My previous job was completely unrelated. I used to work in an office, then one day a few years ago was talking to the wife, and it turned out that she had always fancied the idea of living abroad, she never told me before. Well I had the same idea, so I asked around a few migration agents, and they said I had no chance unless I changed career, so thats what I did. At first I was going to be an electrician, but was told a-c and fridge guys were the ones in need, so I thought OK lets give it a go. I sent out about 90 CV's and spent 2 months before I got offered a job as a mate with an install company. I went to college 2 nights a week and paid for it all myself to get level 2. I stayed with the first place for under a year (mainly the pay and conditions) moved on a couple of times until I got where I am now. I've been lucky because I took to it like a duck to water, four years later I'm heading up the chiller team. I could'nt do level 3 because the college wouldnt run the course so I forked out 2K to do it at a training school. So, I think I have formal qualifications, have spent a fortune and shown real commitment, but is that enough?? Who knows. My understanding is that with formal training, the experience is 4 years, or 7 years without it. I went to see my old employer and asked him for a reference, and told him all about our plans- he even offered to backdate it, but there's no way I'm doing it-for starters it gets checked on anyway, probably tax records or something I guess, although I knew someone who got through recently this way.
Thats about it.
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