Apprenticeship Guidance

Apprenticeships are very competitive. You will need top grades, and be able to evidence that you are reliable, organised, hard working and basically someone they want to employ!

There are two main routes:

Higher apprenticeships. Open to students with A Level and or BTEC passes.
Degree apprenticeships. These are run in conjunction with Universities, and you will be studying for a degree whilst working for the company. You will be paid, and they will pay your university costs but you will have to commit to remaining with the company – typically a minimum of 5 years.

The first stage to securing an apprenticeship is to draft a ‘personal statement’ so you are ready to complete application forms. You should use the tips you obtained during apprenticeship application workshop to help support you to do this. Tutors will also be happy to read through your statements and help you to ensure that you have written strong statements. If you are considering both university and apprenticeships, your statements will also be used as a basis for your university personal statement. You then need to really consider what type of work you are interested in, and ensure that you have the right qualifications and personal attributes for your chosen route. Apprenticeships are available in many areas such as engineering, law and finance, although some professional occupations such a teaching, medicine and nursing are only open to graduates.

Finally, you need to start actively searching for opportunities, and applying for jobs. Company websites are a very good starting point for both degree and entry level apprenticeships, as are job specific websites (see below). There are also websites which specialise in advertising vacancies (see below). If you are considering a degree apprenticeship, these opportunities will be available from early in Year 13 and you will need to be very quick to apply for these as they are very limited in number and increasingly in demand. Entry level apprenticeships will also be available from some employers as early as Term 1 of Year 13, but equally will be advertised throughout the year. Opportunities also get forwarded to us as late as August following the exams, so if you don’t have a placement by the end of your exams, please keep checking Abbeyfield emails as we will forward these to you when received.

We also have fantastic links through local employers, including Bryce Check who supported our employability day, who will both provide opportunities and also help you with applications and mock interviews. Please let Miss Jones know if you would like to access this support.

Useful websites for researching apprenticeship opportunities include:

Go Compare have recently looked at the level of risk associated to each job role and industry. Have a look here:

https://www.gocompare.com/life-insurance/uk-riskiest-jobs-report/