When I was seriously contemplating the idea of being a brewer I contacted the American Brewers Guild and asked them the exact same thing. I was fortunate/lucky enough that the the admissions person was out and Steve Parkes (Founder/Otter Creek brewmaster) happen to be near the phone and picked it up. I chatted him up about the subject and his response was that they were finding a very high level of success placing graduates of the Apprenticeship program. The admission counselor also told me the same exact thing when I called back weeks later. Steve also told me that formal education is now becoming the norm for new brewer hires because and I quote, "It's not like the mid-90's anymore where homebrewers were opening breweries left and right. Breweries want to see that someone is serious and has gotten formal training." Now he could have been chatting me up to get me to register, but I doubt it. If you look at their program they are booked solid through 2012, so I don't think that is an issue. I actually did sign up and was suppose to start this June, but pulled out. Why you ask? Because it is way more of a pay decrease than I could handle. If I was a young 22 year old graduate I'd be all over it. I just have too much responsibility at this point in my life. That and my impression is that you have to be a bit cutthroat to get a job. Too many people are accepting salaries that are far too low just to be brewers.