All I want for Christmas is an apprenticeship: top five festive tips

Emma Finamore
Last updated 22 Dec 2015

Christmas holidays are a time for family, fun, festivities and...finding an apprenticeship!

A big part of Christmas is spending quality time with loved ones, friends and family. It’s also the time for many young adults to spend time focusing on their career paths, and searching for various apprenticeship opportunities.

But with so much going on over the festive period how can you mange your time properly, so that any time spent on searches is worthwhile?

Kelly Ball, joint managing director of Paid To Learn, a dedicated website for apprenticeship vacancies and advice, lists her top tips for managing your time over the school holidays to help maximise your apprenticeship job search…

1.Plan

Plan plan plan! Lots always happens at Christmas…family meals, Christmas concerts, Star Wars! So find out what’s going on, and ask your parents when and where you’re needed!

From here identify the days and hours you can dedicate to searching for apprenticeship roles and create a timetable for your Christmas holiday.

2.Use your Christmas list wisely

Whether it’s an e-notebook so you can keep up the apprenticeship search on the go (even when you’re over at Grandma’s for lunch) or a year’s subscription to a magazine that’s relevant to the career you want to pursue, your Christmas list can definitely be a useful tool in the quest to find a scheme – choose wisely.

3. Use apps effectively

Apps can help you with all stages of your apprenticeship search, and are especially useful over a period where you’re pressed for time, such as Christmas.

Google Calendar is a great generic planner to sort out your timetable, as well as setting yourself reminders about when you should be sitting down for an hour to do some solid web research.

Self Control for Study blocks other apps like Facebook for a set length of time, so you’re not tempted to wander off onto other pages while you’re searching or filling out important application forms.

Alarmy is perfect for those addicted to the “snooze” button, especially after over-indulging on minced pies or roast turkey. This alarm will only switch off once you’ve completed certain tasks, such as taking a photo of the wardrobe, so you have to get out of bed in order to disable it, leaving you with plenty of time to find your perfect apprenticeship.

4. Get social!

Apply the same amount of energy to your apprenticeship search as your Christmas social life and you’ll soon see results. There are lots of organisations working with young people to help them find apprenticeships, many of which are on social media.

Follow these organisations on Twitter and Facebook so that apprenticeship job updates come through automatically to your timeline. For example, we’ve got a Twitter account @PaidToLearnJobs where we post our latest vacancies.

A simple search on Google will find a host of websites offering apprenticeship advice/jobs, many of which many will have their social accounts listed.

If you don’t have a Twitter or Facebook account then take the time over Christmas to create one, keeping an eye on your privacy settings (Facebook) to make sure your profile looks professional to potential apprentice employers, and keeping Tweets engaging but relevant and appropriate.

Having an interesting social media presence can really help you stand out, especially if you want to do an apprenticeship in marketing, journalism or media.

5. Introduce yourself

The government is really pushing apprenticeships at the moment, and as a result more and more businesses are setting up apprenticeship schemes of their own. So if there are certain companies that you would like to work for as an apprenticeship, write to them, and introduce yourself.

If they don’t have an apprenticeship programme at present you never know, they might just look into one. So spend some time putting together contact details and make sure to write a personalised email – if you’re going to take time out of your Christmas holiday you want to make sure it’s worthwhile.

Kelly is joint managing director of Paid To Learn, a dedicated website for apprenticeship vacancies and careers advice for young people aged 16-18 in the UK. For more information visit www.paidtolearn.co.uk or ring 0333 433 0123.

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