Have you ever wondered why pay rates always seem so static?
I think part of the problems lies with the abundance of NDT tickets. There is a glut of UT/MPI/DPI holders, this means they
have no bargaining power when negotiating their pay rates.
Employers have the pick of the bunch on most new projects - they will always settle for the lowest they can get away with. In my experience, it is better to specialise, that way you can have much more leverage to negotiate a better deal. In an ideal world, it would be a great idea if we all stood together and fought for increased rates [but look what happened
to the miners in '84 in the UK!]
Lizard operators are getting decent wages, ANDSCAN the same, TOFD the same, real-time radiography and eddy current techs are negotiating higher deals. Specialising - that's the way to go! Combine this little lot with a Rope Access ticket and the sky's the limit.
You'll find that people in specialised fields are finding that they have more negotiating power when starting a new project - why? - Because there are not enough of them to go around, they've specialised!
Employing companies can no longer have the pick of the bunch, they know that there is a lack of suitably qualified people for each position that crops up and are forced to
pay them better rates - PLUS, its more like a sport than a job!
As time goes by, things move on, you can no longer expect to get a couple of tickets and have a sliding scale of pay increases along the way.
My advice to all is…….
* Find out what tickets are going to give the best return (take a look at the 'top 5 list' in your log in options panel )
* Bin the ones that don't
* specialise, specialise, specialise!
Article written by Jackie at
www.rigg-access.com
The worlds BUSIEST Rope Access website
