That little old fibre connector

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls".

Pablo Picasso

Well........in the numerous fibre optic courses that I have delivered over the years, I recount a simple story to try and get across to delegates the importance of keeping the end face of a connector clean!

And it goes something like this........your invited around to your Mum and Dad's house for the ritual of eating the family Sunday Roast.........in you go to the house and of course, you are delighted to  see your Mum and Dad.....its a sunny day.........the cabbage has been on the stove for hours.....you get the picture.........all you want to do is catch up on the latest football scores..........so in you go into the living room......the sun is streaming in through the window......and you relax into the sofa....and you place your arm onto the arm of the sofa.......what do you see........DUST!!

OK....its a bit over sentimental a picture I have painted here....but it is true....we are surrounded by dust....we are breathing micron sized dust particles all the time and these dust particles represent a major source of problems for fibre optic end faces, especially MTP/MPO's.......

So whats do you do.....you institute a cleaning system so that end face connector inspections are the norm and not the exception.

I am amazed at times, as to the general lack of appreciation as to the importance of this aspect of the fibre network.....

Inspect - is it clean.....then clean the connector end face......then re inspect and don't forget to inspect ALL end faces not just the patch cord !!!!

For more information on the accredited training courses offered by us, click here    

The disadvantages of using an agency to recruit skilled and qualified staff

Get skilled

Using a recruitment agency can be extremely expensive and fraught with risks.

Recruitment agencies are supposed to be working on your behalf……..well, here’s the thing…they are not….they are working for themselves…..duh!!

Let’s be honest….as employers, we are only human; we tend to take the line of least resistance…..some may even say that we are lazy bunch of people. When we look for new staff members, we often overlook things and we seem to default to a position of putting off today what we think we can fit in tomorrow……..and there’s the danger……you only get out what you put in; ever more so when you are looking for a new staff member…….

Recruitment agencies are nether the most efficient and certainly not the most affordable method of hiring new technical staff members and for many a small business, it can be much more time consuming and perilous than you could ever imagine.

Driven by ridiculous sales targets, many recruitment consultants have a tendency to “push” inappropriate candidates onto their clients in the hope that they will simply ‘fit’. All too often, little attention is paid to whether the individual is the most ideal candidate; rather agencies focus on selling a ‘good candidate’ from their database instead of taking the time to source the ‘perfect candidate’… and with the fees they charge, the perfect candidate is what you are paying for!!

This type of scenario can lead to a new employee being in totally over their heads, or simply blagging their way into a position which they neither understand nor can even learn about the trade their “new” employer operates in.

These individuals are often placed by the recruitment agency, even though they might be woefully inexperienced for the role demanded of them.

As a result, your new employee will likely leave or you will end up letting them go due to poor performance during their probationary period. In cases like this, once the contract is signed, the client (and folks, that would be you) is legally obliged to pay the fee, regardless of whether the candidate works out or not.

If you are still not put off using a recruitment agency, make sure you are aware of the small print before you agree to anything.

Oh, and by the way…….we train all levels of people in the comms cabling industry so why not ask us if we have come across a skilled person…..www.totalcommstraining.com

4 things that you should do after your training course

  
Why take training seriously.........here's why..


So, you have finally finished the communications cabling training course. You have been working towards am exemplary practical assessment for the last few days, as well passing the exam with flying colours!

And now you have now got that qualification you know your job role really would benefit from.

Is It The Time to Relax? …..sorry to tell you this but “Wrong!” - the training course is just the beginning of the process. A good accredited training course should provide you with the essential key skills and underpinning knowledge of your chosen subject, be it data cabling, fibre optics or designing a cabling network

So…….how do you now apply this new found knowledge ?

Here are four things you should be doing after the training course.

1: Reflect

It is easy to forget important elements of information when you are in the training room with your trainer - learning so much in a short period of time is and can be both challenging and tiring. The important thing to remember is not to worry if you can't remember every single aspect of the course…especially as you are more than likely to back at work “on the coal face” so to speak, the following week.


