Career advisers will almost universally agree, you will need continued education after high school in order to have an upwardly mobile career. What you sometimes don’t hear is, there is more than one path to post-secondary education.
Employers want job candidates with work experience. Apprenticeships offer students the chance to earn a progressive wage while they are also gaining the work experience and classroom training that will multiply their value to employers.
Students can take comfort in the viability of the career paths they pursue through apprenticeship. Employers create apprenticeships because they need high-skilled workers enough to build a training system for them.
The traditional educational model has students go to school, get training, and then look for an employer who wants the skills they have. Apprenticeships flip this sequence of events by connecting students to employers who want them and are willing to invest in them to get the training they need.
The national credential earned by an apprentice provides portable job credentials, so even if markets shift, apprentices are more able to find sustained employment.
Apprenticeships offer post-secondary training while avoiding the crushing load of student debt often incurred with a college degree. This is accomplished because employers are providing the training they need employees to have. In Alabama, the primary provider of this training is the Alabama Community College System.
No matter whether you are still investigating different career options or if your are interested in learning about specific training programs, the AlabamaWorks! student resource page is a great place to begin.
