There are as many approaches to piercing apprenticeship as there are mentors. Those of us who have trained other piercers understand this, and I believe we tend to embrace it. I’d even go so far as to say each apprenticeship is different simply based on the two personalities involved. Three years ago, the APP Membership Committee and work groups at Camp APP started trying to tackle the  puzzle of apprenticeships, and how much (or how little) our organization should say about this aspect of the piercing industry. Something that we only briefly addressed was the idea of a for-profit apprenticeship. The idea of for-profit apprenticeships isn’t new, but because of its rarity it is worth thinking about in greater detail.

In a for-profit apprenticeship, the apprentice pays the mentor a sum of money to receive their piercing education. There are a variety of ways the piercer could pay for their apprenticeship: a lump sum, month to month, or even by getting a paycheck from the shop, with a portion of the pay kept as repayment for the education. The intricacies involved in a paid apprenticeship are important to consider. What exactly is the apprentice buying? Are they guaranteed a career? Are they guaranteed a certain level of mastery? Or is this more like a long term class that the apprentice either passes or fails? In more traditional “internship” style apprenticeships, there may be timelines set, but often they are flexible based upon how the apprentice is proceeding. Typically, the apprentice learns at their own pace, with some goals in mind, and the mentor decides when appropriate mastery of a skill or topic is achieved. In a for-profit apprenticeship, this responsibility is flipped, and the mentor must meet educational goals the way a college course moves at a pre-determined pace. Perhaps the apprentice keeps up, perhaps they don’t.

This approach is not without its upsides. One of the things that prevents piercers from taking on  apprentices is the concern that this freshly educated piercer will just become a competitor when they feel like they are ready to pierce without supervision. The mentor is frustrated because they’ve invested significant time and effort, and at the end of the experience they’ve gained nothing except a new form of competition.

In a for-profit apprenticeship there should be no illusions: the customer (apprentice) is buying education to do with as they please. It’s possible to draw a contract that limits this as a possibility, but my guess is that enforcement of a non-compete clause in an educational contract like this one would be prohibitively expensive. Still, the big upside for a mentor is that they see an immediate financial payoff from the apprenticeship experience. In addition, the mentor will likely set a timeline in advance, so they know how much time and effort the apprenticeship will require on their part.

There are advantages for the apprentice, as well. In essence, becoming a customer shifts the power dynamic. The mentor now answers to the apprentice in terms of the quality of their apprenticeship. This can solve problems that often arise in more traditional piercing training situations. The mentor needs to prove to the apprentice in advance that they have a quality product that they will deliver, and in a reasonable amount of time. This means education that will likely be successful in preparing the apprentice for a career in piercing. It’s conceivable that there are consumer protections in place that can prevent an apprentice from paying for education that the mentor fails to provide. While there are no guarantees, this definitely puts the onus on the mentor to deliver quality education, and potentially puts them in a competitive market with other experienced piercers.

This brings us to a question, though. Is a for-profit apprenticeship even an apprenticeship at all? Or is it long-term paid training? Is this the kind of training regulated by local, state/province or federal law? No doubt, when large sums of money are exchanged for education the government is likely to have some say in the matter, and the person providing the product should expect to do the legwork to make sure they are providing training that is legally allowed. It may turn out that offering a for-profit apprenticeship is actually too expensive for the mentor, if local laws require significant amounts of licensing. It is strongly recommended that piercers choosing to offer paid apprenticeships thoroughly investigate local laws pertaining to this kind arrangement.

The APP has addressed apprenticeships in its Suggested Apprenticeship Guidelines and Curriculum. The Association has done its best to provide insight into safe, ethical training without trying to establish “the single correct way”. My hope would be that this guide could be useful to mentors in deciding  if  a for-profit apprenticeship program was worth their time, and also empower would-be apprentices to find education that both fits their needs and isn’t exploitative of their time, money, or energy. You can find the APP Suggested Apprenticeship Guideline and Curriculum free of charge at safepiercing.org/.