overcome with some extra work. As it's a working holiday I'm also open to doing something else if need be, just planning on using my skills as a first choice.

Evans - Thanks for the tip, definitely an option to look into, but sounds like one that would require getting all certifications taken care of right away, and then some. Kind of just hoping to get on with a bigger company as is, and then work on getting qualifications. Thanks for the idea though, and sorry to hear things are so slow for you. Where abouts are you?

Andy - Thanks again, I'll check that school out. Haven't got any reading material yet though.

 

[Evans Electric]

I,m in Birmingham Justin.

And starting to wonder whether all the Polish guys who work as sparks have taken UK certs. Anyone know.?

 

[Zeespark]

Deke, most cant even speak English, never mind taking the Regs exam. I know this from some of the experiences when I was working in London.

AndyGuinness

 

[Evans Electric]

Well you know what this country is like Zee Zee , social services probably give them a house and a car. !!! headbang

 

[Zeespark]

I know mate, I am trying to help a friend down there as He is soon to be made homeless. The local authorities, CAB and even His MP don't want to know about His plight.

AndyGuinness

 

[Evans Electric]

Oh he must be white English then , tut tut, what did you expect!!!