Hi everyone I really hope you can help me. I'm 26 now and live in London, I've been doing a bit of career hopping since leaving school at 16 in 2011. The first thing I done after secondary school was gain my Domestic Plumbing and Heating City and Guilds Level 2 and then 3 at college. However, due to me not knowing what I wanted to do with my life I ended up going to college and then university for something else unrelated (creative media) which I fell out of love with. I graduated in late 2017, I worked in retail from that point to present but combined my part-time hours with working on the bins for my local council and they work in conjunction perfectly. However there is a ceiling to both and I've become a lot more money and career driven in the recent year, I want to develop a skill which I can build from, my interest in getting back into Domestic Plumbing and eventually Gas has kept growing since mid-way through my university studies and I'm so eager now but I feel like I'm in a tricky situation. I feel so useless working two unskilled jobs and like I wasted a good career path.
So I haven't retained much of my theory knowledge from exactly a decade ago now when I started my Level 2 C&G, nor much practical knowledge either. My Level 3 course was absolutely horrendous as there was some sort of change in the course structure or something (basically things were up in the air) during it, my one day a week course involved absolutely no practical in the end and I think we took false pictures of completed work to pass. Again, both these Levels were completed nearly a decade ago so I'm basically a total novice again although I might pick things up quickly. But, I have the qualifications to my name therefore an apprenticeship wouldn't make much sense or it may serve in my favour as I wouldn't need to formal education to gain the certificate?
Also, I couldn't live on an apprentice wage. I'm only earning 25k at the moment with both jobs combined and I could stoop down and afford to live on about 18-19k I believe.
I have no idea what to do. If it's pointless applying for apprenticeships, or if I should call Plumbing company's directly and explain my situation?. I feel like the fact I spent two years acquiring those qualifications should pay dividends in some respect even if I have forgotten much of the knowledge. But in some ways, I feel like I'm in a worse situation now that I'm older and have more outgoings. If you lovely people could help me out I'd appreciate it so much. Thank you!!!
So I haven't retained much of my theory knowledge from exactly a decade ago now when I started my Level 2 C&G, nor much practical knowledge either. My Level 3 course was absolutely horrendous as there was some sort of change in the course structure or something (basically things were up in the air) during it, my one day a week course involved absolutely no practical in the end and I think we took false pictures of completed work to pass. Again, both these Levels were completed nearly a decade ago so I'm basically a total novice again although I might pick things up quickly. But, I have the qualifications to my name therefore an apprenticeship wouldn't make much sense or it may serve in my favour as I wouldn't need to formal education to gain the certificate?
Also, I couldn't live on an apprentice wage. I'm only earning 25k at the moment with both jobs combined and I could stoop down and afford to live on about 18-19k I believe.
I have no idea what to do. If it's pointless applying for apprenticeships, or if I should call Plumbing company's directly and explain my situation?. I feel like the fact I spent two years acquiring those qualifications should pay dividends in some respect even if I have forgotten much of the knowledge. But in some ways, I feel like I'm in a worse situation now that I'm older and have more outgoings. If you lovely people could help me out I'd appreciate it so much. Thank you!!!
