Finding Your Own Apprenticeship

You don’t have to wait for your dream apprenticeship to be advertised, you can find your own apprenticeship by following our step-by-step guide.

Start by having a think about the type of apprenticeship you want to do and the type of environment you want to work in. Do you think you will enjoy working behind a desk or outdoors?

Once you’ve thought about this it’s time to have a look for employers that might want to employ you as an apprentice. There are many ways that you can do this:

1. RESEARCH

ONLINE

Directory sites such as yell.com have contact details of thousands of businesses in your local area.

ASK PEOPLE

Sometimes it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Does your aunty’s friend run a shop? Would they be willing to take you on as an apprentice? Or perhaps your uncle works at a large engineering company. You never know who you may be connected with until you ask.

take a look

The chances are you’ll know your local area pretty well and know of lots of local businesses. Have a look around and see which ones are busy and may need extra help.

NOTE IT DOWN

Once you’ve completed all of this research, make a list of all of the employers you can approach and their contact details.

finding your own apprenticeship

2. PREPARE

You’ve now got your list of employers which is great! The next thing is to contact them. There are a number of ways to do this including:

IN PERSON

This may seem daunting but it’s a great way to literally get in front of a potential employer. Remember to bring along a CV so they can have a look over it after you’ve left and they'll have your contact details.

BY EMAIL

If you are contacting a large company, it may be best to contact them via email as the chances are they have many different sites and their HR/recruitment team might be based in a different building. Remember to attach a CV and cover letter so that they can clearly see why you would make a great apprentice for their business.

By phone

If you’re going to phone a company it may be best if you know the name of the person in charge of recruiting new staff as many businesses get dozens of telephone calls a day.

3. GO FOR IT

You’ve done some research and you’re prepared to go and speak to some employers. Make sure you look the part and be polite. Remember to leave your details and be sure to get theirs. This way you can follow up with a phone call or email later on.

4. what next?

Hopefully you will have successfully secured an apprenticeship. If you have, well done! The next thing is to let us know so that we can arrange for you to be signed up and you can get started.

You’ve been unsuccessful?

If you haven’t been successful, don’t panic. Hopefully you’re more confident speaking to employers and you’ve picked up some good tips on how to approach employers. Keep trying and remember, you can still apply for apprenticeships on the National Apprenticeship Service website while you try.