What apprenticeship or traineeship is right for your business?

What type of apprenticeship or traineeship would work for your organisation? Find out about categories, industries, courses and matching these to your business needs.

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Apprenticeships and traineeships combine on-the-job training with formal study.

They lead to:

a nationally recognised qualification for work in a specific job role and industry
a Certificate of Proficiency.

To decide if your business needs an apprentice or trainee, assess your business training needs.

To decide what training and qualification is right for your business, you can get advice from an Apprentice Connect Australia Provider.

See Step by step guide to employing an apprentice or trainee

The following gives you a general introduction to pathways, courses available, and aligning these to your business needs.

Contact Training Services if you need more information.

Categories and pathways

Different types include apprenticeships and traineeships.

There are also apprenticeships and traineeships that can be undertaken while still at school

An apprenticeship generally goes for 3-4 years, while a traineeship generally goes for 1-3 years. They may be offered full time or part time.

Trades and industries

Apprenticeships are mainly in trades. This includes building, construction, hairdressing, cooking, manufacturing and engineering.

Traineeships are in many industries including information technology, hospitality, retail and agriculture.

Within each industry there are different training options. For example, in the automotive industry there are both apprenticeships and traineeships which include fuel technology, bodywork, sales, manufacturing and other areas.

Courses and training

The course you choose must match the job role the apprentice or trainee will work in.

In Australia:

There’s more than 200 apprenticeship courses and 1000 traineeship courses
Training is competency based
Apprentices and trainees do formal training with a Registered Training Organisation
Apprentices and trainees also do on-the-job training in the workplace
As an employer you’ll help your apprentice or trainee to learn. You'll also assist with their assessment. See Train an apprentice or trainee at work for how you do this.

Also see Your Career to search training courses.

Find apprenticeship and traineeship courses in NSW

To find apprenticeships and traineeships in industry groups:
Search our database of apprenticeships and traineeships

See Skills NSW if you’re a student or worker searching for options.

For employers, your Apprentice Connect Australia Provider can advise you on training options.

Match it to your business needs

We recommend employers assess staff training and development needs at least once a year.

Ask yourself:

Are you achieving your business goals?
What is your market share and where is it heading?
How is your bottom line?
What is the level of client satisfaction?
Do you have effective business systems?
Are you achieving high quality outcomes?
What parts of the business need improvement?
Are you getting the most from your staff?
What are their existing skills and are there any shortfalls or mismatches?

Consult with staff about their skills and ambitions

Compare skills they have with skills they need for the current job, and future work.
Identify staff who’d benefit from the skills recognition process.
Consider the need to cross-skill staff.
Identify if you need to replace graduating apprentices or trainees, or recruit new ones to meet new skills needs.

Do a training and development plan

Decide how to deliver the skills to your staff. Try in-house training or outsource to a Registered Training Provider

Draw up a training and development plan to show your commitment to the training process.

In the plan list:

all courses scheduled
employees identified as participants
dates, venues and session times.

See How to employ an apprentice or trainee if you’re thinking about getting one on board. Remember that existing staff can also be apprentices or trainees.