“Please excuse my spelling mistake - i put apprentice instead of apprenticeship! (just for those who have their fingers poised over the keys ready to point it out!”

“Well said to the mother who submitted this letter. If there is a pot of cash available why not use it for providing apprenticeships for those who could benefit from it. The days are gone of parents paying for the 'masters' to teach their sons, but then didnt that prove its not what you know its who you know. There used to be other ways to get your foot in the door, my dad bluffed his way into a painting and decorating job at 16, said he had some experience, when the supervisor realised after watching him paint that he didnt have a clue he said 'stick with me son and ill teach you everything you need to know! and he did, giving my dad an excellent trade for years to come. There are also some professions that are easier to get into, now days there arent many signs up saying 'Labourers Wanted' I cant see a garage putting a sign in the window for a trainee mechanic. Unfortunately now days you DO need a qualification for people to even interview you, I dont think its about handouts for further training, I think its enabling students to get further qualified with money that will just sit there. This student has done 3 years at college, wants to do a further 3/4 years apprenticeship - which as we know doesnt pay much more than being on benefit, he has written to 40 garages and will probably write to more. Good luck to him. If he gets an apprentice he will be a well qualified mechanic and id rather him work on my car than a school leaver whos daddy knows a man with a garage he paid to take him on! Not as eloquently put but hopefully youll understand my point.”

“For once you and I are in accord Grimlander.
Eloquently said.

I believe this 'Right of Passage' is sorely missed in todays society.”

“"Time was," as 'they' used to say, when there were 'premium apprentices' where father paid the 'master' to train his boy. Even where this wasn't practised, there were 'ways and means'. I recall the career of a long-past Chief Photographer on The Daily Express. In those pre-digital days, newspaper darkrooms employed 'runners' for next to nothing to carry negatives from the photographer to the darkroom and fresh film to long-running events. Promising lads were given the chance to learn the chemistry when they weren't 'running' and when out, they always cultivated the goodwill of the photographers they served, till one day they were given the camera at, say, Ascot, or Wimbledon, when things were slack, and their pics went into the melting pot of the picture editor's desk. The said Chief Photographer, spurned that and learned his trade from books, specializing in high-paying celebrity photography, before there was a 'paparazzi'. Even in his prime, he did his own 'running', using a motorbike that became his 'mark'.

I mention all this merely as a hint to those seeking work in difficult times (been there, done it!) -- "Where there's a will, there's a way!" Don't be blinkered by professional training; try to see ALL its applications. Seek out the friendly workshops, the friendly 'masters' and seek to show willing. Sweep, dust, polish, deliver. Hold. Ask, ask... but don't 'pest'. Don't depend on handouts from jobsworths in government offices.

D.I.Y.!
I did, and I hope it helps.”