Intermediate Apprenticeships What you need to know

Intermediate Apprenticeships What you need to know by Michael Cheary There’s more than one way to join an apprenticeship…  No matter what stage of your career you’re in, apprenticeships are an excellent way to build up your experience levels and break into a new field. But with many different types of apprenticeship available, knowing which one is right for you is vital for anyone looking to get started.To help point you in the right direction, here’s everything you need to know about Intermediate Apprenticeships:What are Intermediate Apprenticeships?Intermediate Apprenticeships are the first level of apprenticeships.They combine on-the-job training with classroom study, which will help to provide all the skills and training you need to get started in a new industry.Intermediate Apprentices work towards work-based learning qualifications, such as an NVQ Level 2, which is mixed with Key Skills in English, Maths and ICT. Most will then progress to a relevant knowledge-based qualification such as a BTEC.How long do they last?Intermediate Apprenticeships last for around 12 months.However, there is no set time limit to complete training, and some employers may offer extra time to get qualified as part of their own apprenticeship schemes.What can I study?Apprenticeships are available in more than 170 industries across the UK.In other words, no matter what role you’re looking to move into in your career, there will be an available opportunity out there for you.Some of the most popular Intermediate Apprenticeships include Accounting, IT, Fashion Textiles, Hair Beauty, Plumbing Electrics, Carpentry and Digital Marketing.However, there are a number of other opportunities outside of the more traditional routes, and more and more employers are offering apprenticeships as a way to upskill their workforce.Five apprenticeships you may not have consideredHow old do I have to be for Intermediate Apprenticeship?You must be at least 16 years old in order to start an apprenticeship.However, there’s no maxim um age limit, so it’s never too late to start learning. All you need to do is find the right opportunity for you.Apprenticeships for school leavers  Can I continue my education while I’m doing an apprenticeship?Yes.Your Intermediate Apprenticeship won’t just help to build up your experience in the workplace.They also provide you with a real, recognised qualification in your chosen career. Most commonly these are earned in a classroom setting, with your employer giving you dedicated time every week to complete your studies â€" whether it’s one or two days a week, or a few weeks at a time.What are the entry requirements for an Intermediate Apprenticeship?Some employers may ask for two or more GCSE passes (grade A*-C). Ideally, these would be in Maths and English.However, they’re not necessarily a prerequisite, and many companies will provide a basic numeracy and literacy test during the application process.There’s also an Access to Apprenticeship scheme, if you feel like y our current credentials fall short.Applying for apprenticeshipsApprenticeships: How to get startedHow much do apprentices earn? Apprentices aged between 16 and 18 are eligible for the National Minimum Wage for apprentices, which is currently £3.70 per hour.This amount will also apply to apprentices over the age of 19, who are still in their first year of studying.What is the equivalent of an Intermediate Apprenticeship?An Intermediate Apprenticeship is equivalent to five GCSEs (grades A*-C).They can also be used as an entry qualification for an Advanced Apprenticeship, which is the next level of apprenticeship.What are the advantages of an Intermediate Apprenticeship?Starting an apprenticeship isn’t just a great way to build your skills and experience levels â€" it’s also a really practical way to gain a new qualification.And because you’ll have the opportunity to earn while you learn, you won’t be saddled with debts or any expensive enrolment fees in order to get certified .Other key benefits of apprenticeships include getting your foot in the door with a well-respected company, boosting your career prospects with industry-recognised training, and the ability to test your skills in the short-term â€" meaning you won’t have to pay any money if you realise the role isn’t really right for you.You’ll also get to play to your strengths. So whether you’re looking for a hands-on role that doesn’t really require uni, or you want to learn coding on-the-job and start building your career right away, an apprenticeship is the perfect place to get started.Why choose an apprenticeship?What next?After completing an Intermediate Apprenticeship, you can move onto an Advanced Apprenticeship (commonly with the same employer), or move into a fully-paid full-time position in your chosen position.Once an Advanced Apprenticeship has been completed, you may also move onto a Higher Apprenticeship â€" the highest level available.Advanced Apprenticeships: What you nee d to knowHigher Apprenticeships: What you need to know  Ready to get started?  View all available apprenticeships now.Find a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the

