With GCSE and A Level results just gone, have you thought about your next steps beyond school? It can be difficult thinking about your options beyond college or university, but there are a wide range of career paths and opportunities available to you. If you like the sound of learning and earning at the same time, a Traineeship could be the right choice for you. Read on to find out!
What is a Traineeship?
A Traineeship is a fantastic work-based learning programme that helps 16-18 year olds like you become work-ready whilst gaining a qualification. Having spent most of your time in school or college, our Traineeships give you a helping hand progressing from education to the workplace!
Traineeships offer a hands-on alternative to the continual demands of essays, exams and studying that college and university entails. So what can you expect instead?
- A range of routes to choose from, including Animal Care, Customer Service, Care and Catering
- Support from our Opportunities team
- A dedicated tutor
- An exciting work placement
- Trips and guest speakers
- All the care, support and guidance you need
So, what are the benefits of a Traineeship?
Earn whilst you learn
On a Traineeship, you’ll earn up to £50 a week plus travel expenses. This means you can learn new skills and gain hands-on experience with a top Welsh employer whilst earning at the same time.
You’ll be supported by a dedicated tutor in one of our Skills Centres, learning key employability skills and developing essential communication and numeracy skills. Once we’ve helped you secure a placement, you’ll spend a couple of days a week in the workplace, gaining relevant experience and job-specific skills.
The skills and work experience you gain with a Traineeship are what employers are looking for and will be key when Apprenticeship or job seeking.
You can start at any time
Unlike college or university, you don’t have to wait until September to start – you can enrol onto our Traineeship (or Apprenticeship) programmes at any time of year. And, whilst higher education courses can take two or three years to complete, a Traineeship only takes between 6-12 months.
Meet Darren
Darren James was unsure what career path he wanted to take before discovering ACT’s Motor Vehicle Traineeship. He is now thriving as an Apprentice with one of Wales’ Premier tour operators, Edwards Coaches.
“I was home-schooled with my brother until I was 15 and a family friend suggested ACT as a way for us to get into college. We looked into it for my brother first and then when we saw he was doing well, I followed him a year later.
“If I hadn’t gone to ACT and began my Traineeship, I wouldn’t have had the chance to learn about motor vehicles till later on in college – if I had even made it there to begin with. ACT has given me a huge amount of support and I would highly recommend them to absolutely anyone.”
Darren’s commitment and drive to overcome his barriers to learning did not go unnoticed by his tutors, and in 2017 he was nominated for the ‘Traineeship of the Year’ award at ACT’s internal awards in the Motor Vehicle category.
Commenting on his award win, Darren said, “I was shocked and very surprised to win the award as I was not expecting to be put forward for it but I am so grateful to the tutors for nominating me.”
How to sign up
If you’ve decided that a Traineeship sounds like the right path for you, find out more here, or get in touch with our Opportunities team today on 029 2046 4727 or info@acttraining.org.uk
