Life is full of surprises – rainbows after storms, finding a five-pound note in the jeans you haven’t worn for months, the X-Factor winner having a single that doesn’t make us want to jump into a lake…oh, and Apprenticeships
If you’ve set your sights on heading up a multinational company or forging a career as a world-class engineer, an Apprenticeship probably isn’t at the top of your ‘ways to make a million by the time I’m 30 list’. Which is a bit of a shame, because it’s an excellent way to do just that* – not only do you pick up a handful of very useful qualifications, but you also get paid for doing it. Now, where did you put that list? You’ve got a bit of rewriting to do.
The basics
An Apprenticeship is… a package of qualifications – keys skills, a vocational qualification (NVQ) and a theory-based qualification (technical certificate) – which are provided jointly by an employer and a training provider. There are also Advanced Apprenticeships, where you take the same qualifications at a higher level, giving you a more advanced qualification, which can be used as a stepping stone to higher education or even to top up a degree course.
Who’s eligible? The basic entry requirements are the same for both levels – you just need to be living in England and not in full-time education. On top of that, the individual courses have their own entry requirements. For Advanced Apprenticeships, you need to show that you have the knowledge to complete an Apprenticeship at a higher level.
How long do they take? However long it takes you to learn. Most Apprenticeships have a minimum study period of six months. After that, you work entirely at your own pace.
Funding. Funding for Apprenticeship schemes is pretty simple. You don’t pay any fees and you don’t get a lump sum that you have to manage for a year – instead, it’s like a job. You give your time and skills to the employer, and they’ll reward you with a set wage every month. Done.
The perks. As well as getting paid to study you’re also entitled to normal employee benefits – at least 20 days’ paid holiday a year, days off to study at college or university, and bank holidays. Even employers understand the importance of the Carling Weekend.
Did you know?
- There are currently more than 250,000 apprentices in England, training in over 200 different subjects. That’s equivalent to everyone in Brighton taking an Apprenticeship.
- You can take an Apprenticeship / Advanced Apprenticeship in pretty much every subject you can think of. As well as more traditional subjects, there are courses in games-testing [yippee!], engineering, photography, childcare and dozens more.
- Lots of the world’s largest organisations offer Apprenticeship placements. Network Rail have trained thousands of people to piece together complicated railway networks; British Energy apprentices have been powering the country for years; and games publisher, NCsoft, uses the opposable thumb generation (that’s you, by the way) to push forward their gaming software.
- Even if you decide you want to go to uni, an Apprenticeship is still an option – you can top up your degree with a Graduate Apprenticeship. Lots of universities will let you combine your degree with an Advanced Apprenticeship. So, you’ll still get a degree at the end of your course, but you’ll also get paid to study.
- You get treated like a member of staff from the moment you start the course. As you’re working for an employer, you’ll get paid just like a regular employee. On average, apprentices get about £137 a week but on some courses you could get as much as £200.
Graduate Apprenticeships
Not all unis offer Graduate Apprenticeships. Aside from trusty Google – which brings up a long list of intimidating Government documents – the most comprehensive sources of information are the individual unis themselves. It’s worth calling the uni you’re interested in to find out what schemes they have.
And another thing!
We weren’t joking about apprentice millionaires. Alexander McQueen, Billy Connolly and John Frieda all started out as apprentices. But that’s nothing compared to John Caudwell. You probably won’t recognise his name but John, a former engineering apprentice, is the proud owner of a mobile phone empire and is worth a cool £1.28bn.
What next?
Applying
If you want more information on Apprenticeships / Advanced Apprenticeships, call the Apprenticeship helpline on 08000 150 600 or visit www.apprenticeships.org.uk.
You can also approach employers direct about taking on apprentices. If there’s a particular company or organisation you’d like to work for, visit their website to find out whether they offer Apprenticeship placements.
Helpful things
The Apprenticeship Guide is a little something we put together in the space between waking and sleeping. It contains information on Apprenticeship and Advanced Apprenticeship schemes and funding options, as well as a long list of helpful contacts. Ask your careers advisor about it, or see www.apprenticeshipguide.co.uk.
The Learning and Skills Council is the organisation in charge of Apprenticeships (and the people behind the ‘flowers made out of hands’ adverts. Weird). If you need more information on Apprenticeships, extra funding options that might be open to you, and other further education paths visit www.lsc.gov.uk/whatwedo/14-19/.
*MASSIVE DISCLAIMER: we in no way guarantee that taking either an Apprenticeship or Advanced Apprenticeship will make you a millionaire. Plus, if we really knew a fool-proof way of making a million we’d have packed up our monkey butler and headed for Hawaii years ago.
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| Author: taty | Date: 10th, January 2008 |
| mint!!! | |
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