OFF THE BEATEN TRACK: SEVEN UNUSUAL APPRENTICESHIPS

Today’s apprenticeships are as varied as they are exciting. You’d be surprised at just how niche some of them are! Want a job tending to zebras, keeping sports turf in top-notch condition, or repairing classic timepieces? There’s an apprenticeship for all these and more.

Here are seven unusual and inspiring apprenticeship-driven careers you could pursue.

1. Clockmaker  

The art of keeping time has never gone out of style! Whilst this apprenticeship is in the planning stages, future clockmakers – also known as horologists – can look forward to learning the precision skills needed to service, repair, and even create clocks. In time, you could be working with jewellers or collaborating with heritage organisations or museums.

If working with your own hands appeals to you, clockmaking is a combination of art and engineering. Anybody lucky enough to secure such an apprenticeship will have the chance to make a mark on the world of horology.

2. Mortuary or funeral assistant  

Probably not for the faint-hearted, a mortuary technician apprenticeship can lead to a meaningful career. Working closely with funeral directors, coroners, or as part of a hospital team, you’ll become an expert at providing dignified care for the deceased.  

A job in this field might include preparing bodies in line with cultural or religious requirements, maintaining the smooth running of a mortuary, or even helping with post-mortem examinations. A profession of great responsibility, this apprenticeship paves the way to working in many different environments. Potentially, you could carry out your duties in an NHS or private hospital, a school of anatomy, or at a coroner’s office.  

3. Zookeeper  

If your dream job includes loud lions, pesky penguins, or tackling tigers, you might harbour an ambition to work as a zoo keeper.  The keeper and aquarist apprenticeship provides skills ranging from animal husbandry and welfare to enclosure design and visitor engagement.

This apprenticeship opens the door to employment in a zoo, aquarium, wildlife park, or animal sanctuary. It brings with it a relatively high level of responsibility for animals, and as such, you will learn how the law applies through the Animal Welfare Act. This is a level 3 qualification; many apprenticeship providers who offer this are national and will support you wherever you work. 

As zookeeper apprenticeship opportunities are relatively rare, it is worth speculating with employers in your area to see whether they have openings for apprentices. You can also contact the providers listed at the link above to obtain further advice on finding an opportunity. Find out more about speculative applications to employers and other ways of finding an apprenticeship in our recent guide.

4. Sports turf operative  

Not all heroes wear capes—some carry lawnmowers and soil testers! Sports turf operatives, sometimes known as groundsmen, are the unsung champions of the sports world. They ensure pitches, greens, and racetracks are in pristine condition.  

A sports turf apprenticeship will train you in essentials such as pitch management, irrigation techniques, and pest control. Your work could take you to golf clubs, racecourses, football fields, and even Olympic grounds. If you are a perfectionist, knowing the field can make or break the game will spur you on. As your career develops, there is a level 3 apprenticeship to progress to.

5. Six Sigma Yellow Belt  

The improvement technician apprenticeship could land you a job with the title ‘Six Sigma Yellow Belt’! In other words, you could become a project management Ninja. This apprenticeship includes training in the internationally-hailed Six Sigma methodology to boost efficiency and is likely to be offered as training for a job related to business improvement.

As well as Six Sigma training, this apprenticeship provides a set of transferable management techniques to apply to different projects. You could become a sharp operator in a role such as a transportation planner or quality control analyst. Day-to-day you will be scoping projects, defining problems and designing processes. Research Six Sigma and Kaizen to discover if you’d be suited to starting a career like the one discussed here. 

6. Fishmonger  

Fishmongers are more than just shopkeepers. The modern fishmonger is an artisan with an extraordinary understanding of the world of seafood.  As a fishmonger apprentice, you will learn about the perfect season for king prawns, the best way to fillet a mackerel, or how to cook a lobster.  You’ll become a master of food safety, seafood preparation, and customer service. Choose this apprenticeship, and you could soon be the friendly expert at a supermarket counter or specialist market or eventually even run your own mobile fish van.

Working as a fishmonger blends centuries-old traditions with meeting the expectations of the modern foodie. If it sounds like your kettle of fish, don’t let this entry-level apprenticeship be the one that got away.

7. Director of Artificial Intelligence  

Yes, you read that right—there’s an apprenticeship for AI fans who aspire to lead groundbreaking tech. With a Degree-Level Apprenticeship in AI, you’ll explore and develop pioneering solutions to some of the world’s biggest challenges, all powered by data.  

Wherever your career transports you, the work will be cutting-edge. This apprenticeship could see you in a job such as a machine learning engineer, AI strategist, data scientist, or even an AI director. Diverse industries, including healthcare and aerospace, are in a race against time to maximise the use of AI. This could be a uniquely dynamic career with a massive future earning capacity.

An apprenticeship as unique as you…

These apprenticeships show that you don’t have to follow a conventional career path. Your route to a rewarding and exciting career could be an apprenticeship role in a niche area. You can be confident that whatever apprenticeship you choose will give you the skills, knowledge, and behaviours to perform your job competently. From feeding animals to embarking on a global mission to transforming industries with AI, an apprenticeship can transform your leftfield idea of a dream job into reality.