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Not Just College

For parents of teenagers headed into the trades

How Apprenticeships Actually Work

An apprenticeship is the one path where a teenager gets paid to learn a trade rather than paying to be taught one. That is the whole appeal, and it is real. It is also competitive, uneven by region, and about half of the people who start one do not finish.

These pages cover the mechanics: who runs these programmes, what the word registered means legally, how a seventeen year old actually applies, and what the week looks like once they are in.

  1. What Age Can a Teen Start an Apprenticeship?

    Federal rules set the floor at 16. Most construction programs set their own minimum higher. Here is how to work out which one applies to your teenager.

  2. Youth Apprenticeships in High School

    A registered apprenticeship a teenager can start while still in school, how it differs from shop class or co-op, and how to find out whether your state actually has any.

  3. How to Apply for an Electrical Apprenticeship

    What a JATC is, the paperwork to gather, the algebra requirement that stops the most applicants, and what happens between sending the form and starting work.

  4. The Aptitude Test and the Oral Board

    The two stages that decide most apprenticeship selections, what they are actually testing, and how a teenager prepares for them without gimmicks.

  5. What a First Year Apprentice Actually Does

    Full working days plus night classes, pay that starts low and steps up, and what DOL's completion figures say. What year one asks of a teenager.