Grads vs. Apprentices: Designing the Right Early Careers Assessment Strategy

When it comes to early careers hiring, graduates and apprentices are often grouped together—but their backgrounds, experiences, and readiness for the workplace can differ significantly.

At Test Partnership, we help organisations understand these nuances and tailor their assessment strategies accordingly.

In this guide, we will explore the differences and similarites when it comes to graduates vs apprentices early careers recruitment.

Although both are considered early in their careers, graduates and apprentices typically come from very different contexts.

• Graduates often have a university education but limited real-world work experience.
• Apprentices on the other hand, may be entering the workforce directly from school and could still be completing their formal education alongside their work.

These differences matter. They shape the kind of support, training, and assessments each group will benefit from—and what signals employers should be looking for during the selection process.

When hiring graduates, organisations are often looking for trainability, problem-solving ability, and long-term leadership potential. Because grads typically lack workplace experience, their assessments should focus on:

• Cognitive ability tests – to measure how well they can learn and apply new information.
• Aptitude for complex thinking – graduates are often placed in development programmes that ramp up responsibility quickly.
• Personality assessments – especially when cultural fit and leadership traits are a focus.

Apprentices usually join organisations at a younger age and earlier stage of development, so the emphasis shifts slightly.

• Cognitive ability is still key but tests should be adapted to ensure accessibility, including language simplicity and familiarity with digital formats.
• Work-readiness traits such as reliability, punctuality, and ability to follow instructions may be more predictive of success at this level.
• Shorter, mobile-friendly assessments are important to reduce friction for younger candidates.

Test Partnership works with clients to ensure they aren’t taking a one-size-fits-all approach to early careers hiring. Instead, we help clients:

• Tailor assessments to reflect the realistic expectations for each group.
• Select the right mix of tests depending on training investment, onboarding structure, and role complexity.
• Ensure fairness and accessibility especially when assessing a diverse early talent pool.
• Benchmark performance using norm groups that reflect graduate or apprentice populations, rather than a general working population.

Graduates and apprentices may sit under the same “early careers” umbrella, but the differences in their education, experience, and development stage should shape your assessment strategy.

For more insights and tailored solutions for early-career recruitment, feel free to contact us to discuss your hiring needs.