How to create a CV for your apprenticeship and prepare for your interview

Put these at the top of the page so you are immediately introducing yourself to potential employers. Employers will usually look through several CVs during the recruitment process so make it easy for them to find your contact details if they want to get in touch. Ensure to use your most up-to-date email address and phone number. 

Include a short professional summary underneath your name. This statement briefly tells the employer what experience you have or what your current role is. Your key strengths and what you can bring to the company. The professional summary should detail your attributes, soft skills, qualities and relevant work experience. Make sure you keep it short and sweet; you want to keep them keen, but you don’t want them to get bored. 

Most apprenticeships have entry requirements, such as particular grades in your GCSEs. The majority of our employers require a minimum of a grade C/4 in English and Maths, but this is flexible, and we can support you with your studies alongside your apprenticeship. Ensure to include your English and Maths grades as a minimum but it is always helpful to include some other relevant qualifications, such as previous childcare qualifications if you are applying for an Early Years apprenticeship. Make sure you put your education and work experience in chronological order. 

Even if you do not have any work experience directly related to your chosen field, it is still important to mention the experience you do have. This could include part-time work, work experience programmes or voluntary work. Ensure to outline your key responsibilities in those roles and the duration you were employed for. 

Your CV and portfolio can highlight skills that you have gained through coursework at school or college, or other activities outside of school/college. You will be able to demonstrate skills such as leadership, organisation, and teamwork. If you have completed any relevant training in your chosen field, be sure to mention this on your CV as well. This training could be short courses online or work experience training or any other qualifications/skills for example IT Skills, Driving Licence, First Aid. 

You should include a brief note on your hobbies, interests and any positions of responsibility, even if they are not relevant to your chosen field. This section tells your potential employer a little about your personality and makes your application unique to you. Ensure it is short and professional, you are still applying for a job! 

A CV should use a clear font (not Comic Sans) such as Times New Roman, Calibri or Arial in size 11 or larger, and ideally should be a maximum of one to two sides of A4. The formatting/style of the CV should be standard throughout, and you can use different font sizes for headers. Use bullet points to summarise key points and keep the CV concise and succinct. 

You should regularly review you CV and portfolio every few months, and also when you gain new skills, accolades or experiences that are relevant to your industry sector. 

Remember to refresh yourself on the job description and person specification, these are the skills and attributes they want to learn more about. Focus on these. 

Look at the company’s website to find out more about the products and services they offer and look at any recent news stories to learn about their successes. Also, look to see if they have a mission statement or mantra and read up on those.

Be sure to think about what you can bring to the role, your experiences, skills and enthusiasm. 

Make sure to prepare questions to ask the employer. Think about what you want to know more about, this could be around the day-to-day activities of the role, or future opportunities within the organisation, prepare a few examples (with evidence) where you have demonstrated skills/qualities such as problem-solving, teamwork and leadership. 

Make sure you arrive in plenty of time and take into consideration any potential traffic or disruption to public transport. 

Make sure you feedback to the apprenticeship team to let us know how you got on with your interview.