How to get an apprenticeship

The practical breakdown

Most people don't walk into an apprenticeship cold. Knowing the process saves you months of wasted applications.

• •Pick a trade and check the entry expectations. Electrical wants solid maths, and in Victoria most employers expect a Certificate II in Electrotechnology pre-apprenticeship before they'll sign you.
• •Do work experience or a pre-apprenticeship at TAFE. Many run 12 to 20 weeks, plenty are fee-free, and employers hire people who've already shown up and done the basics.
• •Build a one-page resume: contact details, any work at all (casual and family business work counts), school subjects, White Card and other tickets, and two referees who'll answer the phone.
• •Contact employers directly, not just job boards. Ring or walk into local businesses. A lot of spots are filled by word of mouth before they're advertised.
• •Register with a GTO and an Apprentice Connect Australia provider at the same time. Both are free and both know who's hiring right now.
• •Once an employer says yes, you both sign a training contract that gets registered with your state training authority (Training Services NSW, the VRQA in Victoria, DESBT in Queensland, DTWD in WA). No registered contract, no apprenticeship.
• •Expect a probation period. Length varies by state and trade, commonly one to three months, and either side can walk away during it.

Resi vs commercial vs industrial: pick your target

The page you're on right now is the career-shaping bit most guides skip. 'Contact employers' isn't one step, because a one-man residential outfit and a tier-one commercial builder give you completely different apprenticeships.

Residential means houses and small crews. You'll get broad hands-on variety fast and real responsibility early, but a very small outfit may not expose you to every competency you need signed off, so ask how they cover the gaps. Commercial means offices, schools and shopping centres: bigger crews, proper site inductions, SWMS paperwork before every task, more structure, and often much better pay (see the money section below). The trade-off is you can get parked on one repetitive task for months. Industrial and utility work (plants, mines, network operators) adds things like PLCs, permits to work and arc-flash PPE, and those employers usually recruit through formal annual intakes with medicals.

None of these is wrong. But if you want a contractor's licence and your own resi business one day, a small builder teaches you the whole job. If you want big-project money and tickets, target commercial and industrial from the start.

Intake windows and the quiet screening

Small businesses hire when they're busy, any time of year. Big employers don't. Utilities, major builders and many GTOs run one annual intake with a January start, and applications open up to a year earlier. Endeavour Energy's 2027 apprentice intake, for example, opened in 2026 and closed on 3 July 2026 for a January 2027 start, with online assessments, an interview and a practical assessment along the way. Ausgrid's program runs aptitude tests covering numeracy, abstract reasoning and safety, plus a medical. Miss the window and you wait a full year.

• •Set reminders now for the intake dates of any big employer you want, and apply to several.
• •Practise basic numeracy and abstract reasoning before aptitude tests. They filter hard.
• •Get your driver's licence sorted, or be actively getting it. Most employers quietly screen for a licence and reliable transport, because an apprentice who can't get to site at 6:30am is no use to them.
• •Expect police checks, reference checks and a functional medical for utility and industrial roles.

GTO or direct employer: the real trade-offs

A GTO employs you and places you with host businesses. That's genuinely good in several ways: a field officer checks on you, and if a host runs out of work the GTO rehosts you instead of your apprenticeship ending. With a direct employer, losing your job usually means your apprenticeship stalls until you find someone new to take over the contract.

But it's not pure upside. Host rotation gives broader competency exposure, and it also means restarting relationships and proving yourself again every move. Between hosts you can sit benched and off the tools. And the split matters day to day: the GTO is your legal employer for pay and HR, but the host trains you, so when something goes wrong you need to know which one to call.

Direct employment gives you one boss, one culture, and often a job offer waiting when you come out of your time. If the business is good, that continuity is worth a lot. If it's bad, you're stuck with it or starting over.

What apprentices should know about pay

Your minimum pay comes from the award covering your trade and steps up each year (or by schooling completed). Check the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool so you know your rate from day one. You also get National Employment Standards basics: annual leave, sick leave, public holidays.

Here's what one line about awards hides: many commercial sites run on enterprise agreements (EBAs) that pay apprentices well above award, plus site allowances, a daily fares and travel allowance, and RDOs. Under the on-site building award the daily fares allowance alone is around $22 a day, and EBA hourly rates for qualified tradies can run close to double the award. 'Is this role award or EBA?' is one of the highest-value questions you can ask before signing.

If you're 21 or older when you sign up, you're an adult apprentice, and under most awards you can't be paid less than the national minimum wage ($26.44 an hour from 1 July 2026). That's good for your rent but it makes some small employers hesitant, so career changers should lean on GTOs that place adult apprentices, sell the reliability and licence you already have, and target bigger employers who can wear the cost.

Still at school, or changing careers late

• •School-based apprenticeships (SBATs) let Year 10 to 12 students start the real thing while finishing school: paid work about a day a week plus training, counting toward the HSC or VCE. You typically finish school with your first year done, then convert to full-time.
• •In NSW, talk to your school's careers adviser or Skills NSW. In Victoria, SBATs need a minimum 13 hours a week combining paid work and training.
• •Adult and mature-age applicants: your life experience is a selling point, not an apology. Employers care that you'll show up, pass a drug and alcohol test, and stay the full term. Say that plainly in your application.
• •Whatever your age, requirements differ by state: probation lengths, training authority processes, pre-apprenticeship expectations and the licence you get at the end are all state-based, so read your own state's apprenticeship pages, not just national ones.

Government money most first-years miss

• •Australian Apprenticeship Support Loans: borrow up to $27,048 (2026-27) over the apprenticeship if your trade is on the Priority List, paid monthly and front-loaded to the first years. Finish your ticket and 20 per cent of the loan is wiped. It's repaid through tax like HELP.
• •Living Away From Home Allowance: if you have to move out of your parents' place for the apprenticeship, roughly $77 a week in first year, $39 in second, $25 in third (indexed each July), and it's tax free.
• •Australian Apprentice Training Support Payment: apprentices in Priority List occupations who started from 1 January 2026 can get $2,500 across two years, and Key Apprenticeship Program trades (housing construction, clean energy) up to $10,000. Started before 2026? The older $5,000 rate is grandfathered.
• •States add their own travel and accommodation subsidies for block release at a distant TAFE. If you're regional, price this up before deciding whether to relocate or travel. Your Apprentice Connect provider will do the eligibility legwork for free.

What to ask before you sign on, and when to get help

Stop and ask for help if there's no training contract number, nobody has mentioned an RTO, or your pay looks below the award. Ring the Fair Work Ombudsman or your Apprentice Connect provider before you sign anything or keep working. That's the difference between a real apprenticeship and an underpaid labouring job with a fancy title.

• •Is this role covered by the award or an EBA, and exactly what will I be paid each year, including fares, travel and tool allowances?
• •Is the work mostly residential, commercial or industrial, and how will you make sure I see every competency I need signed off?
• •Which RTO will I train with, and is it day release or block release? If block release, who pays travel and accommodation?
• •How long is probation in this state, and what happens if it's not working on either side?
• •If it's a GTO placement: who is my legal employer, how often do hosts rotate, and am I paid if I'm between hosts?