Love it or hate it, BBC’s The Apprentice makes compelling viewing. Lord Alan Sugar’s search for a new business partner is once again underway. All of us who conduct serious business are inwardly groaning at the unrealistic view portrayed by ‘The Boardroom’. For anyone who has not seen The Apprentice, it is partly a game show and partly reality TV where a group of aspiring, and usually very young, businessmen and women compete for the change to win a £250,000 investment from Lord Alan Sugar to be used in a 50-50 joint venture based on a business case they have previously submitted.
Over a period of 12 weeks the candidates face increasingly gruelling tasks and are ‘fired’ one-by-one until the winner, or new partner, is found. The average television ratings for the 2014 show were 7.4 million which places it up with the best of British TV competing with the likes of Downton Abbey and Strictly Come Dancing. For a show that is not particularly representative of an actual corporate business this is pretty good going!
To ask the question ‘would you become an apprentice’ in the context of the show is of course a ridiculous question. Very few people would put themselves through the torture and embarrassment that the candidates face. The show only attracts a few thousand applicants as compared to 100’s thousands attracted to X Factor. Thankfully this in some way demonstrates that we see the programme for what it really is, simply good TV and not a real view into the life of an apprentice.
Unlike the candidates for the TV show, a real apprentice can expect to be taught and nurtured by experts, be employed in a full time job and given time off to study on a regular basis. An apprenticeship will normally lead to recognised qualification and progression in a chosen field to a senior position. In the United Kingdom there are several agencies that regulate apprenticeship courses include the Government who offer some good guidance on the UK.Gov website.
