Are Apprenticeships Better Than Internships?

L'Expansion.com -  18/01/2010  

What are the advantages of long term internships?  How to get onto the job market after an apprenticeship?  Answers to these questions from Manuelle Malot, Careers and Prospects Director at EDHEC. 

What are the advantages to learning in an apprenticeship program as compared with a long internship for higher-education degree holders?

For both apprentices and interns breaking onto the job market, the experience they have acquired is roughly the same, especially when they have spent a year divided between professional and academic environments, and when they have more than 18 months in an internship, as is currently the case at the end of M2.  It is more a question of the differences in terms of acquiring capacities and know-how.  The apprentice who has often only had a few months of formal education before beginning the apprenticeship will be subjected to a “sink or swim” approach, without really knowing how to swim.  During the first few months of the apprenticeship, in order to survive, he will “swim to the edge” undoubtedly by “over swimming” in a way that is not very academic.  But he will learn “by doing,” by applying the experience he has gained in a business setting to the more theoretical knowledge he will receive from his teachers during his education.  The intern, on the other hand, will have a greater amount of theoretical knowledge when he begins to actually work, but he will have learned to swim out of the water, having learned each movement on paper in great detail before being thrown in the deep end. 

An apprenticeship thus corresponds to different personalities and objectives. 

How can graduates use their apprenticeship to demonstrate the value of their experience when trying to get onto the job market? 

What usually happens is that the apprenticeship becomes an open-ended contract.  The company has invested time and money in training the individual and it is in the company’s best interest, if they are satisfied with the apprentice, to offer him an open-ended contract.  If this offer is acceptable to the apprentice, then there as well, it is in his best interest to accept the contract in order to make the most out of his apprenticeship.  By continuing to work for the company, the apprentice will be able to advance as quickly as possible, by building on the experience gained during the apprenticeship.  And lastly, on his CV, he will be able to include his apprenticeship as part of his professional contract as actual experience for the first position held.  This is a “win-win” agreement, because this “honeymoon” period will indeed count. 

When the apprentice decides to not continue in the company, he will have the easiest time finding a job in the sector the closest to his apprenticeship.    

What kind of impact does having done an apprenticeship have on negotiating a first contract? 

The fact that the apprentice can rapidly become operational is a key factor in salary negotiating.  At the internal level, if the company decides to go from an apprenticeship to an open-ended contract, there are fewer risks of mistakes and in terms of things not working out during the probationary period, so the company saves a certain amount of money in terms of hiring costs and also ensures that the position will be quickly filled by the graduate.  These are all arguments that the apprentice can advance during salary negotiations.  But there are also market aspects, with the concomitant issues of supply and demand, which means that the price will have to be adjusted according to the reality of the market and to what the competition is asking.  As far as the company is concerned, the apprentice is a “captive” to a certain degree, and thus it is up to him to turn the situation into a real competitive advantage.

If the apprentice wants to or has to seek employment outside the company, then trying out for a job that is the most similar to his internship is what will provide him with the strongest position in terms of negotiating his salary and positioning himself on the market as an experienced graduate.