Why Everyone Should Invest In Apprenticeships

It’s national apprenticeships week so thought I’d share with you why I think apprenticeships are the way forward for anyone at any point in their life.

For the apprentice

1. Apprentices are a great way of ‘getting your foot in the door’ to start a career that you may otherwise not have the qualifications for.
2. You can do an apprenticeship at any age, this opens a whole world of opportunities for learning and changing careers in the simplest of ways.
3. You can earn while you learn. In 2015, the school leaving age rose to 18, not all young people want to continue in full time education, some want to start earning. This is a great time to become an apprentice.
4. Apprenticeships offer all the experience of the working environment with support to help you grow and learn which you wouldn’t otherwise get.

For the employer

1. Having an apprentice is a great way to inject a different way of thinking into your business. They may bring along fresh new skills or an alternative view point.
2. It’s a great way to expand your team without breaking the bank. Apprenticeship are work based training programmes and come with a lower rate of pay due to the additional training you wouldn’t get in a normal job role.
3. You are able to train your apprentice to fit perfectly into your business. Teach them the skills they need to learn to benefit your business the most.

My experience as an apprentice

I started looking for an apprentice role to help me get my career started, I wanted to work but I also love to learn. Although I have never been the typical office person, The Generator is so much more than that. I’ve been an apprentice here for 4 months now and I can honestly say that I have learnt so much about making decisions for yourself and how to converse in the real world. Sure I have had jobs before, I’ve been working for the last 5 years but being an apprentice is different, its growing my knowledge of the sector as a whole and teaching me important new skills.

So my apprenticeship layout is such that I am at working Monday-Tuesday, I spend the day at college on Wednesday and then I am back to work Thursday-Friday. I really enjoy going to college now, it gives me a day to collect my thoughts, learn about business from a qualification point of view and talk to those doing similar roles to myself. It’s a great way to bounce ideas off those outside of my work and get a fresh view on what I get up to.

Of course as with most things there are downsides to being an apprentice. Being super busy at work its hard to get the college coursework completed and can be a bit of a bugger having to miss a day each week to attend college. Just when you get into your weekly flow, you’re out the office and thinking of completely different tasks. However, my apprenticeship is so varied that I enjoy the busiest of times as much as the chilled ones.

If i’m honest, I would have taken an apprenticeship in any role at the time I was looking as I love the idea of earning as you learn. There is a reason so many people are choosing this path now. I was just lucky that I found The Generator as a coworking office is perfect for me.

What are you waiting for? Invest in apprenticeships now!

For more information check out the national apprenticeship page here https://www.gov.uk/topic/further-education-skills/apprenticeships