Browse Our Level 3 Apprenticeship Courses

• You can work, learn and earn, all at the same time. It does not get better than that when it comes to developing yourself in all areas whilst affording sustenance and a social life.
• You have two expert sources of knowledge. The workplace gives you the real world hands-on view of what that job is like to do and how to be the best. The training provider makes sure you are equipped to grow your knowledge and skills by yourself by understanding the academic basis for everything you are expected to do. Both places also provide additional support and guidance for your personal and career development. Therefore, an apprenticeship is like a launchpad for your future.
• An apprenticeship has flexibility. You can arrange the sort of training schedule that helps you do well, by agreeing this up front with your employer. They will represent your preferences when they discuss their own preferences with us. You might before to train just a few hours a day rather than a full day for example, so that you get to work everyday too. Much is possible.
• You can make a lot of friends and build your professional network so that in future, they can connect you with other opportunities. You should aim to earn everyone’s respect and be seen as a genuine worker and team member – you should not be expecting any special treatment, but rather aim to get a proper and real experience of the job. A real experience is what other academic based courses in university for instance, often cannot give you.

Your training is part of your work and is underpinned by your job contract. Therefore, your employer still handles things such as holiday under normal employment law.

Before committing to an apprenticeship, you must make yourself aware of any specific requirements that cannot be adapted for you e.g. compulsory training sessions that cannot be scheduled again.

If you have started training, you should inform your trainer as early as possible that you will be away and they can instruct you as to how to make up for lost time.

Apprenticeships are vocational training therefore any job can continue during an apprenticeship – the key is to put all preparations in place so that scheduling and delivery formats are discussed and agreed up front.

This is set out in an agreement with your employer. Training can be weekly, monthly, block release or a mixture. You must spend 20% of your time on training activities, some of which is direct contact with your trainer and attendance is required.

You can read about time management for apprentices here.

The gov.uk website displays the National Minimum Wage for Apprentices as £4.30 per hour as of April 2021, for the first year of employment.

The apprentice wage makes it possible for employers to still give paid job opportunities to unqualified staff. The employer does however, undertake a commitment to spend their own time and resource (both do cost the employer money) to help you get qualified and pass your course.

In your own career development, it is important to gain an understanding of your value as an employee. You must learn to record your results (deliverables) and achievements both quantitatively and qualitatively, as they serve a basis for negotiating your pay and the opportunities made available to you.

If you really are motivated to reach your peak performance, read our article on “Intrapreneurship”.

For your off-the-job training with your training provider, you will be assigned to a trainer for your course. They will sometimes train you in a group class and sometimes directly. They can also observe you at work and attend meetings with your employer. They will also receive support from other staff at Commun-IT to help you. Specialist modules in your training might be delivered by a different trainer too.

For your on-the-job training, you can ask your workplace to provide a mentor for you. This does not have to be your manager. A mentor can support and guide you. However, your manager may also perform this duty. Your employer may make other training arrangements for you that are necessary for your role such as First Aid.

Apprenticeship Standards have been designed collaboratively by training providers and employers. They are focused on a set of job roles, all of which require the knowledge, skills and behaviours that the apprenticeship training delivers or prepares you for.

If you answer yes to the below two questions for any particular apprenticeship standard, then you should consider it:

• Do I want to do this job and progress in this line of work?
• Do I want to learn these knowledge, skills and behaviours?