05 Mar 2018

You’ve heard the questions a million times ‘what do you want to do when you finish school?’, ‘what are you doing after Year 12?’ and ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’

They’re tough questions to answer, especially since you’ve gone your entire schooling life constantly being told what to do and how to think.

But, if you’re one of those people that needs more hands on learning or who isn’t the biggest fan of sitting in a classroom all day, doing a trade could be on the cards.

Committing to a trade is a pretty big step though, and if you’re not 100% sold on an apprenticeship or are just really bad at making decisions (I feel ya), a pre-apprenticeship could be your saving grace.

What is a pre-apprenticeship? 

A pre-apprenticeship is a short course that runs for between 12-16 weeks, full-time. It’s the perfect way to get started in a trade career, without committing to a four-year apprenticeship.

It gives you some solid exposure to the industry and you’ll be able to figure out if the tradie life is something you’re keen on. You’ll be learning some important industry skills and that sort of thing will set you apart from other candidates when applying for jobs later on.

Still not convinced to give it a go?

Aside from the fact that a pre-apprenticeship is the perfect way to suss out whether a trade is right for you, there’s heaps of perks.

For one, some employers are specifically looking for new apprentices that have completed their pre-app qualification before taking them on. It shows that you’re committed and ready to start a fully fledged apprenticeship.

If you’re in Victoria, our mates at AGA offer pre-apprenticeships in Automotive, Building and Construction, Electrical, Construction Pathways and Plumbing, so if you’re a little bit keen on any of those areas you should definitely hit them up and apply for a pre-apprenticeship.

There’s zero pre-requisites and it’s open to anyone to apply which means you can apply for courses, right now.

Annnddd, if you’re stressed about the cost of completing a pre-apprenticeship, keep in mind that you might qualify for government funding which will reduce the cost for you. Plus, if you decide to continue on with an apprenticeship afterwards, you’ll have already done a chunk of the work, so you’ll be able to start earning cash faster.

Keen?

Like we said, if you’re located in Victoria our mates over at AGA have a heap of pre-apprenticeships on offer that you can apply to with literally zero experience. They can also help you out if you’re interested in a full apprenticeship, or if you want to find out more about traineeships.