Apprenticeships are funded by employers and the government, and are a great alternative to college or university. They combine practical training in a job with study, and last between one and four years. They are available at different levels, and have academic equivalents:

Apprentices work alongside experienced staff, gaining job-specific skills and earning a wage. At the same time they study for a related qualification.

Anyone aged 16 and over who is not in full-time education.

There are apprenticeship qualifications for hundreds of jobs, in most industries and businesses of all sizes, both in practical and office environments.

Employers will really value the combination of a qualification and work experience you’ll gain with an apprenticeship. At the end of the apprenticeship you could choose to look for a job, progress to the next level of apprenticeship, or return to higher education.

Completing an apprenticeship in a subject that could be applied to many different industries (e.g. business admin, communications) will give you valuable experience of the working world and time to think about the future.

The minimum wage for apprentices applies only to those in their first year and those under 18; after this it increases to the minimum wage for your age. However most employers, including Winchester and the councils in the Hampshire Apprentice Partnership, pay more.

As well as giving a young person a valuable career opportunity, an apprenticeship also has benefits for the employer. For example:

• Grow your team and increase productivity while keeping staff costs down
• Develop new talent to meet your needs
• Give your team a fresh perspective, new energy, skills and ideas
• Increase employee loyalty and retention, reducing spend on recruitment and training
• Increase customer loyalty by visibly investing in young people

Although apprentices are generally young people taken on as new employees, anyone over the age of 16 can become one, so an existing employee could undertake an apprenticeship too.