Find out why Kim chose Able Skills for her City & Guilds Multi Craft Diploma (6219-07), what she gained from doing the course and what she plans to do next in her construction career.

Next in our student stories series, we catch up with Kim on our City & Guilds Multi Craft Diploma course. Already working in the trade, Kim’s main incentive was to gain the certification, but she also gained knowledge and confidence.

Prefer to watch the video? Catch up on Kim’s student story on our YouTube channel.

Student feedback from the City & Guilds Multi Craft Diploma course

Can you tell us about your current role and what made you decide to do a multi craft diploma?  

I’m working as a trainee finisher, so I do a bit of everything trade wise. But I don't actually have the certification to go with that. I saw this course and was like, right, this is ideal for what I'm doing.

How did you find out about this course and what made you choose Able Skills?  

I searched for a “multi-trade course” online and Able Skills popped up. I think it's one of the only places that actually offer the multi craft diploma in the UK.  

Everything looked good and you offered the course that I needed!

What were your first impressions when you started the course?

It’s an incredible facility! I walked into the first week of plastering and you see all these boards and you think, yeah, this is it, because you never know if you're going to be sat in a classroom just filling out paperwork. But this is completely hands on, hands on all the way and the facilities you’ve got here are crazy.

How did you find the course overall?

I loved it. The instructors have been brilliant. I cannot fault any of them. You can have a laugh with them, you just get on with them.

Day to day [at work] I don't get to do a lot of plastering or tiling as such, it's more like patch repairs and stuff like that. It's fixing other people's work. So, to actually go back to basics and do it from the start was really good.

Being able to do a big area of trowel work helps your trowel work when you're doing little patch repairs. It’s the same with tiling. I wouldn't have known how to do anything in tiling and now I could quite easily tile a kitchen or bathroom.

What has been your highlight of the course?

I know I've made friends for life here! Even though you're here to learn, I think the highlight has definitely been the social side of it.

Meeting other people who are in similar positions or seeing where they are in their construction journey – some people that are just starting out and some people have been in the game for years – just hearing their stories and what they bring to the game.

Also, the instructors, I think all of them used to be on the tools, hearing their stories from when they were on site.

It’s a really good facility for training. I think that is also such an enriching thing hearing everyone's stories of how they ended up where they ended up and what they did to get there.

Have your skills progressed during the training?

Definitely. Because I did it in three blocks. I had my first three weeks and then the second 3 weeks, I went back to work in between. Even in between, I could feel it and see some of the progression when I'm applying it back at work.  All my patching and bits that I've had to do has benefited me in so many ways.

Has anything surprised you on the course?

I was surprised by how hands on it was and how good they [the instructors] are with making sure it's everything that you need that if you were to go out and try and do it on your own you could.

It’s just like “ah this is good!”

You said that you work as a trainee finisher. Can you tell us a bit more about that job and what you do?

I work for a house builder. We build and sell our own houses, but we also build for clients like councils.

I've been a trainee with them for two years now. My main job is to undertake work on the snag list. We get client snag lists for new build properties, so any defects come back that aren’t correct with the build and we go in and we use those lists to bring them up to spec.

It can be anything from a nick in paint work or scratches on the walls that have been damaged, we have to touch those up and touch them in, to underpinning some staircases and bits like that. We have to go in and make sure it’s all correct before the client gets the house and before the tenants move in.

How will your newly learned skills help you in that job?

They already are helping. Confidence being a big one. It’s opened my eyes a lot to all of the different things and processes. Everything's got its process, and understanding behind the process means it makes it so much easier for me to be able to go, right I know how it's put together, now I've got to fix it.

Are you planning on returning to Able Skills to do any further courses?  

I'm trying to swing a week’s intensive plumbing if I can. That would be useful for me, because we have to do little bits of plumbing and I've never touched a soldering iron in my life so I wouldn't know what to do with it!

The City & Guilds Multi Craft Diploma at Able Skills

To complete the City & Guilds Multi Craft Diploma Kim spent three weeks in each subject covering plastering, tiling and carpentry in a combination of hands-on training and practical assessments.

To find out more, visit the training centre anytime we’re open or call us on 01322 280 202.