5 years of experience and no gas qualification, advice wanted!

[IanWitho]

Hi everyone, I'm looking for some advice on my job situation and would be grateful of any help.

I am a fully time served apprentice in the HVAC industry and have both level 2 and 3 NVQ qualifications in service and maintenance. I've also completed my technical certificates in this subject at college. I did my placement at a company in the North West where I worked for 5 years, during this time I worked both with engineers and alone on various aspects of breakdowns, maintenance etc. Had a company vehicle. All this time I was on minimum wage and the firm promised to put me through the gas qualification.

Despite my continual questioning of when this would happen they kept giving me excuses and earlier this year during a quiet spell I and other engineers at the company were laid off. I'm now in the position of being out of work and still without my gas qualification which despite my years of experience limits me in the jobs I can apply for as most require this qualification.

I believe myself to be a hardworking engineer and am eager to advance within the trade. I have many good references within the industry. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on steps I could take, whether I could do the gas qualification with another company etc. I have already been to citizens advice regarding the unkept promises from my previous employer to little avail. I'm very frustrated as I have worked extremely hard and well for a number of years and feel like I've been unable to advance in my career through no fault of my own.

I would appreciate advice or comments as I'm unsure what to do next and haven't had any luck with a few CV's I've sent out.

Thanks for any help.

 

[mountainman]

What is your current employment status Ian?

 

[hammers4spanner]

To be honest if i was you i wouldn't rely on a firm to get you your gas certs and go out bite the bullet and get either A, bank loan B ,slam it on a card then you know you will get your gas either way . Bit costly at first but wont regret it in long run as will make you more employable .

 

[IanWitho]

Thanks for the responses.

I've been unemployed for a couple of weeks. Was thinking I might have to pay for the qualification myself. I need to do a portfolio too, can you recommend anywhere in the North West which might be a good place to do it?

Thanks again.

 

[mountainman]

Are you on JSA?