Tips to attract good applications for your apprentice vacancies

Caroline Bowden, Bron Afon’s learning and development officer, has some tips to make sure you get good applications for your apprentice vacancies.

When we were asked to recruit 24 apprentices we decided to do something different before we could use Lord Sugar’s immortal words “Your Hired”!

We needed apprentices in roles such as estates, stores, plumbing, admin and plastering.

First job

This was likely to be the first job that many of our applicants would be applying for so we decided to hold an open evening. The idea was for help potential applicants to get a feel for Bron Afon and the people who work here before they applied. 

We wanted to provide help and support to anyone who had limited experience in filling in application forms and interview skills.

The event was developed with the help of managers, existing apprentices and our partner Torfaen Training.

Mums and dads

The start time was 4pm and by 3.45pm a crowd of around 40 applicants (and some mums and dads) were in our reception area.  At the height of the event we had around 100 people.

Some were very certain telling us: “I want to be a plumber”, some less sure and using the opportunity to explore all of the roles.  At times the parents were more definite about the direction to be taken than the young people…….

The opportunity to talk to managers and current apprentices was popular. They got a real picture of life as an apprentice, including the work at Bron Afon, college days, assignments and exams. ‘Try a Trade’ was also a hit with some finding a natural skill in some of the trades.

Our managers saw some real potential and said they were looking forward to seeing the applications and taking part in the interviews.

A good application form is so important

The attendance at the skills workshops was low to start. Some applicants needed a nudge to attend but got a lot out of it once in the room.  Others could not be persuaded and told us: “I’ve already completed my form”, not recognising how vital a good application form is to stand out when applying for a job. They also missed out from seeing their competition and the chance to listen and learn from them.

Top Tips

1.    Don’t underestimate the numbers. You should expect ten applications for every one apprentice role.

2.    Be prepared. Ensure you have a clear recruitment and event plan.

3.    Make it easy for the young people to the opportunity to stand on their own two feet and ask their own questions. We found tea and biscuits to be a great distraction for the mums and dads.

4.    Most applicants think that completing an application form is easy and that getting shortlisted for interview is straightforward. Remind them that standing out in a crowd of over 200 is very difficult. 

5.    Put a lot of effort into telling people the benefits of the application form and interview skills workshops. It’s far more rewarding to shortlist and interview high-calibre application forms and applicants.

We received 214 applications and shortlisted 90 local young people for interviews.

The induction for the 24 successful candidates will include more than the corporate health and safety information for their jobs. We also plan to get them involved by working together to encourage others to look at apprenticeships as a future career.