Is an Apprenticeship right for you?

After hearing about all the different types of Apprenticeships and everything about them, you may be wondering if they're even the right thing for you. This decision is completely objective to your own aspirations, learning style and preferences. This page will overview some of the key factors you should consider upon making this important decision:

Learning Style

Apprenticeships focus on hands-on learning and gaining practical experience as opposed to sitting in a classroom and taking notes. They can often be a lot more physically demanding and time consuming than more traditional routes. If you feel that you'd prefer to learn by applying skills in real world situations, then apprenticeships would be perfect for you.

Career Goals

Another important thing to consider is your career goals and where you want yourself to be in 10 years time. Some industries (like medicine) offer little to no apprenticeship opportunities so University might be your best bet. On the other hand, there are countless apprenticeships available in fields like construction and finance.

Financial Considerations

Apprenticeships allow you to earn a full salary while you complete your qualification which will be completely funded by the company and the Government. This means you can completely avoid any student loans and get straight into working. However, starting salaries can SOMETIMES be lower for apprentices since they start working much earlier on.

Commitment

To do an apprenticeship, you must be fully committed since you'll be both working and studying (often at the same time). You will need to learn to balance all your work related responsibilities with academic assignments. You will also often have much less free-time and social-time as opposed to University students which is something you will have to be okay with.

Long-Term Prospects

Many apprenticeships lead directly to full-time employment with the company with which you trained. If you didn't want to stay at this company, you will have (for Level 6/7 apprenticeships) a full degree and experience on your CV to start looking for a job elsewhere. It's quite common for alumni of Universities to have a good degree but lack experience which makes it much harder for them to find a job.