This guide is intended to assist professionals in helping students explore apprenticeship as one alternative for entry into the work force. Additionally, it provides the processes for acquiring and registering in an apprenticeship program. The introduction focuses on the Apprenticeship-School Linkage Project; benefits for students, schools, and employers; and objectives of the Maryland Project. Guidelines for the Maryland apprenticeship system follow. Requirements for entrance into an apprenticeship program are also listed. Eight steps are then described that are a suggested sequence in the guidance, career decision-making process leading to an apprenticeship program placement for individual students. This information for students is provided: what to expect, how apprenticeship programs operate, student responsibilities, and what an apprenticeship can do. The components of the apprenticeship agreement are then discussed, followed by some guidance questions and answers. Concluding the guide are a bibliography and these appendixes: a glossary; addresses of local, state, and federal resources; a list of apprenticeable occupations; sample forms; and a list of references. (YLB)