First CV for a Teen
Discussion
I'm stuck. I'm trying to help my 16 year old who wants to apply for Apprenticeship positions write a CV but having never had any job, done any volunteering or anything along those lines I am truly stuck. It's not even like we have his GCSE results back yet to add those.
Apart from his personal details and interests which fill up a quarter of an A4 page, we have nothing to put. I was thinking about where he would like his career to progress too as he wants to be a pilot but at the moment his is just applying for things that are in no way related to this career as you need to be 18 to start in the aviation industry.
My normal problem with my CV is cutting it back to bare minimum so this time I have the opposite problem and Google is not really helping with suggestions, only layouts.
Apart from his personal details and interests which fill up a quarter of an A4 page, we have nothing to put. I was thinking about where he would like his career to progress too as he wants to be a pilot but at the moment his is just applying for things that are in no way related to this career as you need to be 18 to start in the aviation industry.
My normal problem with my CV is cutting it back to bare minimum so this time I have the opposite problem and Google is not really helping with suggestions, only layouts.
Could they lead with a personal statement?
"I'm a hard working, committed person who is willing to learn quickly, both on the job and to study in my free time."
etc - could build it out to 5-6 lines
Font size 12, 1.5 spacing.
You could list out the GCSEs with either predicted grades or a note that they are in process?
Any online courses they could start? e.g. learning conversational French? Just to show willing?
"I'm a hard working, committed person who is willing to learn quickly, both on the job and to study in my free time."
etc - could build it out to 5-6 lines
Font size 12, 1.5 spacing.
You could list out the GCSEs with either predicted grades or a note that they are in process?
Any online courses they could start? e.g. learning conversational French? Just to show willing?
IMO it's unreasonable to expect a 16-year old to have a CV, as you say most just won't have anything to go on it. I'd position it as much more of a personal statement: this is what I've done, this is what I'm interested in, this is where I want to go. Put stuff about what he wants to get out of the placement as well. Anything that gives an indication of why he wants the job and lets them get a feeling for him as a person will help him stand out from the other applications as realistically this is an extended covering letter rather than a CV as such.
V8mate said:
Wouldn't a couple more years of academic education serve him better?
https://www.ucas.com/careers-advice/employment/how...
vaud said:
V8mate said:
Wouldn't a couple more years of academic education serve him better?
https://www.ucas.com/careers-advice/employment/how...
He wants to get a job to pay for flying lessons getting his private pilots licence and then go from there. Highly unlikely he will make it as so many apply for so few positions and since covid there are still many qualified pilots without employment but I do not wish to sour his dreams.
I ought to also mention he has Asperger's so is intelligent but socially poor so the interview stage will in itself be very difficult, but he so wants to work and earn money.
I've had this issue 3 times now.
Starting with a personal statement is a good idea.
For my kids we talked about work experience undertaken via school.
Then key achievements thus far personally (again not that easy at 16).
And then a final section on ambitions etc, where you want to be in the future - can probably pad that out to a page.
Good luck!
Starting with a personal statement is a good idea.
For my kids we talked about work experience undertaken via school.
Then key achievements thus far personally (again not that easy at 16).
And then a final section on ambitions etc, where you want to be in the future - can probably pad that out to a page.
Good luck!
solo2 said:
vaud said:
V8mate said:
Wouldn't a couple more years of academic education serve him better?
https://www.ucas.com/careers-advice/employment/how...
He wants to get a job to pay for flying lessons getting his private pilots licence and then go from there. Highly unlikely he will make it as so many apply for so few positions and since covid there are still many qualified pilots without employment but I do not wish to sour his dreams.
I ought to also mention he has Asperger's so is intelligent but socially poor so the interview stage will in itself be very difficult, but he so wants to work and earn money.
16 year old apprentices currently earn £4.81 per hour. Really not sure how gaining a non-relevant qualification or earning a pittance is going to help him achieve his aspirations.
And just because one school let him down, doesn't mean that another, or a Sixth Form College, won't ensure he receives a more appropriate education. If he wants to do a 'thinking' job, he really should demonstrate a little more aptitude for thinking (just to 18; no expectation of Uni etc)
When the scrumplets turned 16 and were looking for their first jobs we included things like Girl Guides, member of the school netball team, taking part in school plays, D of E awards. Then bringing out in the personal statement the teamwork, timeliness etc as a result of these.
