"Would You Like A Well Paid And Enjoyable New Career As A Plumber?"

New Career Skills was founded in 1998 as a specialist training provider. Recent years have seen New Career Skills expand and in 2008, NCS were named by the Sunday Times as one of the 100 fastest growing companies in the UK. NCS believe the secret to their success is delivering a service that’s best in class.

Established

• NCS have trained thousands of successful students
• NCS own our training centres, and deliver all training their selves, using an employed team of tutors, so everyone can be confident of quality
• NCS are an accredited examination centre for City & Guilds, EAL, BPEC and Logic

Expert

• All of their course materials are written by experts and lead to industry standard qualifications, accredited by top awarding bodies
• NCS tutors are all qualified and also have real world industry experience
• Students practise hands-on in specially constructed training bays

Excellent

• The tutor to student ratio is typically 1 to 8
• NCS achieve pass rates of over 95%
• A first re-sit (should you ever need it) is free and you can even retake a week’s practical free
• Student satisfaction rates are consistently over 95% and NCS publish these rates on their website every month

End-to-end

• NCS fees include everything – there are no hidden charges (some other organisations do not include exam fees or retakes or extra weeks training)
• You receive the services of NCS Career Search – help finding employment or starting your own business, plus offers and discounts on vital services and free professional development courses
• You can join the NCS Community - a free resource centre and a place where you can source work or work alongside other trained NCS graduates already running businesses
• A tutor is contactable even after you graduate to offer advice while you’re working

As a qualified domestic plumber you will enjoy a fulfilling and varied career. It is a challenging, satisfying job which involves high amounts of individual freedom and responsibility. As successful New Career Skills students will tell you, it is also financially very rewarding.

NCS recognise that they need to deliver you first class training and that they also need to support you once you’ve graduated, unlocking the value of your training and your new skills. That is why NCS offer a staged training and support programme – theory and certification, practical training and hands-on experience, help finding work or starting your own business, and on going support once you are out working.

You will find out how NCS do this when you request an information pack. And when you have completed your career change programme you will discover the wide range of potential areas in which you can work and some areas where you may want to specialise.

Now you're cooking
Gary Ribeck has been a plumber for over three years, having previously been a chef. 'No two days are ever the same and I enjoy the challenges that my new career has brought me. My course tutors were extremely knowledgeable and are happy to take calls even after I qualified - they are very relaxed and helpful. In fact, I spoke to one so often that we joked that he spoke to me more than to his own wife!'

Mum to plumber
Gillian Robert was made redundant as a teacher, but seized the opportunity to try something new. She now runs her own business, The Lady Plumber, "My friends really like the idea of me being a female plumber, they think that it’s a good business idea because a lot of women feel more comfortable with a female plumber in their house, especially if they’re on their own."

Tapping into his talent
Jonathan Blaize turned his life around when he gave up getting into trouble, became a dad and got a trade, "I used to be on street corners doing nothing, now I'm going into shops and handing out my business cards and people are impressed. That's because of New Career Skills."

New Career Skills (NCS) recognise that some people learn best from books, some in a class and some by doing rather than reading. NCS try to offer what suits you best. You will train for your new career using their special blended learning approach.

The structure is very simple – you study a block of theory at home and then you book in for a week of practical hands-on learning at one of their training facilities. They try to offer you maximum flexibility and break everything down into bite size chunks.

At the training sessions you will be guided by your tutor and practise hands-on in a safe, controlled environment the theory you have learnt in home study. Because you do the theory at home you do not have to spend days sitting in a classroom.

You can get started straight away. You are in control of when you learn and the pace at which you learn. This approach is taken so that you do not have to give up your job until you are ready to become a full-time plumber.

How you tutor will support you

You will have access to the NCS team of tutors while you learn your theory at home. Later, during your practical weeks in centre, NCS have around 1 tutor for every 8 students. You will work in a specially designed bay which is a replica of what you will find on a domestic job. As you work through the different practicals each week, your tutor will be at your side, supervising and guiding you through. All tutors have many years hands-on experience in their relevant industry and also a number of years in education, which means you get the best possible support available, and a lot of common sense advice.

At the end of every week NCS ask their students to rate the quality of tuition they receive in centre. These results are published on their web site. NCS tutors consistently achieve satisfaction grades of 95% and above for training style and delivery, helpfulness and friendliness.

Even after you have finished your course, the NCS tutors will be available to give you advice while you’re working. So if you get stuck when you are out on a job, you can call. Or if you have a big project and you need some guidance, go and see your tutor for a chat first.

NCS Career Search is a division of New Career Skills which supports you starting out and growing your new career. Career Search will help you get a job in the plumbing industry or start your own business and, once you are working, it can help you to succeed. NCS Career Search has a dedicated team in centre and also an exclusive community, MyNCS, to serve you better.

Help you will receive from NCS Career Search. During your course you will be contacted by your Career Search advisor and right from the start you will be offered advice on preparing your CV, interview techniques and creating a business plan (including sales, marketing, finance, staffing issues and legislation).

Work experience – NCS Access. As you progress through your course, subject to availability and on recommendation by your tutor, you may be eligible for the NCS Access programme. This is an opportunity for you undertake work experience with an NCS graduate who is already running a business in your area, and provides a real world environment for you to test out the skills and knowledge you have learnt in your practical sessions. Because NCS have trained thousands of trade professionals we are in a position to offer this exclusive service to their students.

Career Manuals. Towards the end of your course you will receive manuals on working as a plumber or setting up your own plumbing business. These manuals contain plans and techniques for starting and growing your business and some invaluable tricks of the trade. You will also be introduced to a range of other opportunities to further your skills, with free workshops on pricing and estimating, renewable technologies and many other courses which may be of use to you.

The NCS Career Search web site also gives you access to a range of products and services at exclusive discounts which will be helpful to you in your new career – services like web design, financial and legal advice, low cost van hire, insurance discounts, and money off tools and workwear.

NCS Community – MyNCS. Throughout your course and beyond you will be able to access the NCS community, called MyNCS. Through this community you can keep in touch with the other students you meet while training, and stay in contact even after you graduate, so you can share jobs with them. New Career Skills trains people as electricians, plumbers and in renewable technologies (like solar and heat pumps), so there are plenty of jobs which can be shared amongst the community. Early on if you have a large job you may wish to share it with a more experienced NCS graduate, who can give you a few pointers as you start out. Job opportunities are also posted on the community and there is a library of materials you can download for free and use in your business, including quote sheets, sample contracts, customer satisfaction forms, marketing materials and financial planning templates.

NCS Career Search is an important part of your career change programme. Its services are only possible because NCS have been delivering trades training for so many years and can draw upon the experience of people who have successfully completed our programme and are now running new businesses. It is a unique and vital ingredient in your success.