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We know that CV writing can be a difficult task especially if you haven't made one before. We've compiled apprenticeship CV top tips to help get you the apprenticeship that you want. Your apprenticeship CV doesn't have to be very long, just one single page is fine. The person reading it isn't expecting you to have heaps of experience by listing your skills and experience that the most relevant for the role that you're applying for.  You need to show the employer why you would make a great addition to their team, what do you have to offer, and don't worry, it’s okay if your CV looks bare, that's far better than filling it with useless information.

Think about how your CV is going to look

Before you get going, you need to think about how your CV is going to look. Pick a font that is relatively formal and easy to read like: Arial, Verdana or Helvetica also set your text no smaller than size 11, but don't supersize it just to fill the page.  

Tell about yourself

At the top of your CV start with your name, address, telephone, number, and email address. This will help them easily locate your cv and make contact. Then in a few short lines, write a brief description of yourself mentioning your career aspirations, why you want to work in this sector, and any personal qualities that will make them want to employ you. After this, list your education details with the last school you attended, at the top, list your education from the age of 11, list the subjects that you studied and the grades you achieved, list any jobs or work experience that you have in chronological order including the dates you worked there, company name and your job title, add a short description of your duties in the role and the skills that you gain.  Make these as relevant to the role that you're applying for as possible; don't worry if you don't have much to put in this section. Also, don’t forget to add any interest and extracurricular activities that are relevant to the apprenticeship you're applying for, remember there's no reason to mention your love for Xbox, PlayStation.

If you speak any foreign languages and you think this may be relevant to the role, then you may want to mention this. If the apprenticeship you're applying for requires technical skill, then list any that you already have. For an office-based apprenticeship, you must detail your computing skills, what computer programs are you able to use: Microsoft office, Photoshop, how fast can you type, all of these things are relevant.

Use reference

You will also need to provide the details of a few references that know you and these can be a teacher, tutor, or previous employer. Make sure you check with them that they're happy to give you a reference. Once you've completed all of these sections, you need to check, check, check, check every last inch of your CV for errors, make sure there are no spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, wrong contact details or information in the wrong place, and also check your CV is clear and concise so that there's no confusion when reading it. If you're not sure, go and get someone else to check it.