When deciding to take the first steps towards your dream career, you’re often faced with many different decisions, for example - do you want study full-time or part-time? Do you go for an apprenticeship and learn on the job or do you go for the quicker route with a course?
There are many things to think about once you decide which direction you want to take your career in, and you’ll need to set aside some time to think and plan out the route that’s best for you.
To help you to decide which direction you will go, let’s have a closer look at what you can achieve from an apprenticeship.
An apprenticeship combines work and study by mixing classroom training with on-the-job learning. You’ll be employed to do a real job while studying for a formal qualification. However, the wages are often much lower for an apprenticeship than their qualified counterparts, so you’ll need to take that into consideration when you are making your decision; after all, those bills still need to be paid!
Did you know that the starting apprentice’s salary is just £3.70 an hour?
If you’re part of the growing number of people who decides apprenticeships aren’t for you (and based on that salary who would?), undertaking career-based training can be a better alternative.
You can often find courses that are accelerated (so you have long study days over a short time-period), part time (so you can study and work at the same time) or online (so you can learn wherever you like and work at the same time).
Find out if online learning is actually worth it here.
Apprenticeships and training courses: which is best for you? There are many pros and cons to both options and at the end of the day, the decision is entirely up to you!
Struggling to make a decision? To help you make the choice, list the pros and cons of both options so you can easily visualise which option will suit your lifestyle and career goals the best.
While making your list, make sure you take into consideration some factors like:
- Getting a placement - with up to 50 applicants for every apprenticeship placement, you’ll have to work extra hard just to stand out and earn a spot; some training providers offer guaranteed interviews (check out our money back guarantee on our IT courses and guaranteed interviews on our PT courses)
- Financial commitments – while you will earn a little money doing an apprenticeship, you may be better off studying an online or part-time course around your current job to cover your bills while you are studying
- Your age – unfortunately 24 is the maximum age you can be to access the adult education budget
- Time frame– apprenticeships are often around 12-14 months; you can find high quality courses that will have you qualified and ready to begin your new career in a matter of months!
- Dedication – 30% of apprentices don’t finish their training due to many reasons like financial issues, time frame commitments and being unhappy with the education quality. There’s no point spending all that time and effort if you don’t end up with a qualification to show for all of your hard work
To help you weigh up the options and make the decision process just that little bit easier, take a look at this helpful guide and find out
what you should know when choosing an apprenticeship.
If you do decide that an apprenticeship is the right choice for you, you can earn (in most cases) an NVQ level 2 (or level 3 for advanced level apprenticeships), higher national certificate (HNC), higher national diploma (HND) or a foundation degree. It’s worth thinking ahead and considering where life may take you when deciding which qualification to aim for; if you think there may be a chance that you would like to take your career abroad, keep in mind that these qualifications probably won’t be recognised in other countries, which may mean you’ll need to take another course later down the line.
If you do dream of living life overseas, look for courses that offer internationally recognised qualifications to save you from wasting more time, hassle and money in the long run.
In many cases, employers will offer their apprentices permanent positions within the company once they have successfully completed their training, which is great…if you like them! But what if things didn’t go the way you had planned; what then?
Some apprentices feel pressured to stay on in the role because of the training the employer has provided. But seeing as work will take up a large part of your life, it’s just not worth being stuck in a job you don’t like.
Being offered a permanent position by the company is not guaranteed though, and you may find yourself looking for a job once you’ve completed your training. This can sometimes be a long process and you risk not earning any money in the meantime.
Here at The Training Room, we have dedicated career support officers that work hard to set up guaranteed interviews with our corporate partners, often leading to a job acceptance before you’ve even completed your final exam! But don’t just take our word for it –
find out what our students say about us!
Ready for the next step?
If you’ve weighed up the options and decided that a training course is the best option for
your career dreams, speak to one of our friendly course advisers today and let us help you take the first steps towards your dream career!
Request a call back here