We believe that seeing what fellow OLCI students have achieved with their qualifications can really help motivate everyone. With that in mind, we would like to share with you a recent success story from one of our students, Alan Van Kleef:

A former musician, Alan used to own a recording studio where he worked as a Sound Engineer for over 10 yrs. As business slowed, he decided to retrain so he could set up his own company in a new industry. It was then that Alan decided to train with us.

Since completing our Become a Fully Qualified Electrician course, Alan has set up his own business, AV Electrics, which he has been successfully running for the past 2 years. He has since also registered with NIC as a Domestic Installer. Alan has built a healthy client base in London and, in addition to carrying out domestic work, he has also completed many commercial projects.

His advice to other students is to work hard and be as committed as possible, and giving a high quality service to customers in order to generate positive word of mouth.

If you’re thinking of setting up your own company then Alan’s advice can really help. The quality of service you provide is so important: Think about how you deal with people when meeting them for quotes. It could be as simple as offering to take your shoes off as you walk into a house or ensuring that your hands are clean before shaking hands. Then, once you’re on a job, remember to work hard and be professional. It can be the difference between generating positive word-of-mouth or losing out on potential customers.

If you want to work for a company, Alan’s experience could also help you find a job: think about the quality of service you provide to potential employers. Make sure your CV is up to date and well-presented. Plus, ensure that you have a good covering letter to send out with applications. We can help with both of these if you’d like. As Alan showed, success also comes by working hard. This could mean regularly looking on the Internet for vacancies, contacting companies and speaking to lots of people – including us. Then, when you get a job, continue working hard and doing things to the best of your ability.

If you would like to start your own business or join a company then consider contacting us. After your training we can help you set up your business with our Business Support Service¹. We can advise on ways to get customers, organise insurance & doing your books. Alternatively, if you would like advice on finding a job² then you can use our Job Support Service¹. We can help with CVs, interviews & job searches, and, using our industry contacts, we aim to match you with suitable vacancies.

Please remember that while we do everything we can to support our students, we cannot guarantee work experience or employment. We can help show you where to find experience and jobs, but ultimately your success comes down to what you put into it yourself. The more proactive and determined you are, the greater your likelihood of success. As Gary Player, the famous golfer, said, “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”

To benefit from our Business Support Service or Job Support Service, please email info@olci.info.

¹ Available with selected course, including ‘’Become a Qualified Plumber, ‘Become a Gas Engineer’, ‘Become a Fully Qualified Electrician’ and ‘Domestic Electrical Installer’ courses. ² Although we can’t guarantee we’ll get you a job, we’ll do all we can to try to match you with a suitable employer.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 26th, 2010 at 11:13 am and is filed under Students. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.