4 Financial Goals To Reach Before You Reach 40

4 Financial Goals To Reach Before You Reach 40 Becoming a woman who is in control of her finances isn’t something that happens overnight.   It is something that takes a consistent amount of self-control over an extended amount of time.   Instead of putting pressure on yourself to be perfect all at once, give yourself short term goals to achieve in steps. Age 40 is a reasonable time to start hoping that you’ve gotten a certain amount of these goals out of the way.   Here are some of the goals that you can consider setting for yourself by the time to reach that age. Fix Your Credit Score Your 20’s and your 30’s are periods where you are still figuring out how to spend wisely and how to find a job that maximizes making the most amount of money for your time and energy.   You may find yourself going through financial hardships and have to dip into credit. Often during these times, you can find yourself with a less than ideal credit score which leads to feeling pretty out of control and stressed about trying to catch up.   Therefore, try to make it a point to fix your credit by the time you are 40.   While perfect might not be realistic, you can certainly aim for it, then at least you will have reached a great credit score if not perfect! Buy a House Buying a house is a great way to feel as if you have reached a major milestone as an adult.   Having somewhere that you can call your own is incredibly satisfying. It shows that you are the sole proprietor of your home and don’t have to answer to anyone else’s rules. You can decorate your house and remodel it as you please.   However with that freedom also comes the responsibility of having to take care of any repairs yourself rather than having a landlord to call, plus carrying homeowners insurance. Put Aside Savings Try making it a goal to have a certain amount of savings aside by the time you reach 40.   This can either be for something you’ve always wanted like a trip around the world, a new car, or your down payment on your house. The easiest way to save is to put aside 10% of each paycheck.   It may not seem like much in the moment but after a while, it starts to add up!     You will find yourself with a rather nice amount of money after 15 years! Start a Retirement Account Starting a retirement account means putting money into an account, which will build more interest than a traditional savings account over time. Good options to choose from are either a ROTH IRA or a 401-K.

