20 reasons why you should do a construction apprenticeship
There are so many great reasons to do an apprenticeship! From earning while you learn to helping others in your community, saving money to making friends for life, we’ve listed some of the biggest benefits of apprenticeships, to help you decide whether a construction apprenticeship could be for you.
The benefits of apprenticeships
1. Earn while you learn
An apprenticeship is a job with training. This means that you will be earning a salary, like any other normal job. Except there’s nothing ‘normal’ about an apprenticeship! While you won’t be earning big bucks straight away, you will receive at least the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage, and if you are an apprentice in London you will receive a higher wage. All the time you will be learning new skills and gaining industry-recognised qualifications.
2. Save on uni debt
For many young people the choice after their A-Levels comes down to going to university or starting an apprenticeship. Uni sounds like fun, but you should consider whether it is in your best interests to go. If you have a specific career in mind, will a degree help you? Perhaps just as importantly, the financial burden of university can be very high. Graduates often leave with large student debts which take years to pay off. An apprenticeship is free, no matter what age you are, and you won’t owe anything at the end of it.
3. Get hands-on experience
During an apprenticeship, you’ll gain practical experience every day. You’ll be receiving training in how to do the job, then applying the skills you’ve learned. You’ll be responding to challenges and making a difference to the company you are working for. Apprentices get a huge sense of achievement and satisfaction from this.
4. Learn important life skills
As well as the workplace skills, an apprenticeship develops some key life skills. It will improve your time-keeping, as you know you’ll have to be starting work at the same time every morning. Your decision-making will also be better, and your ability to meet deadlines. Apprentices find that their confidence is boosted and they learn the importance of a good night’s sleep, too!
5. Get a head start on your career
Even after finishing university, some graduates don’t know what they want to do as a job. For apprentices it is a different story. Once you’ve completed your apprenticeship you’ll have the skills and experience to move ahead with your career, either with the employer you did your apprenticeship with, or a different employer. You’ll have many opportunities because of the things you’ve learnt during your apprenticeship.
6. Network with professionals across the industry
Apprenticeships are great for developing relationships with colleagues within your own organisation and in the wider construction industry. By getting to know more people in construction you’ll pick up more skills and knowledge, and it may help you progress your career. These are called your professional networks.
7. Enjoy the variety of construction
Many construction apprentices say that no two days are the same. On Monday you might be at college, Tuesdays on-site, Wednesdays in the office … there’s always variety! Plus there are always new challenges with every day, whether you are on site or off-site, so you are always learning.
8. Travel the world
Your apprenticeship could open up opportunities to work around the globe. It may start at home, but once you are qualified in your trade, you could find yourself working anywhere in the world. Construction happens everywhere, so transferable skills are highly sought after. You could be helping to build a skyscraper in Dubai, a sustainable office in Europe or a mountain road tunnel in the Alps.
9. Use your skills closer to home
By completing an apprenticeship near to where you live, you could have a big impact on your immediate surroundings and improve the local area for others in your community. You can use a website like Talentview to find apprenticeships in your local area.
10. Complete in international events
As a construction apprentice, you’ll have the chance to enter competitions like SkillBuild, the largest multi-trade skills competition in the UK. There are regional finals and a National Final, where you’ll be able to compete against other apprentices in your chosen trade, for the right to represent the UK at the WorldSkills competition each year. Bricklaying, plastering and roof slating are amongst the trades included in SkillBuild.
11. Inspire others
If you love construction and want to tell everyone just how great it is, you can become a Go Construct STEM Ambassador. You would be talking to young people about working in the construction industry, inspiring others to follow in your footsteps.
12. Go to the top
Apprenticeships offer huge potential for career progression. There really is no limit to the opportunities after you qualify. You can take inspiration from people like Sir Terry Morgan CBE, who started out as an engineering apprentice in a car parts factory, and went on to be knighted for services to infrastructure, skills, and employment.
13. Leave a legacy
As a construction worker you have the ability to build something that could last a long time – a skyscraper, if you like to think big, or a project in your community, if you want to make a difference locally. You might want to have an impact on sustainability in construction. Not many other jobs can offer you the same.
14. Find a role for your personality
There’s so much more to construction than you might have thought. There are over 170 job profiles available on Go Construct, from architects to wind turbine engineers. To find out what job would suit your personality, take our Ultimate Quiz. Or, to find a role to suit your skills, interests and qualifications, try our Career Explorer.
More advantages of apprenticeships
15. Explore entrepreneurial opportunities
Many people have said that they learnt how to run their own business from the experiences they had during their apprenticeship. Apprentices learn so much about their particular trade that when the time comes to become their own boss, they have the right skills. So if you want to become an entrepreneur one day, an apprenticeship is a great place to start!
16. Get job security and stability
Apprentices benefit from knowing that they have a secure and stable job during their apprenticeship. It is not like a normal job, in that you can’t be dismissed without good reason, and you have rights in the event that your employer ceases trading, or your training provider has its funding terminated.
17. Work with cutting-edge technology
As an apprentice you could get the chance to work with exciting new technology that is changing the face of construction. In areas like project management, CAD, BIM and architecture, you could be involved with Virtual Reality, robotics, drones and laser scanning.
18. Build a strong portfolio
The focus of apprenticeships is on practical skills; learning a trade so that by the end of the apprenticeship you will be able to do the job unsupervised. You should be working on real projects and jobs, building a ‘portfolio’ of work that you can show to any prospective employer, and say ‘I did that’. Your portfolio doesn’t have to be on paper, in a folder; you can just include the name of the project in your CV or covering letter.
19. Learn from the experts
One of the great advantages of an apprenticeship is that you are being trained by people who have years of experience in their trade or profession, both on site and during your classroom study. There is no substitute for learning the skills you will need from experts.
20. Develop leadership skills
Finally, apprenticeships can help you to become managers, leaders or just better employees. Alongside technical or practical skills you will learn how to work better as a team, how to solve problems, motivate colleagues and manage projects. You might not be thinking about being a manager quite yet, but it might come in useful one day!
What is the best apprenticeship for construction?
There is no one apprenticeship that is better than any other. Whatever skill or interest you have and want to develop, then there will be an apprenticeship opportunity for you.
At Go Construct we have over 170 different job profiles, so you can probably find a career in construction that suits you. Each job profile has plenty of useful information, such as salary, training options, key skills and case studies from people already working in construction.
Real life success stories
Read more from people who have built a career in construction after their apprenticeship:
Find a construction apprenticeship
There are several ways you can find employers that offer construction apprenticeships. You can use websites like Talentview, apply directly to employers, contact local colleges or ask friends or family members if they know of apprenticeships available at companies.