Would you do this apprenticeship?

[ohdearwhatdoido]

I'm 30 years old, with a law degree (2.2 from an average uni).

Got into retail post-graduation while I put the feelers out and, long story short, I'm still here. Hours are good for the kids, it's a small family business and I get on well with everyone. But the money is not good, and I don't feel like I'm excelling in the role. I've progressed as far as I can so where I am now is it.

I've applied for an apprenticeship (after some encouragement from DH due to my uncertainty) with my local council and been invited to interview next week but I feel so confused!

Financially we can manage but my wage will drop by half for the first year which is disheartening when I don't feel like I earn enough now! And the thought of leaving my current employers makes me feel sick - staff holidays coming up mean they'll be so short staffed they possibly wouldn't be able to open every day if I wasn't here, and with Christmas coming it would be a BAD time. But I may not get this opportunity again next year 🤷‍♀️

Argh!!!

What would you all do?

I wouldn't. You have a degree, unlikely they'll accept you as an apprentice. Go to a decent agency. You've a solid work record, a degree that shows you can function at a high level, employers will be looking for someone as experienced as you, even if not in the right field.

Or a part time MBA, open university. Don't go backwards.

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages as @titchy I don't actually know! I wrongly assumed they were all the same? Have just logged in and had a look at my application but can't see anything on there so will have to question them on this...

Absolutely find out. Some apprenticeships seem to have been created as a way to get cheap labour - I remember seeing one as an apprentice bartender once. I've been a bartender, and it's a mystery to me why anyone would need an apprenticeship to learn it. Some business admin apprenticeships are essentially filing and photocopying and are aimed at getting teens with few qualifications into some form of work - they have their place but not for you.

Find out what the qualification is and work out what, if anything, it would allow you to do afterwards that you couldn't already do.

For reference, in terms of what the levels mean, they're equivalent to
Level 1 = GCSE D-G
Level 2 = GCSE A*-C
Level 3 = A Level
Level 4 = HNC / first year uni
Level 5 = HND / second year uni
Level 6 = Bachelors degree
Level 7 = Masters degree

Most likely this apprenticeship is level 2/3 and you're unlikely to find it academically stretching

Cmon. You've applied for fifty jobs and the one time you get an interview you're considering not going?

You're in the same job you had at college. You're finding it difficult to come out of your comfort zone.

Do it. Your career prospects will be hugely bigger than now. You're just finding excuses to stay.

And you won't be an apprentice for ever.

And for the pp who bizarrely said you won't find it academically challenging. You'll find it more challenging than your current role. But not so daunting that you struggle.

I really think some posters are underestimating quite how hard it is to secure an office job with a retail only CV.

Agree, they are blithely ignoring the fifty rejections. Fourteen years of shop work after completing a law degree will raise questions. About drive and desire to do anything else and why she settled and others aren't employing her. Advising her to walk away from her only opportunity without even trying is ludicrous.

And she doesn't have to stay in the role, she can do a year or two at the council and move on.

She's clearly scared of the change, so posters urging her to reject her only opportunity are doing her no favours

Absolutely go to the interview

Work out what questions you need to ask them, to establish whether the course and position will be useful for you ( and what you can do for them too of course)

What are the chances of it leading to a full time position for you, what other opportunities might open up ?

There are some apprenticeship schemes out there that are really really good as a stepping stone to bridge the gap between school and full time employment. There are government finds available for employers to run apprenticeship scheme. Some unscrupulous employers use the scheme as cheap labour, employing people for a year and then getting rid of them.

My suspicions would be aroused by a council offering business administration rather than public sector administration. If you really want to do business administration would you not be better doing that with someone who is actually running a business?

Public sector has not been well financed for a long time now, it's been shrinking as a sector for a long time. Not necessarily worth a salary sacrifice for long term prospects

Bottom line by all means go to the interview and ask all the questions you have prepared

I would also sign up with all the temp agencies and see what you can do. I work for a large corporate, list of really successful people have joined initially in security guards / receptionist roles then really gone all out to get a better role when a chance came up. It's a really tough way in

All the best.

@Bluntness100 where have I said I'm not going to the interview? If you see my previous posts I said I am going to the interview for the experience if nothing else. It's what may come after that that I'm unsure about.

@FinallyHere thanks for your reply I've started a list of questions to ask in my interview. I would hope that council wouldn't just be doing this for cheap labour(?!). Council posts aren't so easy to get here and I think maybe part of me is hoping that this is a bit of a foot in the door? That something else may arise while I'm there that I could apply for if my colleagues have already seen that I'm capable. Not sure how likely that is though!

Also @Bluntness100 I have no issue with drive and desire - I started as weekend staff in my current role, worked alongside studying and I'm currently Manager in the store where I'm at now.
I done a 6 month stint in a HR role for a large company but unfortunately that came to an end (my choice).
The issue I have with leaving my current role is that there's never a right time - and I appreciate that could be said about any role, but when it's a family business and not a lot of staff, it feels harder.

With a law degree, interest in admin and experience in a sales/customer-facing role, have you thought about training as a company secretary? There are a few corporate service companies out there that regularly take on trainees on a reasonable salary and will pay for you to qualify. Maybe google ICSA and look at the jobs page?

I wouldn’t op. I worked for a local authority for years and saw so many apprentices come and go. They did exactly the same job as the ‘proper’ staff (except with a lot more photocopying and grunt work) but were paid a pittance. One apprentice in my department was there 3 years but never actually got a permanent position. They seem to be a way of getting a job done cheaply. Plus local authorities make cut backs constantly, the redundancies every year are what made me leave eventually.