Getting your career started with the right training and experience is just one of the benefits of taking an apprenticeship. With a great many apprenticeships in a wide variety of industries to choose from, apprenticeships are far from the old-style training schemes of the past. With a government dedication to fund apprenticeships and ensure quality they are becoming an increasingly popular route into work after school or college. And, instead of paying the thousands in tuition required to go to university, apprentices actually earn some money while they train. Plus, apprentices have a far better chance of landing an appropriate job after they finish than graduates.
In fact, in some cases, apprentices can even earn a degree (without paying fees) while they train! Oh, and don’t think that apprenticeships are just for people wanting to get into manual labour either – while these apprenticeships exist – there are routes into a number of careers – including law and accountancy. Of course, this all sounds great, but what about the employers themselves? What’s in it for them, and why do they love apprentices too?
The cynical will look at the apprentice minimum wage, noting how it is lower than the national minimum wage, and say that surely this is why employers love apprentices. However, you must remember that many employers pay above this amount and that that this is offset with the cost of training. Plus, it is surely still better to get paid while you train than to literally pay out thousands in tuition fees to get you to the same career destination? (And let’s not even get started with the mental health issues faced by university students associated with this level of debt!) In fact, asking employers about apprentices and their reasons for bringing them in don’t touch on the wages.
Employers like the fact that they can recruit keen young people who want to learn. The real bonus is that employers get the chance to teach their new recruits how to do the job correctly and with their values right from the outset. In addition to this, young people offer employers a fresh insight and can prove useful in challenging old ideas and push a business forward.
Ideally, apprentices will show that they can get down to learning and working so that they can become trained and talented permanent employees and form the future of a business. This means that employers will not just support young people in their work, but many also value the time spent on helping new apprentices adjust to full time employment.
An apprenticeship is not just about training, as it also gives apprentices a chance to see what life is like doing a particular job, with real work experience. For employers there is also a chance to check out future employees, and obviously if someone fails to put in the effort they are unlikely to be offered a permanent role once they finish the apprenticeship. That said, any decent apprenticeship provider will be able to help find out if there are any problems and seek to solve them before things get bad.
Modern apprenticeships seem to be a win / win for young people and employers alike, which means that many of the brightest college leavers are now considering them alongside university as a genuine option.
Employers see that by investing in young people they are really investing in their own future too.
