There are many excellent reasons to start an apprenticeship. They are one of the most flexible and innovative ways to learn and you can earn money and an academic qualification at the same time as gaining valuable experience in your chosen field.
As well as all of this, there is a multitude of apprenticeship standards which offer the chance to reach out into much broader areas of interest than were available in school. If you are pursuing a genuine interest and passion, you are far more likely to succeed and apprenticeships offer a real chance at this.
Get The Skills You Need
The economy is shifting faster than ever, meaning jobs are changing faster than ever too. That means there is always a skill gap between what employees were taught and what they need to do their job.
In an apprenticeship, you aren’t taught a broad curriculum, but the exact lessons you need for your job role and career. Apprenticeships are like concentrated learning, as you only learn what you need and are constantly tailored to suit the job as it changes during your apprenticeship. This can be a huge advantage when learning and it can give some peace of mind to know that what you are learning is always the latest version of what your employer needs.
This is a reason that apprenticeships are so popular. Employers view them as a chance to plug the skills gaps within their own companies and this means that apprentices are very likely to be kept on once they have finished their apprenticeships. Around two-thirds of apprentices are offered a permanent job at the same company once their apprenticeship has been completed successfully. That is a huge number.
On-The-Job Experience
You aren’t expected to know everything you need for the job role from day one. Instead, you get time to watch and learn first-hand from your more experienced co-workers and gain confidence in knowing what that job entails before being expected to take on the position permanently through off-the-job training.
It is an opportunity to learn transferable skills as well, how to get on well with others and work well in a team, as well as individually. These are skills that you will hone and develop throughout your career and being able to practice them in a safe environment early in your career is a great way to start out on the road to career success.
You also get the chance to try the job yourself, which will help to build and nurture your confidence in your own abilities, as well as to develop an understanding of how to tackle any work-related obstacles in front of you. Learning skills from others is often referred to as skill sharing and this is one of the best methods of learning, you will find that learning from colleagues and tapping into their expertise is very rewarding and helpful.
Earn While You Learn
Being a young person in today’s economy means getting a salary as soon as possible is integral for you to establish yourself and get on the property ladder, if that is even possible. In other career avenues, it could be years before you even start applying for jobs, and, given the potentially devastating economic impact of COVID-19, getting a job could take a long time in itself.
With an apprenticeship, you earn the whole way through. Not only that, you aren’t paying for the tuition like in a University Degree in which you will likely leave with tens of thousands of pounds worth of debt.
If you decide to do a Degree Apprenticeship you can actually receive the equivalent of an undergraduate degree or a masters degree without having to spend the huge sums of money that it would have cost to do this via the traditional route.
Gain a Qualification
In as little as a year, alongside valuable experience and a regular wage, you could gain a certified and nationally recognised qualification. This means at the end of the apprenticeship, even if you decided that that job role wasn’t the right one for you, you could still add a significant mark of your time to your CV.
Along with being able to give examples of all the vital first-hand working experiences that you had whilst on the job, you will significantly increase your chances of finding another job by having a qualification that you earned outside of full-time education. This is something employers value because it requires individual initiative.
You can find out more about the numerous types of apprenticeships and what level of qualification they give you.
Get Support
When taking the first step on your career path, there are few other avenues where you can get constant support. With an apprenticeship, you are given the time and tools you need to find your feet in a complicated world
As an apprentice, you have the constant support of the local and national government, your employer, your training provider, other organisations for local assistance and Employing an Apprentice, who are compiling all the information you need in one place. You should also be able to find help in your area.
Flexibility
Apprenticeships are flexible to fit your needs and the needs of the career. As an apprentice, there is nothing holding you to the apprenticeship if you wanted to leave. That means if you decide the role is not right for you, you can leave the apprenticeship at no cost to yourself, so there is no risk involved at all.
Additionally, businesses change their jobs to suit the needs of the market. That means that you can be confident everything you learn will be adapted to suit the career path that you are setting out upon. If the job you are training for changes, your course will most likely adapt along with it. This versatility will keep your learning current and you will remain in a good situation where you stand an excellent chance of securing a job once your apprenticeship finishes.
