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I'm a bit like an AI, except instead of making pictures of people with 16 fingers, I can help you find the perfect course and uni.
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Making your CV stand out is hard at the best of times, never mind when you’re applying for student jobs and don’t have much work experience. The good news is everyone has a first job and there are plenty of part-time job opportunities that won’t ask you to have years of experience under your belt. While you don’t need to have experience, you’ll still want your CV to stand out. Fortunately, as a sixth-form student, there are loads of ways for you to boost your CV.
National Citizenship Service
National Citizenship Service, better known as NCS, is a programme for 15–17-year-olds in England and Northern Ireland. It’s a two-week summer programme or one-week autumn programme. Timings coincide with school holidays to make sure you can take part. It’s jam-packed with activities designed to help you build your interpersonal skills and confidence. While you do have to pay to join NCS, the price is kept low to offer access to as many young people as possible. There’s also a bursary programme that covers up to 80% of the cost for students struggling to find the funds.
As well as offering these programmes, NCS offers free skill-boosting resources online and partners with Changemakers, which offers NCS graduates the chance to join a programme aimed at making positive change in the local community. And the best part? It’s free to attend your local Changemaker meetings – you’ve just got to get yourself there if they’re in-person.
Duke of Edinburgh Award
Also known as DofE, this award encourages young people to get outside and engage in community work alongside peers. It’s open to all 14–24-year-olds in England, Wales and Scotland and comes in three different levels depending on how much you’re able to complete. Many schools offer DofE, or you might be able to sign up through local youth groups such as Scouts or Guides. It takes around six months to complete the Bronze Award, 12 months for Silver and 18 months for Gold, and a typical week of the programme will need you to do just one hour of work.
The welcome pack costs between £24 and £31 and you’ll get a discount on buying kit for the outdoor activities. Any extra costs from your provider such as expedition costs should be kept low, and you can find out more by asking your school or youth group. DofE is recognised by a lot of different employers for the skills its graduates learn so it’s definitely a good one to add to your CV.
Volunteering and work experience
If you need experience to get a job but you need a job to get experience, volunteering is one of the most popular options to get some experience under your belt. Volunteering won’t cost you anything (except maybe transport costs) and many employers are willing to take on volunteers. Volunteering gives you real workplace experience and can also help you to network. If your manager likes you when you’re volunteering, they’ll most likely remember your name if you apply for a paid position. This is a great option if you know what career you want to go into as you can get real experience of the workplace.
You can look for opportunities being advertised, or you can reach out to the employer yourself and ask if there would be a chance for you to ‘shadow’ an employee or if they offer work experience. Shadowing an employee is a bit different from volunteering as you probably won’t be asked to do much work but instead join someone on their workday to get an idea of the type of things they do. Unpaid work experience is a form of volunteering, usually over a short period of time, and you’ll probably be set tasks to do as if you were actually a new employee training.
Extracurricular activities
Your school or college probably offers a range of after-school clubs or committees you can join. Doing something like being house captain or a member of the student voice committee is another way to get some experience that’ll make your CV stand out. If your school or college doesn’t have these things, you could look at joining local groups or clubs. Most areas have dance schools, Scouts and Guides, or sports clubs, and you could even find a new hobby or passion by joining them as well as making loads of new friends.
Support younger students
If you’re in Year 12 and your school also has GCSE students, you could offer to help out in a GCSE class in one of your free periods. Pick a subject you enjoy (and ideally got a good GCSE grade in) and speak to either your head of sixth form or the lead teacher for the subject you want to volunteer for. Your teachers will definitely be appreciative of the help and building a positive relationship with your teachers like this means you can put them as a reference on your CV. There might also be opportunities to do this if you’re a GCSE student if your school offers after-school clubs for younger students as you could volunteer to support them.
Check out your school or college's careers advice
Many schools and sixth-form colleges have a careers advisor but if yours doesn’t, you could just approach your form tutor or a trusted teacher and ask their advice. They can tell you about other opportunities your school has on offer. Some schools offer leadership certificates, which are great to put on your CV and are usually easy to incorporate alongside your studies. Your school might also have connections with local businesses to set you up with work experience or they might be able to point you to some online courses you could complete to get a certificate.
You might also be offered the chance to volunteer around the school in some other way. For example, you could help organise the library in your lunchbreak once a week. And your careers advisor or teacher will be so impressed that you’re being proactive, they might agree to be a reference on your CV as well.
Finding your first job can be stressful and it’s hard to know what to put on your CV without proper formal experience in the world of work. The truth is that you don’t need loads of fancy previous jobs to make your CV stand out. If you’re still in school, employers will be impressed with how proactive you’re being if you have a couple of these experiences on your CV. Make sure you explain what it was that you did on your CV or in a cover letter and what relevant skills it helped you to develop to be extra impressive. Also be prepared to talk about your experience and the skills you developed in an interview. Everyone started somewhere and the people reading your CV understand that, and will appreciate the effort you’ve put in to make your job application stand out.
