Developing Your Career
When you start out on an apprenticeship you may not be thinking too far in the future about where your career may go. However, as you progress and gain more experience you are likely to start considering your career development.

An apprenticeship is a great place to start as it gives you wealth of skills and experience as well as qualifications. The next stage is considering what to do when it comes to an end and how to take control of your career.

Building Your CV

As an apprentice, the best thing that you can do for your career development is to build up your skillset. All your training and qualifications will make an impressive CV and will give you more options when you come to the end of your apprenticeship.

Don’t miss any opportunities to gain a further qualification or expand your skills and experience. If you have the chance to be entered for an award then make the most of it as this could make you stand out from the crowd.

Career Advice

If you have no idea what you want to do or could just do with a bit of help about what is available, then seek some career advice. There are lots of career advisors available to help you. Your local jobcentre is a good place to start, or at your college but there are many specialist services out there as well.

The best way to make a decision is to gather as much information as possible about your options so you can make an informed choice about how you want your career to develop.

Career Development

Your career development is an ongoing process and won’t just happen overnight. You need to think of your career development as a work in progress and break it down into stages. You may have a goal in mind of the job or position that you want to aspire to.

Then think about what you need to do to get there. It may be that there are a number or job roles in between you and your goal which you will have to work through to finally achieve it.

Make a Plan

Once you have gathered all the career information that you can and are boosting your CV along the way, you need start planning your career development. Consider how much time you have left on your apprenticeship and what else you need to achieve before you finish.

Decide what your next move will be so that you can start working towards it. Then give yourself a time line laying out the position you would like to be in and a realistic timeframe for achieving it.

Your career development is in your hands and is something that you can actively try and guide. Make the most of your apprenticeship so you have strong CV to help you on your journey. Get some career advice and work out what steps you will need to take to reach your goal. Then set yourself a realistic time frame for climbing the career ladder.