Difference between Internship & Apprenticeship

Would you like to kick start your career by searching and applying for an Apprenticeship or Internship, but actually do not understand the difference between the two? When it comes down to it, internship and apprenticeships differ greatly in both process and purpose, so here follows a short description that will help you to better comprehend the differences.

An apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeship also enables practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulated profession. Most of their training is done while working for an employer who helps the apprentices learn their trade or profession, in exchange for their continued labour for an agreed period after they have achieved measurable competencies. Apprenticeships typically last 3 to 6 years. People who successfully complete an apprenticeship reach the journeyman level of competence.

Typical examples of trades where apprenticeships are utilized:

  • Electricians
  • Geomatics professionals
  • Accountants
  • Attorneys

An internship is job training for white collar and professional careers.

Internships for professional careers are similar in some ways to apprenticeships for trade and vocational jobs, but the lack of standardisation and oversight leaves the term open to broad interpretation. Interns may be college or university students, high school students, or post-graduate adults. These positions may be paid or unpaid and are usually temporary.

Generally, an internship consists of an exchange of services for experience between the student and an organization. Students can also use an internship to determine if they have an interest in a particular career, to create a network of contacts, or to gain school credit. Some interns find permanent, paid employment with the organizations for which they worked upon completion of the internship. This can be a significant benefit to the employer as experienced interns often need little or no training when they begin regular employment. Unlike a trainee program, employment at the completion of an internship is not guaranteed.

 To read more about both, see the Wikipedia links below:

Apprenticeship -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apprenticeship

Internship - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internship

Tuesday, 23 August 2016 12:35