Apprenticeships support group

[SingingAvocado]

Following on from a thread started by @Citygirlrurallife and with encouragement from @Dontlookup1 perhaps there is an appetite for an apprenticeship thread? To repeat what I said on the original thread, 'my DD (Y12) wants to go for an apprenticeship too so I'm grateful to hear of others pursuing the same route. I've signed up to apprentice job alerts on LinkedIn and we have a spreadsheet to note down anything interesting and when it was advertised this year in the hope they follow a similar pattern next year. She'd like a degree apprenticeship but would be willing to do a level 4 if it is a foot in the door. She's also wanting something creative, which are a lot more rare (her favourite is the Christie's programme). We are under no illusions that it is going to be difficult. Would an apprenticeship thread be useful (plenty of uni ones here)? A central gateway would be great. We've done all the legwork ourselves …'
All welcome!

They have 1 week a year on campus for all apprentices on the programme as well (different gov depts, bank of England and some businesses).

I recruit our apprentices and grads . Part time work, work experience in the field they are interested in, volunteering and DofE all set applicants apart from those that haven't done anything.
We had nearly 6,000 applicants for this year's intake, so read and reread applications carefully, make sure you have mentioned the correct company, so many students send out multiple applications and forget to change the name of the company. Don't t send a copy and paste list of all the projects that a company mentions on their website (we know what we're working on !) Keep the reason for wanting to join the company short and sweet.
Research what the job entails, don't just put 'I like drawing' (architecture for example)
Sign up to LinkedIn and make sure they apply as directed on their website and don't just email a cv to HR.

That sounds good. DC considering accounting so there wouldn’t be a uni element.

My son's doing an accountancy apprenticeship and he's really glad he made that choice. I thought he might feel he was missing out but he's made some good friends with the other apprentices and there are a lot of other young people in his office. I think having other apprentices to hang out with is really important

Ohh any tips for applying?

As others have said take all the work experience opportunities you can. He did several virtual ones with banks etc. He also did the EY work experience which was very competitive to get on but meant he then went straight through to the 2nd round of the application process

Thanks. He has his unrelated part-time job, but hopefully can still pick up something over the summer virtual or local.

Mine took a year after A levels (actually both did). He worked for a year in an unrelated job, plus had a job during sixth form, which meant he had experience of holding down a job when applying . He originally had a deferred place at uni. He applied for apprenticeships whilst working. It is was a lot of work (tailored applications, videos, assessment questions and assessment centres for at least two). I think it would've been difficult whilst doing A levels for him, so glad he did it that way round.