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Author: Ben S

One of the most frequent statements I hear when talking with people thinking about their future is “I am not really sure what I want to do” It seems that younger people have so many career options that they struggle to choose the perfect one. Your perfect career could begin with a Work and Training apprenticeship. An apprenticeship in any field will reap benefits like no other position can. As an apprentice you will learn important aspects of work life that will help you in the future, even if your career path changes. Regardless of what industry you choose, future employers will always hold your trade certificate in a high regard. As you work through your apprenticeship, you will learn invaluable skills such as:

 • Working within a team environment that has a wide age range of fellow employees

 • Understanding different points of view and listening to people sharing important personal experiences

• The ability to relate to all aspects of a particular industry – very important if you wish to stay on and pursue a management-style role

• Gaining independence within the workplace, whilst still having support from other work colleagues

• Training other apprentices. Believe it or not, you WILL be training and assisting new apprentices as you progress through your own apprenticeship. You will want to help them out as you have experienced first-hand what feelings and emotions they will have throughout their apprenticeship

• Developing your own style of work, based on others you work with as well as on personal input and ongoing training

• The ability to adapt quickly to different situations in the workplace – e.g. changes in roles around you, people leaving or commencing and new products to learn about

• Develop friendships for life. You will meet people from other nearby businesses, locations and backgrounds, all with similar interests to your own.

I can personally relate to many of the above points after having completed an apprenticeship. There are many other areas that are “forgotten” which I will cover in future posts. To this day, I still see people I completed my training with, even though their careers may have caused them to move – in some cases overseas.

From an employer’s point of view, having completed an apprenticeship shows strong personal qualities. You will have learnt how to be resilient, reliable, confident and able to fit into a team. You will know what it’s like to experience ALL aspects of any given industry. You will understand how important working safely is and be able to give examples of almost any work-related question likely to be thrown at you.

Employers will appreciate that you have sacrificed some money in the early stages of your career, knowing that you were looking at the bigger picture.

You will also feel secure knowing that, if for some reason in the future a career decision or choice doesn’t work out, you will ALWAYS have something to fall back on. What other job title has this much depth? Think about a career path that sounds interesting, stick with it, and the results will speak for themselves.