Think about the process that as trainers, we have ask you to do during your training course – we ask you to take notes; yes we provide you with a training manual and yes, the training manual is mapped across from the syllabus…but nothing beats aiding your acquisition of knowledge than taking notes during the classroom sessions .In an ideal world, you should try to block some time off of your work based tasks and schedule in order to reflect back: reading the notes that you took during the training will really help you in the work environment. It is worth while remembering that you weren't trained, just to pass an exam – our aims and objectives as with all of our delegates, is for you to be able to apply the key principles that we talked about on your training course when you are back at work.



Try this: close your email, leave your desk if necessary - but make sure there are no distractions so you can reinforce what you learnt during the course when you get back to work. It may be the case that you might need to read your notes several times but eventually you will be able to remember some of what you have learnt so you can apply the most important parts when they become relevant in your work..



2. Report Back

Another thing you should really be doing as soon as possible after your training course is to discuss what you have learnt with your line manager and if possible, assisting and helping them, showing that your training course was successful. Your manager will want to know that your training course was a success and that you have actually brought the skills and knowledge back into the organisation. So do try and arrange a short meeting where you can report on some of the things that you have learnt as well as the overall success of the course. It is also a good way of reinforcing what you have learnt by encapsulating the key points to somebody else.



3. Plan



You decided or were sent by your company on a training course for a specific reason – one of which could be to try and improve your skills or perhaps toi increase your level of technical understanding of your work based activities. Either way now is the time for you to produce an action plan and put what you learnt to a meaningful and productive use.

Again, the sooner you are able to get to this planning stage and physically done the better as everything you will have learnt will be fresh and in your mind

However, please be aware that after attending one of our training courses for several days, it is perfectly understandable if this is something you look at over a two week period.

Make sure you do this……you need to put in the time and also don't let it become forgotten by your line manager. Consider arranging a quick meeting to review your action plan with them and mention it in between to act as a prompt! You know what managers are like!

And don’t forget, action plans are sometimes, continuously delayed until they become useless. Don't let this happen to you!

4. Implement

Once your plan has been reviewed and approved, don't delay -get it up and running. The sooner you put your changes into action the sooner you can become a more valuable member of the team and crucially, the management will see a return on their investment. Remember that tactical everyday tasks are important however it is the strategic longer term thinking that you are likely to have acquired from your training course, that will makes the biggest difference.

So……make sure that you put on your strategic hat on often enough to implement what you learnt!

If you do these four things after your training course with us, you will greatly increase the chances of your new found skills having a positive effect on you and your team members.

Consider this: You and your organisation take pre-requisites of training courses very seriously such as pre-reading and previous knowledge - it is the time to take these post-course requisites just as seriously.

And remember, the training is just the beginning of the journey

We will train you to the highest achievable standard.....for more info on our vast range of training courses click here

Communications Cabling installation Training Qualifications.... make sure your certificate is fully accredited

Approved City and Guilds training providers in the UK have to comply with  strict guidelines and be subject to annual inspection visits by appointed external verifiers: fact
 

These City and Guilds 3667 qualifications are fully recognised by the industry: fact 

 


Recently, there has been a spate of high profile suspensions of training providers certification rights. Failing to to comply with these guidelines results in significant damage to the reputation of bona fide training providers.

Before paying any fees, check the credentials of your chosen training provider - and as we have said so many times, make sure that the qualification is fully accredited - otherwise, toy might just be wasting money.

Total Comms Training is working with the FIA and other bodies to ensure that this message is spread as far and wide as possible.

We believe implicitly that industry recognised qualifications are the essential key to driving the economy forward; that identifying this as an important step in being able to provide the communications cabling industry with well trained
individuals should be seen as a "must have", in both achieving the right skills sets and thereby cementing and building on those skills, for today and tomorrow.

You can take a look at our courses by visiting http://www.totalcommstraining.com/