Completing an apprenticeship doesn’t have to be the end of your learning journey, and it shouldn’t be. The most successful people never stop learning, instead, they adopt a mindset to constantly develop their knowledge through continuous professional development.
CPD is crucial to succeeding in the tech sector. We live in a world where technology is constantly evolving and there is always a new skill to learn – but how can progressing onto a higher apprenticeship help?
Apprenticeships don’t start and end with a Level 3 qualification, they can advance all the way up to a Level 7 qualification, which is equivalent to a postgraduate degree! These progression steps offer a structured and comprehensive professional development plan, helping you enhance your skills and climb the career ladder. With higher apprenticeships accounting for almost a third of apprenticeship starts last year, it is clear that they are growing in popularity amongst professionals.
In this blog, we explore the benefits of completing a higher apprenticeship and how taking this next step can help accelerate your career:
INCREASE YOUR SALARY
Put simply, salary increases are usually based on performance – and one way to excel in your current role is by bringing new skills to the table. Progressing to a higher apprenticeship will provide you with a whole host of new skills, helping you become an industry expert and demonstrate to your employer how you can add more value to the organisation. With that in mind, enrolling on a Level 4 apprenticeship usually comes with increased responsibility and a capability to complete higher level tasks, which may be reflected in your salary!
DEVELOP YOUR SKILLS
Completing a Level 3 apprenticeship is a huge achievement, but as one door closes, another one opens. Level 3 apprenticeships are a fantastic way to start your career journey in your chosen field, but a higher apprenticeship is a sensible next step if you wish to become a well-rounded professional. You will learn a whole host of new skills, add value to your team, and climb the career ladder.
Not only will you enhance your abilities in your job role, higher apprenticeships can also increase your confidence, teach you how to effectively manage projects, and help you improve your overall time management.
PROGRESS IN YOUR CURRENT ROLE
Professional development can help your career reach new heights. City & Guilds annual skills index found that over 22 million UK workers do not feel they are equipped with the skills they need to unlock new opportunities in the next five years – highlighting how CPD is vital for those looking to advance their career and progress to senior positions in the workplace.
Progressing onto a higher apprenticeship is a logical next step in your professional development journey and shows your employer that you are hungry to increase your responsibilities and work towards a more senior position. To give an example, A Level 3 Junior Data Analyst will pull data to help a company make strategic and effective decisions. However, a Level 4 Data Analyst will analyse this data, increasing their level of authority by giving recommendations based on what they have found.
become a specialist
Enrolling on a higher apprenticeship is an effective way to specialise in a particular area of your field. At Baltic, many of our higher apprenticeships go above and beyond the apprenticeship standard by offering tailored specialist training paths.
No two jobs are the same and similar job roles may differ between organisations. For example, we know not all Software Developers will have the same career aspirations as there are many areas to specialise in. Therefore, we updated our Level 4 Software Developer programme to give our apprentices a chance to explore different areas of development by including specialist training courses in databases, website development, software testing, and object-oriented programming.
FIND OUT MORE AND START THE NEXT STEP IN YOUR APPRENTICESHIP JOURNEY WITH BALTIC APPRENTICESHIPS
To learn more about what is involved in a higher apprenticeship, get in touch with our team of experts. Alternatively, browse all our higher apprenticeships below: