Advanced Apprenticeships - What industries can I work in?

Billy Sexton
Last updated 14 May 2020

You’re researching your career and education options and you’ve come across Advanced Apprenticeships. “But apprenticeships only exist for people interested in construction or engineering.” Wrong!

The fact of the matter is that Advanced Apprenticeships exist in all industries. Some employers in certain industries may employ more apprentices than others, but in recent years the UK Government has been putting apprenticeships at the forefront of their efforts to increase skills across the workforce. They have even made it more enticing for larger organisations to take on apprentices.

What do the statistics say?

The UK Government want to see three million new apprentices by 2020, and Advanced Apprenticeships are the level of apprenticeship that see the most starts each year. In the 2018/19 academic year, the following number of Advanced Apprenticeships were started in each industry.

- Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care - 2,561

- Arts, Media and Publishing - 900

- Business, Administration and Law - 51,112

- Construction, Planning and the Built Environment - 6,265

- Education and Training - 4,043

- Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies - 33,171

- Health, Public Services and Care - 46,598

- Information and Communication Technology - 10,906

- Leisure, Travel and Tourism - 4,493

- Retail and Commercial Enterprise - 14,673

- Science and Mathematics - 5

As you can see, Advanced Apprenticeships are available across a vast range of industries. However, the three industries of Business, Administration and Law; Health, Public Services and Care; and Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies made up almost three-quarters of all apprenticeship starts in 2018/19.

Drilling down into each of these industries reveals more about the nature of the apprenticeship. For Business, Administration and Law, this is the breakdown of Advanced Apprenticeship starts:

- Accounting and Finance - 7,167

- Administration - 18,605

- Business Management - 24,349

- Law and Legal Services - 491

- Marketing and Sales - 500

In Health, Public Services and Care, Advanced Apprenticeship starts are split across these sectors:

- Child Development and Well Being - 17,733

- Health and Social Care - 22,528

- Public Services - 6,337

In Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies, Advanced Apprenticeship starts are split across these sectors:

- Engineering - 15,321

- Manufacturing Technologies - 8,938

- Transportation Operations and Maintenance - 8,912

How can I find the right Advanced Apprenticeship for me?

Every Advanced Apprenticeship follows an Apprenticeship Standard. Apprenticeship Standards show, in detail, what an apprentice will be doing in their day-to-day job role. Each Standard lists the skills required of apprentices and every standard is written by a group of employers that are specialists in their sector.

You can browse all the Apprenticeship Standards on AllAboutSchoolLeavers and you can filter by industry and level, which makes it easy for you to find Advanced Apprenticeships in an industry of your choice. Remember though, just because an Apprenticeship Standard exists, doesn’t mean that there are employers currently recruiting apprentices in related roles.

Apply for an Advanced Apprenticeship

Once you’ve worked out which industry you want to work in and which Apprenticeship Standards are best suited to you, you can apply for Advanced Apprenticeships here.