15 Jun 2015

If you’re keen on becoming a qualified tradesperson, but don’t know where to start, then a pre-apprenticeship is the way to go. A pre-apprenticeship is a one-year course that provides you with all the knowledge and skills you’ll need to successfully commence and complete an apprenticeship, and they look mighty fine on a resume too. People who complete pre-apprenticeships have a much higher chance of being hired for an apprenticeship, plus it gives them a taste for the trade they are interested in, so they can ensure the path they’re going down is the right one for them.

There’s no doubt that pre-apprenticeships are a valuable way to spend your time and one of the best chances at finding yourself employment, so what should you expect from a pre-apprenticeship? Our friends over at TAFE Western Sydney Institute (WSI) provide apprenticeship courses in a number of trade industries, and they’ve given us a rundown of what the life of a typical pre-app student might look like.

Your day will start at around 7:30am, where you will meet on campus to be transported by a TAFE bus to the worksite. Alternatively, you can meet your work mates at the site at 8am, or be picked up by the bus from the train station nearest to the site.

If it’s raining that day, or the job site isn’t quite ready for you yet, you’ll spend the day on campus learning the theory behind your trade. But if you’re a hands-on kind of learner, then don’t worry–theory work only makes up about 10% of your course time, so you wont be stuck behind a desk for too long, and there’s plenty of practical work you can do around campus too!

While you’re on site, you’ll get to learn the basics of your trade and gain a whole bunch of experience in a construction environment. You’ll be taught how to handle yourself on-site and how to remain safe, while getting to try out all kinds of tools and new skills to build, create or repair structures and products. Most pre-apprenticeship students say this is the best part of the course, so you’ll be glad to know that practical work makes up the other 90% of your training.

You can pack up and go when you’ve finished your work, usually at about 4pm. You can then either be transported back to TAFE by bus, or to the nearest train station so you can make your own way home. You don’t need your own vehicle or even a driver’s license to complete a pre-apprenticeship, so it’s a great way to spend your days if you’re still on your Ls and need to kill time before you can get your Ps, which are often necessary for securing an apprenticeship.

This is what you’ll be doing three days a week with in a pre-apprenticeship. The other two days you can spend doing whatever you like–working another job or getting out there and searching for an apprenticeship. TAFE WSI is happy to try and help you in finding employment, and every week employers will be contacting the class with new vacancies they need filled. Throughout your pre-app you will be connecting with various employers and apprenticeship providers, so there is every chance you could get hired into an apprenticeship before you’ve even finished your pre-app. If this happens, you will drop down to one day a week at TAFE, so you can complete the theoretical part of your apprenticeship while you work.

Usually, more than 75% of pre-app students will find employment in this time. Those who don’t are usually too young to have a driver’s license. If you don’t find an apprenticeship before completing your pre-app, you will be given a transcript that details which units you have achieved (generally 15-20 out of a total 30 for a Certificate III), and a Certificate II in your chosen field. You can then use this to find an apprenticeship employer, which is usually a lot easier with a pre-apprenticeship than without. Once you have found an employer to do your apprenticeship under, you can return to TAFE and complete the theoretical part of your apprenticeship training.