I Didn’t Get The Grades I Wanted, What Can I Do Now?

So you didn’t get the grades you wanted and you’ve started thinking that maybe A-Levels or University isn’t for you…

Have you thought about an Apprenticeship?

Apprenticeships can be seen as one of the best ways to enter any industry, and with more and more people signing up, and the UK Government pledging to invest £2.5b in apprenticeship schemes by 2020, it seems the trend of apprenticeships is rising.

The number of students applying to university is dropping year on year as people are realising the benefits of apprenticeships; you get paid and get your qualification, you get real-life experience in a work environment where everyday is different and you get a head start when you finish your apprenticeship compared to someone just graduating, with little to no work experience in their field.

What is an Apprenticeship?

Apprenticeships allow you to combine study and work by mixing training at work and classroom based learning, you’ll be employed to do a real job in whatever industry excites you and you’ll be working towards a qualification in that field (usually one day a week!) 

The qualifications you’ll receive will be equivalent to a Bachelors or Masters Degree, A-Levels or GCSEs, depending on what level you take.

Apprenticeships can take upwards of 12 months to complete, and you’ll get the same benefits as every employee, like holiday allowance, lunch hours and maybe even more perks depending on the company.

Are Apprenticeships for people not clever enough for university?

An Apprenticeship is a choice, there are people who got good grades but felt that university wasn’t for them or didn’t want to go down the same route that everyone else has taken - you will still be completing a qualification, but will also be working and getting paid and gaining skills for life for it in return.

Jaguar Land Rover, BBC, Nestle, Visa and more, all offer degree apprenticeships, and every year 100s of people apply, making it competitive to get into, but they do cater for most people.

“I’ll miss out on the student life”

Obviously you’ll be working full-time as an apprentice and won’t have as much “free time” compared to being at university but you may be surrounded by other apprentices and you can get the same perks as being a student like discounts, on top of all that you won’t have any student loan debt and you can spend the money you earn on whatever you want.

“There are no Apprenticeships for what I want to do”

There are over 170 industries to choose from and up to 25 000 apprenticeship vacancies online at any one time, apprenticeship vacancies are updated weekly, so keep hunting as you never know what you might find, but you can see what’s available right NOW!