The Student Room Group

consulting/ finance degree apprenticeship applications

I'm a student about to enter year 13 and I want to do a degree apprenticeship in consulting or finance , I want to be as prepared as possible for applications , so I tried to make an excel sheet with 10-15 companies I want and when they open application , but I'm struggling to find out when most of them do , they only say to subscribe to their email list . the amazing apprenticeship website degree list doesn't come out till October , I am afraid ill miss the window for applications
You are doing the right thing by getting organised and starting early! A lot of the bigger companies launch their apprentice applications in September, and very often will only accept a certain number of applications before closing them again. So do not assume that you have 2 or 3 weeks to make your application as some of the very popular ones close after just a few days. You have a shortlist of companies so that is good, the best thing to do is subscribe as they suggest and visit their websites every week or so just to be sure you've not missed anything. Also make sure you regularly check the 'junk' or 'spam' folders for your emails as these emails sometimes end up in there and you don't want to miss it because of that! It is also worth trying to find if there are any discussions or posts about these companies process from previous years, they often ask the same (or very similar) questions, and it is useful to have prepared some responses in advance while you have time to think about them. A lot of the companies are very similar, some questions will be very direct about who you are and your expected qualifications etc. Other questions will be more like the personal statement in a university application, so have a think about these kind of questions:

Why do you want an apprenticeship in this subject?

How (or what) qualifications and studies have helped you to prepare?

What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

Why do you want to work for this particular company?

What qualities do you have that will help you to make a contribution to this company?


Think about each company separately, you need to ensure you've done a bit of research and learned something about them. Look at their website, not just the first page! Click through into the 'about us' sections, see if there is any info on recent projects they've done or companies they are engaging with. Make notes, you have a spreadsheet so this is a good place to keep them, even if you do not use some of this info at the application stage it is still useful if you make it through to an interview as you can make comments about it even if they don't ask, it never hurts to show you are genuinely interested in their specific company. UCAS has a page where you can search for apprenticeship's, it may be worth seeing if there is one already open you can apply to, just to get some exposure and experience with the application process. Most of the bigger companies will look to make decisions and offers in January or February, but some of them do open their process later in the year so they are not all the same. The most important thing is to be prepared and ready to make you application as soon as they release them, as they are very popular now and you need to move quickly - but don't rush it! Good luck!
Original post by evelyneouattara
I'm a student about to enter year 13 and I want to do a degree apprenticeship in consulting or finance , I want to be as prepared as possible for applications , so I tried to make an excel sheet with 10-15 companies I want and when they open application , but I'm struggling to find out when most of them do , they only say to subscribe to their email list . the amazing apprenticeship website degree list doesn't come out till October , I am afraid ill miss the window for applications

I agree with the previous post - being prepared with your applications is really beneficial.

Do you have a rough CV and cover letter drafted already?

If not, I can send over a sample CV and sample cover letter to help you. Let me know if that'd be useful and I'll send it over.
Original post by apprentinsideryt
I agree with the previous post - being prepared with your applications is really beneficial.
Do you have a rough CV and cover letter drafted already?
If not, I can send over a sample CV and sample cover letter to help you. Let me know if that'd be useful and I'll send it over.

I have a personal statement but I don’t have a cv just yet , I was thinking of tailoring my cvs to each company , so a cv and cover letter example would be really helpful Thankyou !!
Original post by BeingBoring
You are doing the right thing by getting organised and starting early! A lot of the bigger companies launch their apprentice applications in September, and very often will only accept a certain number of applications before closing them again. So do not assume that you have 2 or 3 weeks to make your application as some of the very popular ones close after just a few days. You have a shortlist of companies so that is good, the best thing to do is subscribe as they suggest and visit their websites every week or so just to be sure you've not missed anything. Also make sure you regularly check the 'junk' or 'spam' folders for your emails as these emails sometimes end up in there and you don't want to miss it because of that! It is also worth trying to find if there are any discussions or posts about these companies process from previous years, they often ask the same (or very similar) questions, and it is useful to have prepared some responses in advance while you have time to think about them. A lot of the companies are very similar, some questions will be very direct about who you are and your expected qualifications etc. Other questions will be more like the personal statement in a university application, so have a think about these kind of questions:

Why do you want an apprenticeship in this subject?

