examples of personal statement for apprenticeship

Apprenticeship CV example

When you’re pursuing apprenticeship opportunities, your CV needs to attract the best employers.

A strong CV should highlight your marketable skills, using a visually pleasing and clear structure  to really sell you.

I’ve created this comprehensive guide (and example apprenticeship CV), that will walk you through the process of producing an engaging and eye-catching CV and move one step closer to landing a top apprenticeship role.

Guide contents

• Structuring and formatting your CV
• Writing your CV profile
• Your education
• Vital skills for your apprenticeship CV

CV templates 

The above CV example displays how to structure your CV when you have limited or no work experience, documenting your core skills and how they can help you transition into an apprenticeship.

As the guide continues, I’ll support you in producing your own interview winning CV.

Build your CV now 

CV structure & format

Your CV needs to facilitate ease of reading through a clear and well-defined structure, allowing recruiters to easily identify your suitability for apprenticeships .

A strong structure will enable recruiters to simply navigate your details, pinpointing your potential with ease.

This infographic will give you the tools to write a CV that is well formatted , detailing what sections to include.

Formatting Tips

• Keep to a clear, professional CV structure, sticking to a muted colour pallet and easy to read font
• Maintain a CV length of between 1 to 2 sides of A4 to tell your story quickly to busy employers
• Avoid adding imagery to your CV such as company logos or headshots, these aren’t needed in the decision making process and just waste space

Structuring your CV

Make your CV easy for recruiters to navigate by breaking it up into clearly defined sections, working to the below order:

• Contact details – have your contact details handy at the top of the page
• Profile – engage recruiters at first glance, with an opening paragraph that summarises your suitability for apprenticeship roles
• Education – documenting your educational history, focusing on the qualifications/courses most related to the apprenticeship you’re pursuing
• Work experience –  detail any employment, voluntary experience or personal pursuits undertaken
• Interests and hobbies – add hobbies that showcase your transferable skills

I will now talk you through what to include  within each of these sections.

CV contact details

Add your contact details to the top of your CV, ensuring recruiters and employers can easily reach you.

Look only to include essential information:

• Phone number
• Email address

Avoid adding supplementary information such as your date of birth, headshots or your full home address – as the city you live within is enough detail.

Top Tip –  use a professional email address and even consider setting up an account solely to use for apprenticeship applications.

Your CV profile (or personal statement ) is a short opening paragraph, which should grab recruiters’ attention and engage them to read further.

Like a blurb to a book it should give an overview of your CV, detailing your voluntary experience, educational history and applicable skills.

Showcasing at first glance why you’re the ideal candidate for apprenticeship positions .

Use these tips to help you produce your CV profile:

• Your profile needs to be between 5-10 lines, a succinct paragraph to entice recruiters, you’ll be able to elaborate elsewhere in your CV
• Research the industry you’re looking to pursue and tailor your profile to those types of apprenticeships, making yourself custom fit
• Stand out from the crowd and avoid using overused statements such as “I give 110%”, recruiters read these types of phrases in hundreds of CVs and they only make you blend into the crowd

What to include in your CV profile?

• Qualifications – your educational history should be a focal point, specifically highlighting any qualifications needed to commence an apprenticeship
• Core skills –  feature your transferable skills, consider strengths such as communication, team work, organisation and interpersonal skills
• Passions –  explain why you’re looking to gain an apprenticeship role and your interest in that field

Core skills & achievement section

Beneath your profile, include a core skills and achievement section that is comprised of two to three columns of bullet points.

Use your industry research to tailor the skills you include to those required for apprenticeship opportunities, emphasising your relevancy for roles at first glance.

Consider strengths gained within your education, extra curriculum activities or any voluntary experience.

If you have limited work experience, your education should be highlighted throughout your CV, but your education section will allow you to provide more depth on these courses.

List each qualification obtained in bullet point form, documenting the course title, year obtained and the establishment you attended.

Factor in GCSE’s, A Levels, any vocational courses or short/online courses you have achieved, starting with those most related to the apprenticeship sector you’re applying to.

Clubs and Memberships

Also, look to include any club involvement or memberships acquired within your education section.

Consider any sporting clubs you have been part of, drama groups or whether you were a prefect or school champion whilst in education.

See also: Graduate CV – School leaver CV

Work experience

Your work experience isn’t limited to just full time paid employment, you should look to include any voluntary work undertaken, freelancing or even any personal pursuits.

Structuring your roles

When structuring your work experience, you need to break up large blocks of text, enabling recruiters to easily navigate your experience.

Using the below three sections.

Give context to recruiters with an overview of your role and the organisation you were within.

“Working in a local cafe, serving customers at the till as well as supporting the kitchen with serving food ”

Key responsibilities

Documenting any duties in bullet point form.

• Taking customer orders, advising them which choices are best from the menu
• Helping to clean tables, counters and supporting in the kitchen when needed

Key achievements

Record your key achievements , adding any relevant figures to strengthen your examples.

• Received a 10 out of 10 score from a customer feedback form

Interests and hobbies

When you have limited work experience, your hobbies section is a great way to support your application by describing your transferable skills.

Avoid cliche hobbies  like “socialising” and instead include interests that confirm strengths such as team work, communication or organisation.

For example, playing for a sports club, being part of the debate team or being creative through a blog or YouTube channel you have created.

Essential skills for your CV

Feature the key strengths you have gained within your time in either education, extra curriculum activities or skills you acquired from voluntary experience.

Communication –  having the confidence to clearly communicate with people of all levels

Commitment and Drive –  display your commitment towards pursuing this training programme and career path

Organisational Skills –  whether juggling studies, voluntary work or other commitments

Team Work –  working with others, either in sporting teams or class projects

Writing your apprenticeship CV

When you’re applying to apprenticeship positions it’s essential for your CV to highlight your transferable skills, as well as your passion for the apprenticeships you’re applying to.

Using a clear, strong CV structure will help you grab recruiters’ attention, exciting them to delve deeper into your CV.

By using this guide, you’ll be able to produce your own eye-catching CV that’ll help you get hired.

G ood luck in your next application!