STEP 5: Align your occupation

The final step will align your occupation with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) apprenticeable occupation list. All occupations being used in a Registered Apprenticeship must be included in the available apprenticeship occupation listings Links to an external site.. Let’s walk through simple strategies for finding an occupation that aligns with the employer’s needs.

Start by searching the list for your occupation. 

 

Remember, not everyone calls an occupation by the same title, so you may need to search for variations of the title. For example, a computer support specialist, which is an apprenticeable occupation, could also be known as a:

• Computer specialist;
• Computer support specialist;
• Computer technician;
• Desktop support technician;
• Help desk analyst;
• Help desk technician;
• Information technology specialist (IT specialist);
• Support specialist; or
• Technical support specialist by the sponsor.

For the variety of job names above, DOL has chosen to recognize the occupation titles as:

• Help desk technician;
• Cloud operations specialist;
• Health information technology specialist; or
• Computer support specialist.

While they have different titles from employer to employer, generally, the work being performed is common.

Here, you can see an approved computer support specialist occupation on the apprenticeable occupation list. We found this by typing “Help Desk” in the “Search by Occupation” field. You can also download the entire list and use Excel functionality to search/sort the list.

  

If any of the occupation titles that you find through this search make sense to you, that’s what you will use when you register the program with the U.S. Department of Labor or your State Apprenticeship Agency.

What if your occupation isn’t on the list? We’ll walk you through this scenario on the next page.