Apprenticeships

[SlinkyDog1]

My DS is in year 13, studying A Levels, and would prefer to go down the apprenticeship route rather than university and he has been diligently applying for apprenticeships but has started to get rejection emails back. On Thursday he received two rejection emails in one evening. For the rejections that he received this week were applications he worked really hard on, and he felt quite positive that he had good answers and may have done enough to be invited through to the next round, but now he’s feeling quite deflated by it all (as am I).

I feel that my DS has a good CV (he has two part-time jobs so shows a good work ethic) and has good GCSE results and predicted A Level grades too. I appreciate that apprenticeships are hard to get as they are so popular and I was wondering if anyone had any positive stories of their DC getting apprenticeships eventually?

Thank you @NotDonna he is looking forward to starting the role and also earning some money 😁

@GrumpyMuleFan he is not sure exactly the split between work and study but he gets one day a week study leave and, although he will have a couple of sessions in face at his uni, the majority of the time it will be remote / online lectures and learning. He has met his manager already who seemed quite chill about it all but we probably won’t know more until he officially starts.

I think his confidence grew with practice for tasks such as recording himself when giving answers, he said he looked straight ahead at the screen and did not stumble on his words which seems to help. I’d imagine that his skills when completing tasks also improved with practice but there were times when the tasks were quite random and unique for instance, there was a task when he had to press the space bar as quickly and often as possible in the space, of, say 20 seconds. So there were some tasks, he could not practice for ahead of time.

For the more successful applications, for the written answers, he pulled his own experiences into the application and showcased what skills he could bring to the role. He was aware that the applications were being reviewed by AI so he ensured that the language and certain words matched or complimented the job spec.

Mine has just been offered a degree apprenticeship in Project Management with Babcock in Bristol.

That's great! Congratulations.

@SlinkyDog1 thanks for update. My DC will try this year. It all seems quite daunting but everyone's tips and experience above will definitely help. So thank you everyone. Final year of BTEC Nationals, and yet to start process for apprenticeships.🤞

What is AAT level 3?

I know this thread has moved on but let me share DSs experience for anyone reading and worrying their DC might miss the boat.

DSs dream job was working for a big local employer who are a huge multinational. In y10, he went to their open day and someone sold him the benefits of working in Project Controls. This was just before Covid.

In the second year of A levels, he applied for this degree apprenticeship, potentially split over 2 sites. A week after applying, he was asked to self record some interview questions. I know he had technical difficulties, and one question got missed off. Suggested he email them to explain.

He had struggled a bit with A levels, particularly with Physics which I know he regrets taking. Some of this was lack of application and I did have an issue with the Physics teacher and the lack of support offered. He applied to uni as well.

However, he received a rejection from them a few weeks after the closing date. I know he was very bummed about it. His A levels were his first external exams (he was one of the students who had teacher assessed grades at GCSEs) and he didn’t do brilliantly. However, as it turned out, he got exactly the right number of UCAS points to apply for the same degree apprenticeship.

He took a year out (he was meant to get some temp work which never materialised). He did apply for other roles, but when the roles opened up again, he applied. He took a lot more care with the video interview questions and made sure he didn’t press any wrong buttons, took his time etc.

Anyway, he then got an interview and he deliberately booked it for 3 weeks away so he had time to prepare. He’s done interviews before in school and air cadets but not for a job. Both me and DH fired lots of questions at him, he read a book we bought him, looked at the company website etc etc.

4 weeks after his interview, out of the blue, they rang to offer him the role. He started last September, is about to start his second year and he’s helping with the induction of the new apprentices next week. He does remote lectures from home on a Wednesday (as there are other apprentices doing the same thing across the UK) and has two in person weeks per year, thankfully not far from us.

He’s doing really well, and regularly gets the best grade out of his cohort. Work wise, he’s had a great year and does work really hard. He has had great support but he loves it and so he takes it seriously.

The interesting thing about his peers is he is one of the youngest. Most of the others are mid 20s to early 30s and one is late 40s! Some have degrees and one had a long career as a teacher.

I often wonder if having the right grades made a difference. I wonder if they asked his college for predicted grades.

But don’t give up if you don’t succeed. Keep trying. Yes, the competition is fierce and teenagers are often at a disadvantage but it’s not impossible. DSs friend starts next week in the same role and he finally got an offer after his 3rd attempt. (DS helped him prepare for interview).

@ButterPiesAreGreat The numbers changing career has been a big issue. They are getting a second degree whilst 18 year olds are rejected. Most people think the scheme should favour 18 year olds, not adults. It’s somewhat abused by companies but at least he got something but many didn’t because adult career changers got them. I would like to see this change.

Yes, very much I would like to see them give priority to people without a degree already. DS has met the new cohort when they came in for an event and he said there were more younger ones but still a spread of ages. His mate will be turning 21 soon but he’s been doing temp jobs for 3 years after he finished a BTEC.

Having said that, last year they had different groups of apprentices with them on their induction. One of the groups was only one person as the other people didn’t get required grades. Seems a shame they can’t have a waiting list for this sort of occurrence. I’m almost sure that having the right number of UCAS points helped him second time around.

@ButterPiesAreGreat There are lower level apprenticeships for lower achievers. It’s about fit really. Surprised so many don’t get grades though.

Think that group was fairly small so maybe 4 or 5 and I’ve no idea what the requirements were for the role. It was a degree apprenticeship in finance, I think. They do offer some higher apprenticeships and some level 3 ones but they only do an annual recruitment exercise across the business.