Before employing an apprentice, confirm that your business can provide the required work, facilities, supervision and time for training. An apprentice is an employee learning an occupation, not simply extra labour added to a busy roster.
Business Queensland’s employer-obligations guide explains the need for an appropriate workplace and RTO assessment of training suitability. The exact supervision and training requirements depend on the occupation and arrangement.
Check the range of work you can provide
Compare normal business tasks with the proposed qualification and training plan. Identify whether you can provide enough relevant experience throughout the arrangement, not only during one project.
If some required work is unavailable, discuss the gap with the supervising RTO and appropriate training support organisation before signing up. Do not assume the apprentice can gain every missing skill from watching videos or attending offsite classes alone.
The steps-to-employ guide describes the wider process, including training partners, contracts, induction and management. Recruitment is one step within that continuing commitment.
Plan supervision for actual tasks
Identify who has the required skills and authority to supervise, when they are available and how cover works if they are absent. A person’s job title is not enough to establish suitability for every regulated task.
Check occupation-specific requirements with the regulator and RTO. There is no universal apprentice-to-supervisor ratio supplied by this article. The appropriate supervision can depend on the work, stage of learning and specific regulatory requirements.
Do not allocate untrained or unauthorised work to meet a deadline. A training contract does not remove workplace safety or licensing obligations.
Use an employer discussion checklist
| Area | Question for the business and training partners |
|---|---|
| Work range | Can ordinary business activity provide the required practical experience? |
| Supervisor | Who supervises which tasks, and what qualifications or authority are required? |
| Coverage | What happens during absence, site changes or workload peaks? |
| Training time | How will required learning and assessment be scheduled and supported? |
| Resources | Are facilities, equipment and learning materials suitable? |
| Progress | Who reviews the training record and follows up gaps? |
| Change | Who reports relevant changes or training delays? |
| Cost | Are wages, training commitments and other costs financially workable? |
Keep decisions and unresolved questions in a shared record accessible to the people responsible. Do not present the checklist as an official workplace approval.
A fictional readiness example
A fictional small maintenance business has one experienced tradesperson and plans to recruit an apprentice. During planning, it discovers the proposed supervisor is often working alone at another site and the business cannot yet provide part of the required work range.
The owner discusses those gaps with the RTO and training support provider before advertising an apprenticeship as ready to start. The business considers whether its work and supervision arrangements can be changed. The example does not prescribe a staffing ratio or imply that a particular workaround will be approved.
Manage the arrangement after recruitment
Agree how workplace and offsite training will be coordinated, how progress is recorded and how issues are raised. Business Queensland’s management guidance addresses continuing responsibilities and relevant changes.
Check pay and training-attendance obligations against the actual arrangement, including any special school-based rules. Do not assume a general information page resolves every award or contract question.
Our trades guide provides the candidate context. Use employer information for BOJ’s current platform route. A business should confirm its training capacity before treating an apprentice vacancy as ready to recruit.
