There are two main steps to finding an apprenticeship. Work with an Employment Counsellor to explore each step.
First, select an apprenticeship that suits your skills and abilities, and shows potential for work in your community.
- Careful exploration of your skills and strengths is a first step
- Match these skills to potential apprenticeship options – make sure that your skills and the apprenticeship choice complement each other
- Understand the work options for your apprenticeship choice – look at labour market information to be sure the investment of several years will produce a job in your community
- Research local employers and conduct informational interviews to confirm your choice of apprenticeship
- Research and choose the best pathway into apprenticeship and consider your finances and apprenticeship funding options.
The second step is finding an employer. To become an apprentice you’ll need to have an employer who is willing to hire you, train you, and register you as an apprentice. This will require a great deal of research, networking and possibly will require pre-apprenticeship training on your part.
- Pre-apprenticeship programs, if available, offer you a substantive base training that makes you particularly appealing to employers
- The search for an employer willing to sponsor your apprenticeship can be quite daunting – a careful and strategic job search is the best way to move forwards – and it can take time and patience. Work closely with an employment counsellor to help you to conduct an active job search.
- Develop a short-term “survival” plan – as you are looking for your apprenticeship employer, it would be helpful to have work in a related field or in an entry level job in the sector. This helps you to sustain yourself during your search, but it also shows employers that you are a dedicated and disciplined worker.
- Stay connected with the sector for your apprenticeship – do informational interviews, attend educational events, read journals and newsletters with information about the sector.
- Network with as many people as possible to help you to develop leads that will either provide you with a reference or a useful connection.
Some suggestions:
- Thoroughly review the Ontario Government Apprenticeship sites
- Review the Job Searching section of this website. Many of the strategic, researched job search steps can help you in finding an employer to sponsor you in your apprenticeship.
- The Apprenticeship Branch of the Ontario Government (Ontario Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development, formerly MTCU) is mostly useful once you have found an employer. The Working Centre is one of the Employment Ontario funded organizations designated to help you find an employer.
