Electrician: What is the cost of hiring?

Why recruit an electrician

Electricians are a useful part of your team if you manufacture electrical goods, or require your employees to regularly handle electrical goods. An experienced, trained and reliable electrician will be able to check the safety of your employee’s electrical equipment, diagnose faults with electrical products and help you create layouts for wiring.

Qualities of a great electrician:

• Is trained in health and safety and can easily spot dangerous hazards
• Is able to communicate issues with wiring such as earthing issues with the rest of your team
• Has good knowledge of physics and maths, particularly how to calculate power and voltages.

Deciding between a full-time vs freelance electrician

Whether or not you employ an electrician on a contract or permanent basis will depend on the quantity of projects that you have available. This could involve the checking or wiring of electrical appliances. If you are a construction company, you might employ an electrician on a project-by-project basis. However, if you are looking for an electrician who can help with regular building maintenance, you might save time and money by recruiting one permanently.

What are the different types of electrician?

As there are many kinds of electrical appliances and tasks for an electrician, you may need to find an electrician who specialises in the area that you are recruiting for. This is so that they will work well with the rest of the team, and understand the entire project. For example, if you recruit an electrician who is familiar with working on residential building projects for your construction company, they will communicate well with the rest of the team, ensuring that the whole project is in keeping with health and safety. If your role requires maintaining electrical systems, then you may look for an electrician with experience working on the power grid or fixing machinery.

• Domestic electrician: a domestic electrician works on lighting, wiring and other appliances in housing projects.
• Maintenance electrician: maintenance electricians can safely test electrical systems for faults, troubleshoot these issues and repair faulty equipment or appliances.
• Construction electrician: construction electricians are responsible for designing and implementing layouts for wiring, and electrical systems in large construction projects.
• Installation electrician: installs and repairs electrical systems in indoor and outdoor environments. 
• Apprentice electrician: an apprentice electrician trains alongside and assists a qualified electrician, learning valuable on-the-job experience that contributes towards a qualification.

Where to find an electrician?

You should first look for registered electricians in the UK. To do this, you can search directories like the Registered Competent Person Electrical listings by postcode or Electrical Safety First to find genuine electricians who are local to your business, or your projects. This will help you find safer, more efficient and cost-effective electricians. If you run a business in construction or building maintenance, you can also find electricians via professional recommendations from colleagues.

To find the right electrician for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Recommendations or referral from colleagues: ask other tradespeople in your business for a personal recommendation
• Via directories for registered electricians: look for qualified, legitimate electricians via online databases
• Advertising on a jobs board locally: advertise for help wanted on a local job centre’s board
• Connecting with colleges and prospective apprentices: Attend university or college jobs fairs and speak to high school students about enrolling on your apprenticeship

Post your job online: Try posting your job for an electrician on Indeed to find and attract quality electrician candidates.

Skills to look for in a great electrician

A great candidate for an electrician role will have the following skills and attributes as well as work experience that reflects:

• Both qualifications and on-the-job experience
• Ability to explain issues in layman’s terms
• Ability to troubleshoot and make informed scientific decisions
• Positivity and can-do attitude
• Interest in achieving the most economical solutions

Writing an electrician job description

A thoughtful description is important for finding qualified electrician candidates. An electrician job description includes a compelling summary of the role, detailed list of duties and responsibilities, and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your  job description for an electrician, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on electricians jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Electrician
• Electrician mate
• Electrical
• Electricians mate
• Electrical improver
• Domestic electrician
• Electrical mate
• Auto electrician

Interviewing electrician candidates

Strong candidates for electrician positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Why they became an electrician
• Years of on-the-job experience
• Knowledge of risk assessment and health and safety
• Qualifications and training
• How to handle a colleague who is not using equipment safely

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of electrician interview questions for examples (with sample answers).