| For your whole life, you’ve been hearing people tell you that education is the key to a good career. But the best-kept secret about careers is that most job skills are learned on the job. Still, young people face a chicken-and-egg problem: How do you get the job where you can learn the skills if you don’t have the skills that qualify you for the job? A lot of young people solve this problem by getting a college degree that serves as a ticket to get them into the job.
But wouldn’t it be marvelous if there were another formal career entry route besides college—an entry route that consisted mostly of on-the-job training, with only as much book learning mixed in as needed? Good news: This entry route already exists, and it’s called apprenticeship. But so many people think apprenticeship is old-fashioned or it’s only for “grease monkeys” and construction trades.
This book is designed to open your eyes. It will alert you to the many career possibilities that are open to you through apprenticeships. In fact, more than 800 apprenticeships are registered with the U.S. Department of Labor, and they are linked to over 300 occupations.
Because there are so many apprenticeable jobs to choose from, this book is also designed to narrow your thinking. The easy-to-browse lists of the best apprenticeable jobs will help you focus on the career opportunities that combine high rewards (good income, many job openings) with other features that matter to you, such as your interests.
Of course, a list goes only so far. To make a good career choice, you need to dig down into the details of what a job is like—what the tasks are, what skills are required, what the work environment is like, and so forth. This book provides a wealth of information on apprenticeable jobs, based on the most current data available from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Census Bureau.
Apprenticeship is a system of job training in which trainees become highly skilled workers through a combination of worksite learning and classroom learning. It is sometimes called “the other four-year degree” because it often takes four years and it results in a nationally recognized credential that can open the door to income and job security that may be as good as or better than what college graduates enjoy.
In this book we use the most reliable and up-to-date earnings, projected growth, number of openings, and other information available. The data came from the U.S. Department of Labor source known as Occupation and Employment Statistics. As you look at the data, keep in mind that the figures are estimates. They give you a general idea about the number of workers employed, annual earnings, rate of job growth, and annual job openings. |