I thought I'd blog again. Now I have secured an apprenticeship myself, I'm going to do a post about applying for apprenticeships to hope that this may help some people! You can also relate some of these points to just applying for jobs! I haven't started my apprenticeship yet but this post mainly focuses on the applying part anyway, so enjoy!
Tips on applying for apprenticeships
1. Ignore the stigma
When they were first introduced, I remember apprenticeships getting so much stigma. And I was like "Why?" Personally, I think they are a better choice than university. You're earning money rather than getting in debt. You are getting a qualification and work experience at the same time. Plus you hear on the news how university graduates are struggling to find jobs and I just think "is it really worth it?" I personally only think it is worth it if you know what you want to do with it, say if you want to be a midwife and are doing a degree in Midwifery or a Geography student wanting to be a teacher. This is just my own opinion. I've had friends go to university and say it is great. Likewise I have friends doing apprenticeships/jobs and say it is great too. So ignore the stigma, at the end of the day you can do what you want to do with your own life!
2. Get on apprenticeship job websites, where you can apply for them.
You need to sign up to apprenticeship websites so you can apply for the apprenticeships! The main one for UK residents is gov.uk, and the website is so easy to use, plus it remembers your details so no repeatedly filling out your details over and over again! To search, all you do is type your postcode and how far you are prepared to travel and it comes up with loads! Again, Indeed can also have different apprenticeships on there, so keep your eye out on there too! Those were the two I used, but for my apprenticeship, it was advertised on gov.uk and I had to apply through getmyfirstjob.com so have a look on that one too, even though it is a smaller website!
3. Research what type of apprenticeships you would like the look of doing.
Everyone is different and everyone likes the look of different things and not so much other things. I wouldn't look for engineering apprenticeships as I don't have an interest in it. I thought I would be interested doing a childcare apprenticeship but after research, I liked the look of business, finance and accounting ones. I applied to these ones mostly and just kept checking the website (gov.uk) for any updates or new ones to be submitted.
4. Apply!
One thing is don't be too picky. Just apply to ones you know you can get to and what you like the look of out of the available options. Ask me a year ago and I would never have thought of applying, let alone about to start an apprenticeship in the financial world. It is funny how things change but I'm happy with where I am and the choice I have made. And so you should be too when looking and applying, and imagining yourself doing whatever your apprenticeship eventually will be! Just make sure you have entered your details correctly and that your sentences make sense and are relevant to the apprenticeship you are applying for! I would also recommend asking a family member or close friend to check it through before you send it.
5. Rejection
This will be inevitable while applying for apprenticeships. And most of the time, it isn't even you or fault with your application, apprenticeships get so many applications and they have to shortlist a few candidates they wish to interview. Or apprenticeships can also be taken down as they don't have the funding to run the apprenticeship any more. It can be disheartening receiving rejections but it shouldn't put you off applying for more as the perfect one could be out there, you have to apply to the companies as they won't be chasing you! I would also recommend to apply for jobs as well, but make sure you are interested in the jobs you apply for!
6. Acceptance
Once you are contacted for an interview, it does feel really good and gives you a positive mind boost. But don't stop applying when you receive an interview, it doesn't mean you have the apprenticeship! Keep applying and see what happens!
7. Interview preparation
Now you have secured an interview, you need to do some interview preparation. My first thing I did was to research the company and make notes about it, sure enough my first question was "What do you know about the company?" and I knew some facts and it gave off the impression that I was "very knowledgeable" (they wrote it in their notebooks and I was being nosey and saw) and motivation to research the company shows how interested you are in the position. Next, think about likely questions to be asked and practise answers to them. I didn't actually do this myself but maybe I should have done; draw back to own personal experiences as well to help support your answers. I would also reread the job role and think of at least three questions to ask the interviewers.
8. Dress and body language preparation
As well as preparing knowledge, you need to be dressed well and have appropriate body language. Smart dress is the way to go, I wore a plain black dress, black wedges, black tights and a black blazer. Very black I know, but I don't have too many smart clothes, so my choices were very limited, but I looked smart and that is what I wanted. Appearance preparation is important, I had a bath the morning before, blow dried my hair and did my usual natural makeup look, a light eyeshadow, black eyeliner, concealer and a bit of blusher. As for body language, be comfortable within yourself, don't be a robot. Sit up straight, make eye contact, listen, smile, don't fidget... I could go on. You just have to look like you are interested and have a passion for whatever the apprenticeship is and it is so important that you do as it will come naturally if you do have that passion.
9. Learning if it is right for you
As well as the interviewer seeing if you are right for the job, you have to see whether you are right for the job too. Could you imagine yourself working there? Could you imagine yourself fitting in and enjoying what you will be doing?
10. Being offered the apprenticeship!
Hope you enjoyed these two apprenticeship related posts, I have been working on them for a while to make them perfect!
So yeah, it's all good...
Amy :)
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