In many jobs, working as an assistant for someone better trained is the way a person gets trained.
Really? /sarcasm
How many people do you know who have a job actually will get off their butt and take an extra night course or get a second part-time job that is more challenging than their own with the realized intention that they will actually learn more that will be usefull on their own job and will lead to a pay raise?
Most people seem to find this comfort spot and then stop learning. The one thing they don't ever do is quit bitching about --Fred got promoted, I've got more time with the company than he does--I haven't had a raise since the cows went home--boy, that new kid is a wiseass, he thinks he can tell me how to do my job, I've been at that machine for 15 years. Who the hell does he think he is?
Expecting your employer to select you for training when he could much easier hire a competitors employee away from them and get it all in one bag. Experience, education, job skills and advanced knowledge in that particular field and perhaps a few others.
I know far too people who continually bitch but refuse to take it upon themselves to become a better employee or even refuse to go to a job fair to see what the latest is on the market. Afraid they'll miss their weekend football games, I suppose. These are the people for whom trade unions fill the bill. Security, raises, company paid training, medical benefits and they didn't have to do a thing except show up and work only as hard as the guys beside them.
Only one time in my life have I ever had a man come in a say, "I need a job today, not tomorrow, right now.
I'll work for you for one week for no pay to give you a chance to see if I know the skills I say I have. If you see that I'm not as good as your top men when you let me go, you promise to tell me where I failed.
I hired the man on the spot and eventually sold the company to him.
By the way he lied on his resume. He left out more than most try to stretch. Unusual for a thirty year old man.