Uptree

Hi! I’m Gemma, an Uptree Ambassador currently on a technology degree apprenticeship programme with Morgan Stanley . Whether you are applying for apprenticeships, internships or just full-time work, I hope that the tips I’ve learned throughout my many applications can help you push past the boundaries and secure your dream role!

This post will be split into three sections:

1. Learning more about yourself

2. Being savvy with online resources

3. Building an online presence

Learning more about yourself

One revelation I had during Year 13 was how much I didn’t know about myself – I used to think that most of my strengths lied in number-crunching and problem-solving tasks, as my A-Level choices were very technical.

I soon learned that while this was still true, I had other skills that I could apply to the workplace, such as sales skills from my part-time jobs as well as being good at forward thinking.

If you feel like you're in a similar position to me with how much you know about yourself, take an online personality test . This will help you highlight areas of strength and weakness you may not have even thought about, and this can help you tailor your CV to your personality which will help you stand out.

Another tip for learning about yourself is attending as many work experience days as you can

Meeting new people and learning about their different walks of life can really open your mind and change your perspective on things.

This was definitely the case for me as once when I had received a rejection before a work experience day, I was talking to someone about it and they suggested different ways to improve, which really changed my perspective on the situation and helped me out with other applications.

Being savvy with online resources

Without all of the free resources on the internet for different applications, I honestly would not be where I am right now!

One of my favourite things to do before an interview was to look online at past interview questions and prepare a good answer for them, including my commercial knowledge and past work experiences. Even if I didn’t end up being asked them, it would always boost my confidence knowing that I was content with the amount that I know, and the preparation would often help out with other questions.

If you have an interview coming up, I would definitely suggest looking up past interview questions, the company’s core values and see how other people (if the role is part of a programme) found the interview on student forums

This will put you in a great position and also, with effective use of the STAR method and an element of confidence, you will walk out of the interview feeling very content with your performance.

Building an online presence

Being born a member of Gen Z , it is fair to say that social media and the internet has influenced our lives so much, for the better and for the worse.

This has meant that we can put forward an entirely new skillset that is very desirable to employers, such as being forward thinking, up to date with commercial knowledge and very resilient to criticism.

Having a LinkedIn account is such a valuable tool to help showcase your experience on your profile, engage with recent news which will enhance your commercial awareness and reading about people’s past stories with rejections which can help build perspective and confidence when applying to roles.

One of the most important reasons to have LinkedIn is to leverage professional relationships and continue to build your network

With LinkedIn, I personally made my account in my Year 12 summer, just before I started applying to apprenticeships and gap-year internships, but you can make yours at any time and you will still continue to feel the benefit.

If you are looking for a role in a creative or the tech industry, look into making a separate online portfolio too, as this will truly demonstrate your artistic or technical skills with building a website perhaps, or uploading your artwork.

Overall, I hope these tips will help you ace those applications and find a role that you love. If you are still finding it hard to move past a certain stage of an application, don’t give up on hope, you’ll soon make it! Best of luck!