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Skills Tasmania

I want to be an apprentice or trainee

Good decision.  An apprenticeship or traineeship is a learning pathway that combines paid on-the-job training and formal training with a Registered Training Organisation. It provides an opportunity for people in a job to work toward a qualification, whilst also earning money through their employment.

Finding an apprenticeship or traineeship is as much about finding a job in an area you want to work in, as it is about the training. Find out what qualifications are available through an apprenticeship or traineeship in your area of interest.

You can also find out what courses are available as an apprenticeship or traineeship in the industry that you have chosen by browsing the list of courses approved as an apprenticeship or traineeship in Tasmania.

The following steps outline a path that may lead you to an apprenticeship or traineeship.

1. Think through your career path.

Give some thought to what the type of work you are looking for and what industry you might want to work in. Apprenticeships and traineeships are available across almost every industry and role you can think of and are suitable for existing workers that already have a job, as well as new workers to an industry.

Apprenticeships and traineeships can also be undertaken while still at school. School-aged learner apprenticeships and traineeships are designed for young people to commence employment based training while completing year 10, 11 and 12 of schooling.

The following websites are a good starting point to find out more about your career options:

2. Find an employer.

Once you have an idea of your career path or preferred job you will need to find an employer who is interested in employing you as an apprentice or trainee.

You can do this by looking in the job vacancy ads in your local paper or online, contacting an Apprenticeship Network Provider in your region to assist you with job-matching services, directly contacting employers in the industry you'd like to work in, or contacting a Group Training Organisation (GTO). GTOs are organisations that employ apprentices and trainees and place them with a host business for their employment and training.

You can also visit jobsearch.gov.au. This website advertises apprenticeships and traineeships in your local area and has details of your local Job Services Australia providers who can also help you.

Employers will generally require a copy of your resume, so make sure have yours updated and ready to go. A resume generally details your work experience, achievements, school studies, hobbies, career goals and your contact details.

3. Get started.

Once you and your employer are ready to get started with an apprenticeship or traineeship you need to contact an Apprenticeship Network  Provider (ANP). The ANP can consider the specifics of your circumstances, provide information about apprenticeships and traineeships, including the conditions you and your employer need to meet, and help you to set it up if you wish to proceed.

They will get you to sign a training contract for a specified duration to formalise your agreement to work and train together. A training contract is a legally binding document that details the roles and responsibilities of both you and your employer. If you are under 18 your parent or guardian must also sign the contract. You can find more information about the training contract here.

You and your employer will also need to choose a registered training organisation (RTO) that will work with you to achieve the qualification. The RTO will deliver your training and assess your achievement of skills, and issue your qualification when you complete the requirements of the course.

You can either pick an RTO before you talk to the ANP, or they can assist you with this. The RTO can provide details of the costs associated with the qualification you want to do – costs may differ between RTOs.

A list of which RTOs currently subsidised to deliver specific qualifications is available here.

For a list of qualifications available in Australia and registered training organisations relevant to your preferred apprenticeship or traineeship, visit the myskills.gov.au website.

4. Proceed.

Once you and your employer have completed and signed the training contract with your ANP, your RTO will be asked to confirm they are available to provide you with training and assessment services. Once this is confirmed, your ANP will then lodge your training contract with Skills Tasmania.

Skills Tasmania is the government department that administers all apprenticeships and traineeships and training contracts in Tasmania.

Skills Tasmania will validate the information contained in the training contract and, if correct and complete, the contract will be approved and registered. The training contract must be registered for your apprenticeship or traineeship to be activated.

Your RTO will contact you and your employer to develop a detailed training plan once the training contract is registered. The training plan will help you understand what is expected of you to achieve the qualification by outlining what you learn, where you will learn it, how you will be trained, and how and when you will be assessed.

Now it’s over to you to progress through your training, with the help of your employer and RTO.

Once you have obtained the skills needed to achieve the qualification, your RTO will issue you with your qualification and notify Skills Tasmania of your successful completion.