Not sure whether it really made a difference but seemed better than leaving most of the page blank!
Not sure whether it really made a difference but seemed better than leaving most of the page blank!
V8mate said:
Minimum entry standards are irrelevant, unless Daddy is going to stump the £100k. It's about being a good candidate.
Well daddy left when he was 10 days old so no chance of that happening 
V8mate said:
16 year old apprentices currently earn £4.81 per hour. Really not sure how gaining a non-relevant qualification or earning a pittance is going to help him achieve his aspirations.
A non relevant qualification may not help him but it would show he has commitment to a job if nothing else.V8mate said:
And just because one school let him down, doesn't mean that another, or a Sixth Form College, won't ensure he receives a more appropriate education. If he wants to do a 'thinking' job, he really should demonstrate a little more aptitude for thinking (just to 18; no expectation of Uni etc)
He has an EHCP finally in the last few weeks, took me 4 years to battle to get that and that is a huge part of the back story as to why he wants out of an education setting but I do agree he shouldn't tarnish one place due to another. Problem is a lot of people have left him down in his short life so it is a bit hard getting him to give it one more go when I've spent the last 4 years using that phrase.I want him to resit some of his GCSE's to better the grades but he's having none of it and wants to earn money to fly.
Scrump said:
When the scrumplets turned 16 and were looking for their first jobs we included things like Girl Guides, member of the school netball team, taking part in school plays, D of E awards. Then bringing out in the personal statement the teamwork, timeliness etc as a result of these.
Not sure whether it really made a difference but seemed better than leaving most of the page blank!
He's a child of the pandemic so there was no two weeks work experience and no D of E awards when it was his years turn. Not sure whether it really made a difference but seemed better than leaving most of the page blank!
solo2 said:
I want him to resit some of his GCSE's to better the grades but he's having none of it and wants to earn money to fly.
At £5 an hour he isn't going to be flying much and if he is socially poor he might struggle with the training interactions?If he is bright he could earn a lot more money in IT (and fly as a side line). Lots of tech companies and IT service companies are hiring at the non-graduate level and training "on the job"
solo2 said:
I'm stuck. I'm trying to help my 16 year old who wants to apply for Apprenticeship positions write a CV but having never had any job, done any volunteering or anything along those lines I am truly stuck.
As said, many kids will be in the same boat.How things have changed. By the time my mates & I were 16 we'd mostly had several jobs, and usually more than one at a time!
Hobbies & pass-times can give an insight & might strike a cord?
solo2 said:
Scrump said:
When the scrumplets turned 16 and were looking for their first jobs we included things like Girl Guides, member of the school netball team, taking part in school plays, D of E awards. Then bringing out in the personal statement the teamwork, timeliness etc as a result of these.
Not sure whether it really made a difference but seemed better than leaving most of the page blank!
He's a child of the pandemic so there was no two weeks work experience and no D of E awards when it was his years turn. Not sure whether it really made a difference but seemed better than leaving most of the page blank!
Do not pad out an essentially empty CV with half-truths.
Do not, for example, say that you enjoy playing the piano even though you actually gave up when you were twelve. It's possible that once you get a job your boss will expect you to play for everyone at your first office Christmas party.
You don't want that to happen. Trust me.
Do not, for example, say that you enjoy playing the piano even though you actually gave up when you were twelve. It's possible that once you get a job your boss will expect you to play for everyone at your first office Christmas party.
You don't want that to happen. Trust me.
At 16 I doubt a CV is the big deal breaker, just do a personal letter to each prospective employer.
Or face to face into, he may be socially poor but may as well get that out there. Just collect NO answers, he won’t be able to get to 100 without at least one yes or trial.
When I wanted to get in to sales I met with the owner of the company, he said he only had one job going in the warehouse…I said "great, I will learn all about the products there’. Within 6 months I was in the sales office and within 12 was the highest paid and still under 20…."it is the attitude that will determine the altitude " (zig ziglar)
Or face to face into, he may be socially poor but may as well get that out there. Just collect NO answers, he won’t be able to get to 100 without at least one yes or trial.
When I wanted to get in to sales I met with the owner of the company, he said he only had one job going in the warehouse…I said "great, I will learn all about the products there’. Within 6 months I was in the sales office and within 12 was the highest paid and still under 20…."it is the attitude that will determine the altitude " (zig ziglar)
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