Career Guidance - You got this!
Parents & Teachers
Australian School-Based Apprenticeships
All the resources you need to support your teenager to assess and find a career path that suits them.
Support for Parents
All the resources you need to support your teenager to assess and find a career path that suits them.
Support for Teachers
Information for teachers and career guidance officers to support student's career paths.
Helpful Resources
Helpful activities, quizzes and articles to assist in choosing a career path and finding employment.
Supporting a Young Person's Career Path
Empowering career decisions
As a parent or teacher, assisting a young person to explore their career choices can be extremely rewarding, and a bit daunting too.
With so many choices available, the conventional pathway – from school to university or into work – has changed dramatically.
An apprenticeship or traineeship offers on-the-job training and hundreds of possibilities in many different industries and work spaces.
When navigating all the exciting possibilities, we’ve got you covered with useful and supportive resources.
Did you know the Australian Government may even provide funding and other benefits to assist with the costs incurred whilst undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship?
Helping you help them...
Resources to support career decisions
The road to success is never a straight line! Whether onto university, heading into the workforce or undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship, all paths can lead to personal success.
Assisting your young person to make the right choice involves a lot of careful thought. What are they good at? What do they enjoy doing? What about industry changes and future job prospects? And what’s the deal with robots?
Don’t panic, we can help you to answer all that and more in our helpful resources section. You can also check out our FAQ’s below.
Over 600 Qualifications
Frequently
Asked Questions
Usually an apprenticeship is for a trade based industry such as electrical, building and construction, cooking, automotive, hairdressing, engineering and other trade-based qualifications. An apprenticeship qualification is longer in duration and can take up to four or five years to complete.
Traineeships cover industries that don’t require a trade certificate, for example business, retail, hospitality, IT, tourism and many more. A traineeship usually takes anywhere from six months to three years to complete, depending on the qualification and prior skills.
A person can undertake an Australian Apprenticeship as a school leaver, if re-entering the workforce and as an adult looking to change careers or gain skills for their industry. A person can also begin an apprenticeship while finishing secondary school under a school-based apprenticeship arrangement. They may elect to study full-time, part-time, or a combination of both – earning and learning as they go!
Persons undertaking an apprenticeship or traineeship will need to be minimum working age but there is no maximum age limit to begin an apprenticeship or traineeship. They will also need to be an Australian Citizen, a New Zealand passport holder or hold a visa that allows them to engage in work in Australia. With the host employer they will need to be permanently employed for a minimum of 15 hours per week or 7.5 hours per week if undertaking a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship. They will not be eligible if they are a casual employee or sub-contractor.
A full time apprenticeship can take anywhere from 36 to 60 months and include qualifications from Certificate Level III to Advanced Diploma.
A full time traineeship generally takes between 12 and 60 months and covers qualifications from Certificate Level II to Advanced Diploma.
The certificates are awarded based on competency which means the sooner you learn the skills and knowledge, the sooner you finish. You can also use additional real life experience to further reduce the certification time. Experience gained via formal or informal training, work experience, prior learning and on-the-job skills all count towards the attainment of your certificate and is called Recognised Prior Learning or RPL.
Your employer will usually cover the costs of the training, but you will need to check with them.
The Australian Government and State Governments may also subsidise some of the costs, but you should check with your Registered Training Organisation (RTO) or Apprenticeship Community consultant first.
Your training provider is responsible for developing your training plan, delivering the training, assessing your achievements and issuing you with your qualification upon completion of your training. It’s important that you and your employer choose the right training organisation for you and they can either be a public provider such as TAFE or a private organisation with accreditation. The Apprenticeship Community can provide you with a list of Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) offering your qualification. Some providers are funded by the Government which means they can provide subsidised training or if you choose a training organisation that is not funded, your training will be delivered on a fee-for-service basis.
Make sure you and your employer think about the following things when choosing your training provider:
- How much input will you and your employer have into the course?
- Ask how and when the training will take place and when you will be assessed?
- How often will your training provider visit you at work and provide feedback?
- What other assistance can they provide?
- What are the costs involved?
Choosing a career path is a big decision! Your likes, personality, preferences and talents will all come into play. Our Resources page offers quizzes, activities, tips and tricks to help you.
You may also want to check out our A-Z Guide to Apprenticeships & Traineeships. This lists over 600 qualifications in over 50 industries.
