ITI trainees see the real job on video, then start an apprenticeship nearby
TL;DR Jobpreview places ITI trainees into apprenticeships at small and mid-sized factories in one industrial cluster. Every opening comes with a short phone video of the actual machine, shift and supervisor, so trainees know what they are signing up for. Host firms pay a fee for each apprentice still working after 90 days. Trainees pay nothing.
The Directorate General of Training counts 13,888 ITIs with about 23.9 lakh trainees, against 2.14 lakh apprentices in notified trades[1]. Apprentices also come through other routes, so the comparison is rough, but most ITI trainees clearly never get structured months on a real shop floor.
Factories see the same gap from the other side. DGT's rules ask establishments with 40 or more workers to take apprentices as a share of headcount, and the employer pays the stipend[2]. Small firms find the portal, contracts and early dropouts more trouble than the help is worth.
A certificate alone does not fix this either - a national audit of the government's main short-term skilling scheme found only about 41% of certified candidates were reported as placed[3].
What it does, in regulatory terms: recruitment and apprenticeship administration support only. Jobpreview is not a training provider and issues no certificate. The apprenticeship contract stays between the firm and the trainee under the Apprentices Act, 1961[2].
It works one cluster at a time, for example the auto-component belt around a single city. A field coordinator signs up host firms and films a two-minute, unpolished video of each opening: the machine, the shift timing, the canteen, and the supervisor explaining the first month. Final-year trainees at nearby ITIs watch these on their phones, shortlist by trade, travel time and stipend, then visit the plant before saying yes. Jobpreview handles the paperwork firms hate - portal registration, contract filing, attendance records and check-in calls at weeks 2, 6 and 12.
The seed pitched AI matching and immersive previews, and I've dropped both. A few hundred openings in one cluster can be matched with plain filters, and VR is sold today as a training tool for welding and painting[4], not as a cheap way to preview a job. Honest phone video of the real workplace does that job for almost nothing, which is a steal in my opinion.
The trainee is usually 18 to 21, finishing a one- or two-year ITI course, and often the first in the family to work in a factory. The payer is the host firm, usually an MSME or mid-sized plant that must or wants to take apprentices but has no HR person for it. The test price is a one-time fee per apprentice who stays past 90 days, which is my assumption. I couldn't find a published fee charged by intermediaries.
DGT has made it easier for small firms to host ITI trainees. Under the revised Dual System guidelines, an engineering-trade partner needs 40 employees and ₹1 crore turnover instead of 200 and ₹10 crore, and a non-engineering partner needs only 6 employees[5]. Clusters and federations can also sign Flexi MoUs to run training themselves[6]. More eligible small hosts means more openings that nobody is organising, and that's your opening.
I couldn't find a public figure for spending on apprenticeship placement in India. The narrowest firm number is DGT's count of 2,13,580 apprentices in notified trades, set against about 23.9 lakh ITI trainees[1]. One cluster placing 300 apprentices a year could carry a small team at a modest fee, but that's my estimate to test. On the adjacent side, one large entry-level job app says 7 lakh+ MSMEs hire through it[7].
The big entry-level hiring apps list manufacturing and maintenance roles, but they do not run apprenticeship contracts or follow up on retention[7]. Large staffing firms have run big apprenticeship programmes, including the NETAP public-private project, mostly for bigger employers[8]. Australia's group training organisations go further - they employ the apprentice and lease them to small host firms that cannot commit to a full term[9]. India lacks a cluster-level operator that small firms trust and that trainees can see into before they commit.
| Difficulty | Moderate (40/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹45–85 L |
| Time to launch | 4–6 months |
The software is simple. The work is local and slow, from signing 100 firms in one cluster to keeping ITI principals on side, and filming openings honestly enough to put off the wrong candidates. You get paid only when apprentices stay, so most of the cost sits in coordinators who make follow-up calls and visit plants.
Jobpreview needs no licence of its own, but it works inside apprenticeship law, so the host firm's duties shape everything you do.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI decide who gets an apprenticeship or check legal compliance on its own. A coordinator signs off every match and every filing.
Want to work out the AI layer for Jobpreview? Talk to Yash →
I'd back a founder from a manufacturing cluster who already knows plant managers and ITI principals. If you're hoping to scale nationally from an app then skip this one.
Prove one thing first, in one cluster - that at least 60% of apprentices placed through video previews are still working at day 90, and that this beats what host firms say their usual rate is.
Plan for roughly ₹45–85 L, most of it on field coordinators who sign up firms and follow up with apprentices in one cluster.
No placement licence, but each contract is registered under the Apprentices Act, 1961, and the host firm pays the stipend. You also need DPDP compliance for trainee data.
Yes. Australia's group training organisations already run a version of it. Check how apprenticeships are registered and funded where you are.
The free Jobpreview validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the apprenticeship and data-protection checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for factory owners and trainees, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Jobpreview or something close to it? The make-or-break work is keeping apprentices on the shop floor past their first 90 days, and that's the kind of thing I help founders test. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.