How to land a degree apprenticeship?

Does anyone who is a degree apprentice/has an offer to be a degree apprentice have any useful advice for applying. I am looking but I find it hard and don’t really understand if I’m putting enough effort into applications. An application with questions might take me one and a half hours but I’m wondering whether it should take longer to improve the quality of applications or if I should keep doing what I’m doing and making it a numbers game. Primarily looking for a solicitor apprenticeship although as these are competitive I would be happy to secure a business apprenticeship.

I completed a degree apprenticeship with 3 others at a highly competitive company. We were told there was about 400 applicants per position by the apprenticeship provider, who did the initial filtering on behalf of the employer. We discussed our application techniques quite a bit.

What we all had in common is that it took us basically all day to complete. Another thing we had in common, is that we gave specific examples of where we demonstrated specific traits, skills, or other desired attributes insinuated within the questions. We used hobbies, passion projects and just general life experience, not just work experience.

Hope this helps

Does anyone who is a degree apprentice/has an offer to be a degree apprentice have any useful advice for applying. I am looking but I find it hard and don’t really understand if I’m putting enough effort into applications. An application with questions might take me one and a half hours but I’m wondering whether it should take longer to improve the quality of applications or if I should keep doing what I’m doing and making it a numbers game. Primarily looking for a solicitor apprenticeship although as these are competitive I would be happy to secure a business apprenticeship.

Hi there,

Hope you're well. I got a decent number of degree apprenticeship offers so I might be able to help you out with some advice.

You're asking if you should spend longer on your application OR make it a numbers game. My recommendation is do both. You want to spending a few more hours on each application, properly tailoring the CV, cover letter and application questions. However you also want to be applying to lots of companies because they are so competitive. Equally, it is good practice and you will end up getting better at the skill of applying, therefore getting more offers.


Quick advice:

(If you want, I can send you through a few links with example CVs, cover letters and research which will probably help you do these faster and better - just let me know if you want those.)

Hope that helps you - again let me know if you want those links. Otherwise, have a great day and I wish you luck in your applications.

hello -if I can "hop on" - would love some links with examples, thanks so much! interested in the software development space - looking at banks and consultancies mostly.

Also - did you leave home for yours? wondering whether to apply to degree apprenticeships away from my home (where there are a fair few opportunities) - for uni applications, I am applying to across the UK.

Does anyone who is a degree apprentice/has an offer to be a degree apprentice have any useful advice for applying. I am looking but I find it hard and don’t really understand if I’m putting enough effort into applications. An application with questions might take me one and a half hours but I’m wondering whether it should take longer to improve the quality of applications or if I should keep doing what I’m doing and making it a numbers game. Primarily looking for a solicitor apprenticeship although as these are competitive I would be happy to secure a business apprenticeship.

Hi there,

I'm a degree apprentice, currently in my third year.

I remember your struggle very well. I started applying right out of secondary school, got countless rejections, although most places just outright ghosted me. Later on I managed to get some interviews and came very close to securing an offer (but I decided to reject their final interview invitation).

All throughout my level 3 I was also applying because I knew an apprenticeship was the right choice for me, this time which more promising results.

So now onto your question: the good ol' quality v quantity. Unfortunately, there is no straight answer. The better the apprenticeship, the more applications the company will receive. I work at a large international company, yet nowhere near the size of the likes of BMW and our recruiters received hundreds of applications for only two positions.

This means to an extent it is a numbers game. Personally, I'd never risk applying only to one or two companies, even if I put full effort into it. You can never be sure exactly what they're looking for and what kind of applicants you're up against. So applying to multiple different apprenticeships is the way to go, in my opinion.

On the other hand, without a strong application the companies won't take an interest in you anyway. My advice is to ration your time and energy. If you've applied to multiple positions you should be able to pin point what are the most commonly asked questions. Some of them you can re-use your answers for. For example, "what are your strengths and weaknesses" - you could keep the same answer for most of your applications, maybe with some minor tweaking. On the other hand "why do you want to work for XYZ company" required research and a brand new answer.

Companies will reject you for silly reasons that they never outlined in their apprenticeship description. For example, among other things, my applications have been rejected due to the lack of a driving license (which was never mentioned anywhere on the apprenticeship page and I told them I'd be willing to either commute or relocate) and still being in education (despite being a month away from finishing, I would have been long done with my level 3 by the time the apprenticeship started). A lot - if not most of them will not even give you the courtesy of explaining why you have been rejected.

If you are especially interested in a specific company/role I'd put more time into the application.

Plus every one you send out should give you more experience and make your future answers better.

So generally my advice is to make your applications strong, try to make them more efficient, but keep applying to different roles.

I've done that during my applications and in the end ended up with multiple offers from different companies so I had the privilege of being able to pick where I want to work the most.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Hi there,

In answer to your question - no I didn't leave home. However I know lots of people who did leave home and relocate across the country - that is an option too. My advice would be to apply to both - apply to ones near you AND apply to ones far away from you. You are allowed to apply to as many as you want and hold multiple offers at the same time. This means you can then decide later down the line and make a more informed decision about your future. (e.g. I received multiple offers and I was still deciding which one to do in August despite starting in September). So just apply for all sorts and make the decision in several months time - you've got ages.

With regards to the links, let me send them through as promised:
How to make a CV including examples - https://youtu.be/Tvgi9_0iYOI
How to write a cover letter including a walkthrough example - https://youtu.be/fUwz2xkj5d8
Fastest way to do proper research for your apprenticeship applications - https://youtu.be/mjszHxDcKp8

Also, I see that you're interested in the software development space so I'm guessing you're looking to do a DTS degree apprenticeship? If so, this video might help you - https://youtu.be/JCKZo_G08qI. If not, no worries, ignore - I put it there just in case.

Hope that answers your question and hope those resources help you. Good luck with everything.