The advantages of doing an apprenticeship are endless. They provide you with an opportunity to learn on the job, whilst getting paid. During your time as an apprentice, you will learn a variety of hard and soft skills, and on completion of the apprenticeship, you will hopefully be offered a full-time job. An apprenticeship is a great option for students who don’t enjoy learning in a classroom. In this article, we are going to provide you with all the information you need to know about apprenticeships. 

 

 

The Laws 

An apprenticeship is a real job that involves training, the goal is to earn money whilst becoming trained in your chosen area, hopefully, the outcome will result in you securing a full-time role. There are currently over 170 industries that offer an apprenticeship, so you are guaranteed to find one that you are interested in. 

In order to complete your apprenticeship, you must be at least 16 years of age, you can then decide what level apprenticeship you want to complete, they range from level 2 to level 7. And the duration of your apprenticeship will depend on the sector, your age, skills and the level of your apprenticeship. Apprenticeships tend to be between 1-5 years. 

As an apprentice, you will be required to work a minimum of 30 hours a week and a maximum of 40 hours. However, any hours spent at university or college will be included in this time frame. If you meet the requirements part-time apprenticeship may also be an option but this will have to be agreed upon with your recruiter. 

Wages for an apprenticeship will vary depending on age, skills and the sector you are working within. If you are aged between 16-18 or in your first year and aged 19 or over you can expect to earn a minimum wage of £4.30. If you are aged 19+ and have completed your first year you can expect to earn at least the national minimum wage. 

Useful tips 

For a lot of you, this is probably your first time looking into apprenticeships or at least your first time you are going to complete an apprenticeship. We, therefore, thought it would be useful to put together a few useful tips! 

 

1. If you are completing your apprenticeship instead of college or a degree, make sure you are getting the right qualifications, make sure your apprenticeship can train you up to the level you want to be.

 

2. Make sure you take your time with your application, if you are applying for a variety of different apprenticeships, make sure you are tailoring your CV and Cover Letter so it is specific to their company, be sure to check out our “Free CV Maker”. 

 

3. Research the company, make sure you are actually interested in the company this will be useful in the interview but also it will help you understand if you really want to work there. Also, see if you can speak to a previous apprentice, they will be able to tell you more about their time there as well as what they learned. 

 

What industries you can do apprenticeships in

Apprenticeship are now available in over 170 different sectors so no matter what job sector you are interested in you are sure to find an apprenticeship that interested you. Whether it’s an apprenticeship in beauty, banking or engineering there are apprenticeship suitable for you. 

When looking for apprenticeship opportunities it is important to consider what you want to do in the future. Often once you have completed your apprenticeship you will be offered the opportunity to stay on and work for the company in the future, you, therefore, need to be sure that you are interested in it. Of course, there is always the option to switch industries but a lot of training will be involved. 

You should therefore properly research your apprenticeship, look into all the different things you will learn as well as research where you can go after completing your apprenticeship. 

 

How long are apprenticeships 

The time an apprenticeship takes will depend on the level of the apprenticeship. For example; if you are completing a level 2 apprenticeship it will take a minimum of a year. Level 3 between 15-18 months, level 4,5,6 and 7 (higher) apprenticeship will take between 3 years and 5 years and finally, 6 and 7 (degree) apprenticeship will take between 3 and 6 years. 

Although 3-6 years might seem like an extremely long time to do an apprenticeship you have to remember that you are getting a degree on completion, people frequently go to university for around 4 years and of course, you will be getting paid whilst you learn! 

 

How old do you need to be

The minimum age requirement for an apprenticeship is 16 and all applicants must no longer be in full-time education (high school). However, there are not any limits on how old you can be. Although apprenticeship is usually aimed at 16-24-year-olds it doesn’t mean that someone older can’t apply.