From the course: Skilled Trades: Interviews

Where do I begin?

- A typical apprenticeship program is going to be one that you're going to spend time going to school, and then you're going to be training on the job. So you're going to go out and get a job. There are some facilities like ours where we do the job placement for you. And we look at it as a 90/10 sort of job training. You spend 90% of your time out on the job. You spend 10% of it in here getting answers to those questions that came up out on the job, either your journeyman didn't have time to answer them, or it's something that they knew at one point and now can't explain really well. So they'll leave it to somebody who explains it on a regular basis and has the time to research it and give you a good answer for it, the difficult stuff. You come in for that. - We have three different programs here at our training center. We offer a residential electrician program which you can complete in 2 1/2 years. And then you're licensed to work on any residential-type dwelling unit, single-family, two-family or apartment building. And then that would allow you to wire anything electrically-related with those buildings. We also have a Limited Energy program. That's a 3 1/2 year program. And those electricians are licensed to work on 50 volts and below. So those type of systems you would find data systems, telephone, cable, nurse call systems in hospitals, fire alarm. So there are a lot of life safety aspects involved with that trade as well. Our largest program is what we call the Inside Electrician program. And that is also our longest program. It license you to do every other trade available, so Limited Energy and Residential. It takes five years here to complete that program. And with that program, you can work anywhere from just a one person in a van. You're driving around doing residential service calls, commercial service calls, up to working at a location with hundreds of electricians in the high tech industry, industrial locations like steel mills, commercial locations, stores. - [Topher] You know, the different apprenticeship programs look a little differently. Ours is called a day school program, where you would come in one day a week for 10 weeks and then the other time during the week, the other days during the week, you go back out to work, and you're working. We do it for 10 weeks, and then we give you a break for a little while so you can go out there and get that other 90% of your education. - Continuing education is a licensing component depending on what state you live in. So in the state of Oregon, it requires 24 hours of continuing education every three years to keep your license current. And a lot of jobs nowadays are also requiring safety training in order to just be on the job. So OSHA 30 training has become a regular requirement to job sites. - You need to have at least a C in high school algebra, and you've got to have a high school diploma or a GED. We have an aptitude test that we require you to pass to get through that, and that's because we're going to spend a lot of time and money invested in you. The only thing you're going to do is go out on the job and work and earn more money. So it's the almost exact opposite of going to a college or a community college. - [Laura] Electrician licensing varies by state. So some states may not require a license at a state level. They may require licenses in certain counties and not in other counties, and then other states require licensing across the board, like Oregon does. - [Topher] What we look for in our applicants, our good applicants that we're interested in bringing into the program, people that have a good attitude and people that are willing to learn, people that have sometimes they've put their money where their mouth is. - You have to make yourself stand out above 800 other people in order to get one of those 100 spots that we may be bringing for the year. We try not to bring in people who aren't going to be able to make it throughout the five years because it is a tough program. So if you pass the aptitude test, the last step of the application process is the interview. And everything rides on the interview. Nothing matters what happened before the interview. So you're going to sit in front of a group of industry representatives, and you're going to sit there and answer three to five questions, 10-minute interview. So you really have to, that's where you really have to stand out and be one of those top 100 people. Go talk to people. Go talk to electricians. Do your homework. Know what the job is that you're applying for. That's probably one of the biggest taboos that I see where people don't succeed in an interview is they don't really understand what they're applying for. Learn about the trade. Take classes at a community college. You can take construction-related classes, electrical-related classes, math classes. Yeah, go back to college and improve your qualifications there on paper, your educational qualifications. Another thing you can do is try to get an entry-level job to get your foot at least somewhat wet with the trade. If you're able to do something like that and get letters of recommendations, that can be very helpful. So another thing you can do to improve your application packet and your chances of getting into the program is going through a pre-apprenticeship program. So, again it depends on your state, but lots of different areas have pre-apprenticeship programs that either introduce you to a specific trade or to many trades in general.

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