sparkie down under

Sparkie and anyone else for that matter, listen to my tale.

I have been a sparkie since 1980, I ran my own firm since 1988 and I employed sparks since 1990. My company was NICEIC, ECA, we operated a JIB agreement and were CMIS registered. According to the EWRB I didn't have the necessary qualifications to be considered as an electrician and they wanted me to do the whole 4 years before being considered for registration.

Why? Because some dumb arse in Welli didn't know the certs I had were real. Also as a self employed spark no-one could supply references !!!!!!!!!!

NZQA are NOT worth the money chaps. My misses sent off some of her certificates, months later they accepted one and queried another. Both from the same educational authority. She'd already started her job by then!

back to my tale. I threw my toys out the pram and spent hours on the phone to the some prick at the EWRB. He eventually said if I could get reference from the various heads of departments in some of the business at which my company worked he'd look at it again.

The head of the DSA isn't a spark - he couldn't even tell you if there was the right fuse in a plug top; but he gave me a glowing reference. As did the director of Education Learning Wales. Both references were accepted.

However the reference I had from our regional inspector for the NICEIC was, get this, rejected as the EWRB does not recongise this body !!!!!!

(for f**ks sake once you get your registration here you will be bloody unlucky to see anyone audit your work all the way to retirement. With the NICEIC we had it every f**king year - and a proper audit at that).

Anyway the EWRB said in the end 'regs and cross over' and I was registered.

By the way Nick Chandler is a great bloke and his course is very expensive and unless you have a job to walk into I'd save your money and do the course here.

If you fail it then you really shouldn't be working in the industry anyway. I explained how an earth loop impedance tester can be used to test the resistance of the earth rod. The inspector taking my refresher didn't even know that - but then again why should he - they don't test or record the resistance of earth rods here - NICE!

My current battle with the EWRB is now my registration for inspector. Passed all the exams and tests, paid my money and guess what? Sorry sir you do not have the required experience!!!!!!

BEVS

If it is any consolation Sparky Down Under, it can be just the same for plumbers/gasfitters.

Have some 'up their bums' karma coz it is ssooo frustrating to deal with.

dave77

Hi thanks for the info! So is the NZQA absolutely necessary then? I was of the understanding that I would have to have my certs assessed by them before submitting an EOI??!

Is it possible to get visa and/or work without having all this? I have a BTEC HNC and it is on the list as having 50 points, isn't this enough evidence that the qualification is recognised, or will I need the NZQA to approve this?!

I'm getting confused! Lol!

sparkie down under

I never had ANY of my qualifications assessed by the NZQA, where as my misses did.

It was like pushing s**t uphill for me, but that was more down to the EWRB than anything else.

Whereas my misses was working for the NZDF and they insisted that she 'prove' herself. The NZQA approved one of her qualifications and the other, issued by the same education authority and to a higher standard couldn't approve the other as they were unable to find a comparable level in NZ ?????
(so tell me again why are you paying all that money).

Best advice I could give is get a firm job offer before applying. Points go up, you have more leverage and you don't need to waste time and money on the NZQA. Having said that I'm sure there are others here who will have a very different story.

Hope that helps !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best of luck

yorkshire_sparkie

Bummer

I was under the impression you HAD to get your quals recognised by NZQA because you have to send a copy of their recognition letter with your ITA

Sounds like a right pain in the arse!!!!

That Nick Chandler said OH wouldn't have any probs getting his quals recognised and that he wouldn't have to sit the "course" with his quals (dunno which one, defo has to do the H&S one)........ OH is self employed and is struggling to get a reference from his ex employer (he's being a twat cos he got the hump when OH left to start up on his own).

:curse: confused now!!!

sparkie down under

The bare min anyone would have to do is regs and cross over. Depending on EWRB they might ask you to do more exams or time or both. Like I said they wanted me to do the lot to begin with and after I threw a wobbly they let me do the bare min.

I didn't pay NZQA anything cos I think they are money grabbing to**ers. It's up to you if you want to give them your hard earned.

The thing to do as a self employed spark is get as many references from the heads of departments (technical is at all possible) from as many companies as possible and put them with your application. Speaking with other self employed ex pats they had trouble as well. The EWRB love paper. feed it to them - they'll never say no, stop.

Does OH have a job offer? If not get one. Helps with pressure on EWRB.

All the best and good luck