Are you starting to look for apprenticeships? Find out how to apply and how to prepare for the application process!
If you are a recent school leaver or considering your next career move, you might have thought about doing an apprenticeship. An apprenticeship is a recognised training scheme in which you learn a job or trade through hands-on experience alongside some classroom learning. You’ll earn a wage and, at the end, you’ll have a qualification you can take forward to help you launch your career.
Apprenticeships are available in many different fields, from business to building and healthcare to hospitality. In this article, we will guide you through the application process to help you land a place on your dream apprenticeship course.
How to Find an Apprenticeship
If you haven’t found your chosen apprenticeship programme yet, there are lots of places to do so. Start with the government’s apprenticeships website, where most vacancies will be advertised.
Other places you can look include:
- The Youth Employment UK jobs board – browse to see what’s available, or sign in to find apprenticeships local to you!
- Type “apprenticeship + [your chosen field] + [your location]” into a search engine
- Employer websites, if you know which company you’d like to work for
- Training provider websites (e.g. colleges and universities that support apprenticeships)
- Recruitment platforms for young people such as Not Going to Uni and UCAS Career Finder
- LinkedIn and other jobs boards such as Indeed, Monster, and TotalJobs.
Finding and applying for an apprenticeship takes time, so don’t leave it until the last minute to start looking.
Gather Everything You Will Need
Writing your application will be much easier if you already have everything you need to hand. So take a few minutes to get organised before you start completing the application form.
You will need:
- Your CV and cover letter (more on that in a minute)
- A copy of the job description and person specification
- A copy of your UCAS personal statement, if you have one
- A professional email address (e.g. mike.jones@gmail.com, NOT partyguy20359@yahoo.com.) Set up a new one if you need to.
- Information about the company you are applying for
- Your grades from any relevant exams or qualifications, e.g. GCSEs, BTECs, or A Levels etc…
- Details of any work experience you have completed, including voluntary positions
- The details of at least two appropriate people who are willing to be references for you (managers, supervisors, teachers, and lecturers are ideal.)
Do Your Research
The more you know about the company or organisation you are applying to, the better. So before you even think about writing your application, take the time to learn as much as you can. Read the company’s website, look for any recent press cuttings, and seek out their mission statement.
Try to find out about their main purpose and offerings, any new products or services they have launched recently, any awards or accolades they have won, the name and background of the CEO and other senior executives, and any reports or research they have published. You won’t be quizzed on this, but it’s extremely useful background information.
Read the Ad, Then Read it Again
Before you can write a great application, you will need to know exactly what the prospective employer is looking for.
Read over the job ad and person specification at least three times before you start writing. If possible, print it out and highlight relevant passages or make notes in the margins. This will help you craft an application that directly answers the needs laid out in the ad.
Craft a Great CV and Cover Letter
Your CV and cover letter, if they have been requested, will form the backbones of your application. These are the two pieces that it is most important to get right if you want to give yourself a fighting chance of landing the apprenticeship.
CV
Your CV is a document that outlines your career history so far. Don’t panic if you’ve never had a job before. This can also include relevant experience at school or college, in voluntary positions, and as part of extracurricular activities.
Remember to tailor your CV to each apprenticeship if you are applying for more than one. It should have a professional layout, be no more than two pages long, and directly refer to skills and attributes mentioned in the apprenticeship job description.
Learn more about writing a great CV on our CV Advice page.
Cover Letter
Your cover letter adds context and personality to your CV, showing the potential employer more about who you are and why they should hire you specifically.
A good cover letter should follow a basic format: address the right person by name, introduce yourself briefly, say why you want the job, explain what you can bring to the table, and sign off professionally. Proofread it at least twice for spelling, grammar, and factual accuracy before you send it off.
To learn more, check out our guide to writing your first cover letter.
Understand Your Strengths
When you apply for an apprenticeship, you are trying to convince an employer to hire you and to commit to working with you for anything from one to four years. This means you need to have a good idea of your own strengths before you can pitch them to someone else.
Write down at least 10 things you think you’re good at. Next, study the job description and consider how those skills align with what the employer needs. You can also ask your friends and family, current boss or supervisor, or a trusted teacher to tell you what they think your greatest strengths are. You may be surprised!
Take Your Time
Allow plenty of time to fill in the application form. Rushing with an hour to go until the deadline is not the way to do this.
Read each question twice before answering it so you know exactly what is being asked of you, then proofread your answers to ensure that everything you’ve entered is accurate, spelled correctly, and that you’ve filled in all parts of the form. Try not to leave anything blank unless the question does not apply to you, in which case you can write Not Applicable or N/A.
Save your work regularly as you go in case your computer crashes, or you lose your internet connection.
Prepare for the Interview or Assessment
If your application is shortlisted (meaning that the employer likes it enough to want to learn more about you), several things can happen next.
You might need to complete a test or assessment. This is typically a fairly short task that tests your knowledge or abilities in an area related to the job and will usually take place online. Amazing Apprenticeships has created a video guide to some of the different types of assessment tasks you might be asked to do.
The employer might also do a telephone screening before moving on to in-person or video interviews. Don’t ignore calls from unknown numbers when you are applying for an apprenticeship as they may be from an employer. Answer the phone professionally (“hello, this is Jane speaking”) and, if at all possible, go somewhere quiet where you will not be disturbed to have the conversation.
You may then be invited to a face-to-face interview. This could be in person, but video interviews are now increasingly common. If you’re invited to do a video interview, all the same rules apply as to in-person interviews. Try to do a practice run with a friend, family member, or teacher beforehand. This will help you to get comfortable with interviewing online if you’ve never done it before.
Check your technology in plenty of time, do your video interview somewhere quiet, and make sure your background is tidy and professional. You should also dress smartly, use professional speech and body-language, and have your notes to hand.
Finally, you may be invited to do a video interview or attend an in-person Assessment Centre as part of your application process. This will involve working with a group of other candidates. You will need to do both individual and group tasks to test your skills and attributes. Remember to listen closely, be enthusiastic, use positive verbal and non-verbal language… and then just relax and be your amazing self.
More Apprenticeship Advice