The Science Behind Why You Should Stop Saying Youre Bad At Your Job

The Science Behind Why You Should Stop Saying Youre Bad At Your Job There is an old mantra that many of us use when starting a new job, or entering a new situation: “Fake it until you make it.” It’s good adviceâ€"but not for the reason many of us think. Faking it until you make it isn’t about pretending like you’re good and hoping no one notices until you become good. It means that by faking it, you become better at what you are doing. And you convince not just yourself, but others, of that same result. Except for the overachievers, many of us have a tendency to downplay our abilities. We are self-deprecating in meetings, or downright negative about ourselves when speaking with our bosses or peers. Better to set the bar low and exceed it, we think, that to over-promise and under-deliver. But the truth is, if we believe, or even if we say out loud, that we aren’t good enough, that perception will soon become reality. Conversely, if we believe and say to others that we are good enough, it’s more likely that everyone will believe it too. Here are a few examples of how we can use psychology to appear, and be, better at what we do. The power of the illusory truth effect The illusory truth effect is a long-held understanding that the more we hear something, the more likely we are to believe it’s true. Going back to the days of ancient Rome, leaders like Cato knew that repeating a sentiment would lead to more people agreeing with it over time. We’ve continued to see this idea play out during election campaigns and advertising ever since. A scientific assessment of this effect was first done in 1977 in a study by Temple and Villanova. The research showed that familiarity can overpower rationalityâ€"which is crazy, if you think about it. Just because we’ve heard something before, we’re more likely to think it’s true? Apparently, yes. And we can use that tendency to our advantage in the workplace; or, make ourselves victims of it. For example, telling people that you are a great public speaker, that you always follow up on emails, that you always close dealsâ€"these are statements that could more or less others could confirm with data or experience. Your colleagues could check your sales numbers, or your email logs. But they are far more likely, after some repetition, to believe the reputation you’ve given yourself. Yes, of course she is going to close the dealâ€"she always does. On the other hand, talk negatively about yourselfâ€"that you always forget names, or take forever to finish projectsâ€"and people will begin to believe that, even if reality contradicts it. Evidence to the contrary may go unnoticed, or ignored. This isn’t to say you should lie about your numbers or take credit for work you didn’t do. Because, as we’ll explore next, saying that you are more likely to do something will help you actually accomplish that goal. You are speaking your effectiveness into existence. Change your expectations, change your performance We’ve known for awhile that the placebo effect works regardless of whether you know the drug you’re taking is a placebo or not; our expectations of whether something will work, or work well, can change our reality. It’s no different in the workplace. Science journalist Chris Berdik explained how expectations can alter reality to the Scientific American a few years ago: “For instance, brain scans reveal that expectations about a wines quality (based on price or a critics review) actually change the level of activity in the brains reward centers when a person takes a sip. Highly trained weight lifters can out-do their personal bests when they believe theyve taken a performance booster. People who wear taller, better looking avatars in virtual reality behave in ways that taller and better looking people tend to act.   in one study, researchers told some track athletes that what they thought of as pre-race jitters actually improved performance, while telling another group that this sort of arousal was usually detrimental. The athletes performed accordingly when the pressure was on.  There are limits to this, of course: You can’t bench press a million pounds, no matter how many supplements you take. You can, however, set reasonable and positive expectations for your performance at workâ€"and doing so will make you more likely to meet those expectations. Whatever you want to call it (the power of positive thinking, the placebo effect), we can make ourselves perform better if we believe it. When people think we’re great, we become great Speaking positively about ourselves at work, at home, or in any other setting doesn’t just make us more likely to perform better. It also influences how people see us, which creates a virtuous cycle that further improves our performance in the long run. There are two opposing phenomena known as the “Pygmalion effect” and the “Golem effect.” In the former, if a manager’s expectations of an employee are high, that employee’s performance and productivity go up. In the latter, if expectations are low, the employee’s performance is poor. These effects are present throughout our lives: Studies have shown how teachers with big expectations for childrenâ€"and as a result treat them differently, with more positivity and opportunities for successâ€"encourage those children to perform better. You might know this as a “self-fulfilling prophecy.” We can engender this effect at work by giving our managers, employers, and peers reason to believe we can and will be great. Speaking positively about ourselves will give people a more positive impression of us, raising their expectations and thus influencing us to achieve even more. Speaking negatively about ourselves, in contrast, will instead set into motion expectations that lead to us performing worse. It all starts with how we see ourselves, present ourselves, and sell ourselves to others. You Are Not Bad At Your Job Well, you probably aren’tâ€"I can’t say for sure. But coming into work every day with that attitude will make that expectation a reality. The idea that you aren’t good at certain aspects of your workâ€"public speaking, for exampleâ€"is part of what’s preventing you from excelling at it. While you can’t make yourself into a leader at your company just by saying it, you can set the wheels in motion to make that dream a reality. Change the conversation around your performance, and your performance itself will change. This guest post was authored by Meredith Wood Meredith Wood is the Editor-in-Chief at  Fundera, an online marketplace for small business loans that matches business owners with the best funding providers for their business. Specializing in financial advice for small business owners, Meredith is a current and past contributor to Yahoo!, Amex OPEN Forum, Fox Business, SCORE, AllBusiness and mor

