Careers advice for budding apprentices

The Barclays LifeSkills Youth Barometer has highlighted that just a quarter of young people between the ages of 14-25 were told about apprenticeships in school. Kirstie Mackey, head of LifeSkills for Barclays, said careers advice was a crucial part of education, and found the figures troubling. She added: 

“While some young people will thrive through purely academic routes, others will fare better in vocational routes like apprenticeships. We see this first hand at Barclays, where we run both award-winning graduate and apprenticeship schemes side by side. The most important thing for any pupil is to know that they have options open to them whenever they leave full-time education.”

Having spoken to both students, parents, and Careers Officers within schools in Manchester at a few school events, and as part of market research conducted by The Apprentice Academy I have received similar feedback. Not in every case but there seems to be cases where students are advised that the University route is the best route to aspire to, as opposed to finding out what motivates the student the most and matching this to the most appropriate pathway, whether it be further studies, a full-time job, or an apprenticeship.

On the up side, over half of the 2,000 surveyed said they thought apprenticeships were the best way to land a job. Testimony to this can be found via apprentice testimonies 

The National Career Service offers some great information about apprenticeships in a range of areas as does the National Apprenticeship Service

Inspiring the Future is a national initiative to provide students with the opportunity to hear from local employers and gain an insight into the range of careers available to them. The National Apprenticeship Service has encouraged apprenticeship employers and apprentices to register to provide career talks at their local state secondary schools, 6th form and FE colleges to share their personal experience of Apprenticeships.

A workbook produced by National Career Service aims to help pupils make an informed choice about Apprenticeships. By working through this work book pupils will learn about Apprenticeships, the opportunities and prospects within vocational education and how to search and apply for Apprenticeships jobs.

There are some great sources of information out there for young people looking for advice on apprenticeships & taking the next steps in their career. As a starting point, you may wish to contact The Apprentice Academy on 0161 200 1673. Why not give us a call?