Why I Hate Apprenticeships

Now, I know a lot of people will disagree with me and that’s obviously perfectly fine, but this is my experience and it’s been a bad one. These are my reasons I hate apprenticeships.

Salary

Let’s talk about salary. When I was working as an apprentice (I’ve been in three apprenticeships) I was getting paid £3.50 an hour. How ridiculous is that? I know apprenticeships are a great way of getting into work if you have or haven’t been to university. Some may say it’s better than volunteering since you get nothing with doing that. But when you’re working 40 hours a week for just over £500 a month, it starts to become shitty and tiring. I used to spend an hours pay just getting the bus so I decided to save my £3.50 and walk 2 hours each day. When we moved further away it was even worse but I still refused to use a bus.

On Fridays, although I felt guilty, I would buy myself a Costa and then get the train after work to Oliver’s. That was £40 each weekend. Basically, I couldn’t save hardly anything (although I did manage a little here and there thank god) and by the end of the month I was surviving on a tenner.

Apprentices do the same, if not more work than full time employers. My colleague was on three times more than me, even though she worked 3 days a week and I worked 5. How does that work? Oh that’s right, because these employers don’t give a shit. If you find an apprenticeship with nice people, average pay and a decent workload, then good on you. But I’ve never met someone who has.

If you want to earn respect from your employees, pay them enough so they can afford to buy themselves dinner.

Workload

In my first apprenticeship, I was given so much work to do but very little reward for it. I know a lot of employees do a lot of work, but expecting someone to manage everything for you while paying them £3.50 an hour is a joke.

In one apprenticeship, I overheard a phone call between my boss and my colleague. My boss said that he wanted me to be his PA (all five staff members left within the first two weeks of me being there). So I asked how much I would be paid and my colleague told me I would be a PA and admin on apprenticeship wage. When my boss found out what my colleague had said this to me, he was furious as he wanted me to be below minimum wage doing a PA job. I’m not that stupid I’m afraid.

Overview

It probably won’t surprise you that I never finished any of my apprenticeships. I always left, whether it was a boss being a dick, not getting paid enough or the place went bankrupt. I haven’t had luck with any of them jobs. If you do find one, I urge you not to take any shit. You’re below minimum wage doing a full time employee’s job. Take. No. Shit. Don’t do what I did and put up with it.