A candidate who is interested in obtaining one of many bank apprenticeships available should first decide on what careers he or she wants to pursue in the future. Just about all bank apprenticeships will require completion of at least a high school education, while many may require completion of a college degree. It helps to have training in a field relevant to the banking industry to make the candidate more attractive as a new hire for the position. If the candidate does not have such experience, he or she might consider volunteering with non-profit organizations to get accounting, financial planning, or money handling experience.
Some bank apprenticeships are designed specifically for youth, while others are designed more for adults seeking to find professional careers in the industry. It is important to seek out the right apprenticeship for the candidate, and it is even more important to carefully read the application requirements for the bank apprenticeships being considered. If, for example, the candidate is an adult applying for a professional internship, he or she might need a certain number of years worth of job experience. It is likely that the candidate will also need to have obtained a specific level of education. Reading the application ahead of time will give the candidate an understanding of what steps he or she needs to take to improve his or her qualifications.
Talk to bank associates to find out how they got into the field. Some employees at banks or credit unions will have undergone bank apprenticeships themselves, and they will be able to tell the candidate more about the process of applying, securing a position, and working in the field long-term. If at all possible, the candidate can try to set up a job shadowing session during which he or she will follow a bank employee to find out what the day-to-day job responsibilities entail. Doing so will ensure the candidate truly has an interest in the work.
Some of the more advanced positions at a bank will require the candidate to have more advanced qualifications. A good way to gain such qualifications is to take an entry-level position at a bank or financial institution to learn as much as possible about the profession. Bank tellers, for example, can be hired with little or no previous experience, but once hired, these employees will have opportunities to work their way up in the company and undergo more training that may qualify them for advanced positions.
