Was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on having extra skills or taking extra courses to improve your employability and earning potential?
Originally was looking at getting a RTITB approved forklift license, cost around here about £350, but for similar sorts of money I could also have full ADR, or HIAB training. A bit further afield I could get Moffat training. Are any of these worth having?
If you are employed using that equipment then yes. Same applies if you are happy to be an agency driver, who can be more flexible in regard to assignments.
For a general haulage driver on a regular and fairly stable company I would have thought the only one worth having would be an ADR.
And you could get some DCPC hours credited to you by doing any of these courses. Two birds with one stone… 
DrivingMissDaisy:
And you could get some DCPC hours credited to you by doing any of these courses. Two birds with one stone…
Thats what i did.
Look at it as narrowing down the opposition, say theres 50 drivers going for ‘a’ job, 40 have C+E, 30 have full DCPC, and 15 have ADR, IMO I now have a 1 in 15 chance of a job (as we all have to be qualified in stuff we dont need to just read a newspaper) , better odds than 1 in 50
ADR & HIAB are always worth having.
The trouble is once you have HIAB & ADR you have trouble getting a job as you have no experience!
RTITB Forklift is good to get, but limits what you can do with driving.
Thanks again for your input guys.
Whilst driving a truck is in itself a skill, I certainly think having extra certificates can give you an edge when looking for work. It definitely reduces the number of potential applicants if someone is seeking a specific requirement.
I used to use HIAB on a truck before licenses were mandatory. Used to occasionally deliver train wheels attached to a single axle, to some quite remote trackside locations, not all of whom had lifting gear. Likewise I just used to jump on forklifts too. It all about certificates now and a thriving training industry that has evolved around it all.
LIBERTY_GUY:
Thanks again for your input guys.Whilst driving a truck is in itself a skill, I certainly think having extra certificates can give you an edge when looking for work. It definitely reduces the number of potential applicants if someone is seeking a specific requirement.
I used to use HIAB on a truck before licenses were mandatory. Used to occasionally deliver train wheels attached to a single axle, to some quite remote trackside locations, not all of whom had lifting gear. Likewise I just used to jump on forklifts too. It all about certificates now and a thriving training industry that has evolved around it all.
Hi LIBERTY_GUY,
You’ve made some very telling comments, which I think go some way to answering your own question…
However, I’d add that it can depend on a driver’s standpoint, because if we’re speaking of an already employed driver, the boss will send the driver on the courses relevant to the operation of his business.
Contrast that with an agency driver… an agency driver might choose to take all the usual such as HIAB, ADR, FLT and Moffett in order to be as versatile as possible, which would then leave him/her with a lot of choice when being offered agency work.
I think it would also add to the appeal of that driver if he/she chose to apply for an employed position.
IMHO, there’s a large element of ‘horses-for-courses’ when choosing what training to take.
did ADR, tankers, HIAB and FLT as part of my DCPC just to give me more chance of work, only used the HIAB on two shifts so far. All my work for the last 2 years have been simple trunking and a bit of pushing a pallet truck around 