How (or what) qualifications and studies have helped you to prepare?

What else have you done to prepare outside of education, and why are these experiences useful?

Why do you want to work for this particular company?

What qualities do you have that will help you to make a contribution to this company?


Think about each company separately, you need to ensure you've done a bit of research and learned something about them. Look at their website, not just the first page! Click through into the 'about us' sections, see if there is any info on recent projects they've done or companies they are engaging with. Make notes, you have a spreadsheet so this is a good place to keep them, even if you do not use some of this info at the application stage it is still useful if you make it through to an interview as you can make comments about it even if they don't ask, it never hurts to show you are genuinely interested in their specific company. UCAS has a page where you can search for apprenticeship's, it may be worth seeing if there is one already open you can apply to, just to get some exposure and experience with the application process. Most of the bigger companies will look to make decisions and offers in January or February, but some of them do open their process later in the year so they are not all the same. The most important thing is to be prepared and ready to make you application as soon as they release them, as they are very popular now and you need to move quickly - but don't rush it! Good luck!

Thankyou so much , yes I have a word document with each companies core values and what I personally like about the companies , most of the companies application process includes situational judgement tests and cognitive tests rather than asking for cvs and cover letters , so I was thinking I’d use the Shl website to practice these , but I asked other people and they said they aren’t really doing this , I’ve practiced the deloite and kpmg cognitive and situational tests already , should I continue to use SHL?
Original post by evelyneouattara
Thankyou so much , yes I have a word document with each companies core values and what I personally like about the companies , most of the companies application process includes situational judgement tests and cognitive tests rather than asking for cvs and cover letters , so I was thinking I’d use the Shl website to practice these , but I asked other people and they said they aren’t really doing this , I’ve practiced the deloite and kpmg cognitive and situational tests already , should I continue to use SHL?

I am not closely familiar with the tests themselves so cannot make a recommendation for you, but my understanding is that although practice does not necessarily improve your ability to complete the tasks it does ensure you are familiar with what is required and how to respond. In the same way that practicing IQ tests won't increase your IQ, but it does mean that you are seeing the different ways that the challenges are presented and what to think about when answering to avoid getting stuck.
yeah , I understand . Thankyou for the advice :smile:
Original post by evelyneouattara
I have a personal statement but I don’t have a cv just yet , I was thinking of tailoring my cvs to each company , so a cv and cover letter example would be really helpful Thankyou !!

No worries, here are sample CV and sample cover letters.

Sample CV - https://sumptuous-book-021.notion.site/SAMPLE-CV-88817e9826664561be5a50f1e113b68a?pvs=4

Sample cover letter - https://sumptuous-book-021.notion.site/SAMPLE-COVER-LETTER-2024-b526a40d586b486caf64f0d9b1245a14?pvs=4

Hope that helps.
Original post by evelyneouattara
Thankyou so much , yes I have a word document with each companies core values and what I personally like about the companies , most of the companies application process includes situational judgement tests and cognitive tests rather than asking for cvs and cover letters , so I was thinking I’d use the Shl website to practice these , but I asked other people and they said they aren’t really doing this , I’ve practiced the deloite and kpmg cognitive and situational tests already , should I continue to use SHL?

Actually most companies do both - they ask for a CV/cover letter in the initial application AND do online/cognitive/situational judgement tests.

SHL is a very common one so I'd definitely recommend continuing to practise that. I'd also recommend looking into "Arctic Shores" - this is a very popular game-based assessment used by companies such as Amazon and PwC. It can be very difficult to pass if you don't know what you are doing (I failed it the first 2 times) so here's a video from YouTube which will help you if this one comes up - https://youtu.be/nQ1QBv2h7jo.

Hope that helps and good luck with your applications.

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