Pathways preparing for life after your PhD University of Manchester Careers Blog

Pathways â€"preparing for life after your PhD University of Manchester Careers Blog You’re always being told that networking is the key to exploring career options and strategies for getting into work, but where are you supposed to find the time and the contacts when you’re concentrating on your research? Well, each year, we try to make it easier for you. Instead of you having to find a load of contacts, set up meetings, and take multiple days out of your diary to talk to them, we find over 50 PhD qualified professionals and bring them to you â€" to Manchester, on campus, all on the same day. Our Pathways event has been running successfully for 6 years, attended by hundreds of researchers each year. Why are you always told that networking is good for you? 1.             Making friends is a positive thing . Having people who understand you, listen, ask questions, give advice and information, provide support is essential to life (and you get the satisfaction of returning the favour). 2.             It raises your profile. If you are known to potential employers, it helps your application stand out from the 90 other ones on their desk.   And having a higher profile… 3.             …puts you in the way of opportunities. Have you, or do you know someone who has, got a job through networking?   You acquire information through networking â€" this gives you leads about jobs. It could also help you find out about jobs before they are actually advertised. Networking is not about asking for a job.   It’s about making friends and conducting research two things PhD students should be pretty good at.   Good career decisions are based on reliable information.   Pathways 2015 is a treasure house of career information â€" you have upwards of 50 panelists to learn from, but also 350 or more other PhD students to talk to. Research with postgraduate and undergraduate students shows that, just like studying for an exam or practicing a conference talk, preparing for networking helps to contribute to a more positive outcome.   Here are 2 simple things you can do right now to prepare so that you can make the most of Pathways:                   Read the Art/Science of Academic Networking and watch the video           Start working on this Networking map. Who do you know? Who do they know? Who would it be helpful to know? Could you meet this person at Pathways? Register now Online registration is now open. If you want to be sure this event goes ahead, and that we book enough lunches to go round and venues large enough to seat participants, please register! Detailed information is available on the University of Manchester Postgraduate Careers blog. Follow us on @manpgcareers and join in the conversation using   #PathwaysEvent2015 All Postgrad-highlighted Postgraduate career planning networking Options

Streamline Your Hiring Process for Salespeople with the Help of Online Sales Assessments

Streamline Your Hiring Process for Salespeople with the Help of Online Sales Assessments The distinction between sales hunters and farmers is an interesting one, as it clearly demarcates different roles best filled by different sales personalities.When people want to hire a sales hunter, they usually mean someone who can generate leads, and land new clients, often through cold calling. Hiring a sales farmer, on the other hand, usually means a business is looking for someone who can manage and grow existing accounts.evalThere are many opinions out there on what makes a good sales hunter compared to a sales farmer.According to a recent Marketing Science Institute report by professors Thomas E. DeCarlo and Son K. Lam,the major difference between a hunter and a farmer is the way they approach the sales objective, and whether or not they were motivated primarily by a focus on promotion vs. prevention, which is to say motivated by desire to achieve gain or a desire to mitigate or avoid loss. The information corroborated similar research by Heidi Grant and E. Tory Higgins from the Harvard Business Review that similarly outlines the differences between a focus of promotion vs. prevention.Hunters focused on promotion work quickly, and they generate a lot of creative energy The real problem for recruiters and sales managers occurs when only one position is available. Today’s sales candidates are more savvy than ever, and are experts at telling interviewers exactly what they want to hear â€" especially when the position is widely advertised.This puts the interviewer at a natural disadvantage as the candidates are willing to play a false role in the interview in an effort to score the position. This is why many of today’s recruiters and sales managers are looking to sales assessment testing before they begin the interviewing process. Such tests, when conducted by accredited assessors such as SalesTestOnline.com, for example, cut directly to the personality of the candidate, revealing their core traits, or soft skills.Businesses have been using the assessme nt test information provided by Salestestonline.com for nearly 30 years, saving them the costly mistake of hiring the wrong candidate. A ten-minute test that costs less than $50 could save your company hundreds or even thousands in unnecessary training, salary, and severance costs should the candidate prove to be unsuitable for the role. Find the right candidate for the sales position through customized sales assessment testing online.evalThe service, which includes a 10-minute test for the candidate, allows the client to be immediately notified and have access to the results right away. Additionally, test assessment services provide a score that matches the candidate to the job criteria and provides a suitability rating that matches the target profile. If you want a 90% predicter of success of each candidate before the sales interview even starts, consider an online sales assessment service.