Joblesstrackworld – retraining as a British Gas Smart Meter Expert experiences?

Local Government cuts continue and I’m being made redundant. No idea what I want to do and the choice of jobs in Cornwall in far from numerous let alone well paid.

British Gas are advertising for trainee smart meter installers and it’s mildly tempting. Does involve 30 weeks away from family, training, but will be reasonably well paid (for here!) once qualified.

Anyone done/doing this, what’s the training/job like? I admittedly have no experience in anything like this so not sure if it’s something for me or not but think I’m going to have to be open to anything!

My mate does this on the back of a redundancy. He loves it. Works from home with a laptop and a van. Been a good move for him..

A good company to work for and british gas offer some of the best gas training in the country ,they seem to be looking for people who are very customer focused over previous experience 😉 ,be prepared to get lumped when you cutting customers gas off 😯 best of luck

Do you happen to know if they’re just advertising in your area or countrywide?

Not sure nationally choppersquad but definitely in Devon and Cornwall. Best check the web site.

Want a job in Cornwall?

Openreach Customer Service Engineer.

Had looked into BT, but being colour blind likely puts me out. I haven’t considered whether it’s an issue for gas though 😕

your going to be working long and hard..

swapping meters usually involves the things getting dropped at your home and you installing all day.

this will mean rocking up at mrs smiths checking for leaks.. 5-10% will probably have leaks so then you ve got to tell someone who was expecting a free new meter that your cutting off thier gas and they have to pay to have it fixed and gas reinstated.. imagine how well that goes down..

for the other 90-955 you whip the old meter out and put in new and reinstate the gas and check visually and relight all the appliances.. in another 10-20% of properties your going to say.. no leaks love meteres fitted ok but your fire looks dodgy boiler looks illeagl i m going to cut you off.. etc etc..

add to this you ll be paid for the number of meters you fit .. if thier in the same street bingo if thier miles apart..

fair way to earn a crust but its dirty frustrating work.. how easy is it to get to your gas meter? relight a back boiler?

Openreach also recruiting heavily in the South East and across the country. I’ve heard they want 36 new recruits in my area.

However, colour blindness is a show stopper 🙁

Thanks totalshell,gives me some info to think about..

Just had a look at the Open reach website but the salary is from £17k – £19k which is probably OK if you still live at home.

http://www.jobsite.co.uk/job/purchasing-assistant-data-analyst-950334035?src=search&tmpl=lin&sctr=PU

http://www.jobsite.co.uk/job/purchasing-analyst-950331122?src=search&tmpl=lin&sctr=PU

Well spotted Macavity, sounds like Silverfish. Not come across that one in my searches 🙂