Retraining through an apprenticeship after 30: what is possible

"Apprenticeships are for young people." That is the received idea that costs career-changers the most opportunities. It is wrong. Here is what is genuinely open after 30, as we explain it on SuperAlternant.

Apprenticeship: 29, with exceptions

An apprenticeship is in principle open up to the age of 29. But the limit disappears entirely in several situations:

• you are a recognised disabled worker;
• you have a business creation or takeover plan that requires the target qualification;
• you are a high-level athlete on the ministerial list.

An exemption also runs to 34 where you are preparing a qualification higher than one already obtained through apprenticeship, or where your previous contract ended for reasons beyond your control.

The professionalisation contract: no age limit

This is the route that most often fits. The professionalisation contract is open with no age limit to jobseekers aged 26 and over, as well as to recipients of certain social minimum benefits.

It leads to a recognised qualification and runs, like an apprenticeship, alternating between the company and the training provider.

Pay changes everything

This is the decisive point for an adult. On a professionalisation contract, someone aged 26 or over receives at least the minimum wage, or 85% of the sector minimum where that is more favourable.

This is a long way from the reduced percentages applied to younger entrants: retraining through work-study becomes financially viable.

Sell your experience, do not hide it

The classic mistake is to apply as a beginner. Your earlier career is an asset: you know how to hold a deadline, manage a client, work in a team. Say so explicitly, and explain the logical thread running from your old trade to the new one. It is that coherence, far more than your age, that the recruiter is assessing.