Pupil Map

This area is designed to give students help in writing their CV’s and applying for vacancies. We have also included links to real people doing real jobs to give an insight into different careers.

Practice skills test

https://barclayslifeskills.com/help-myself/

Writing a covering letter

This is the first thing a potential employer sees in your job application. The covering letter can support your CV or be an introduction to the purpose of your application.
https://www.barclayslifeskills.com/i-want-help-applying-for-jobs/started-work/how-to-write-a-cracking-cover-letter

Curriculum Vitae

A curriculum vitae (CV) is a marketing document in which you are marketing yourself! You need to “sell” your skills, abilities, qualifications and experience to employers. It can be used to make multiple applications to employers in a specific career area or for general vacancies.

https://barclayslifeskills.com/i-want-help-applying-for-jobs/school/cv-builder/

https://barclayslifeskills.com/help-myself/blog/the-12-most-common-cv-mistakes/

Interview Tips

Personal Statements

What is a personal statement? A personal statement is very important; it is your chance to think about what skills, abilities and experience you have and what you enjoy. You will need a personal statement to complete application forms and CV’s, so it is worth taking the time to get it right!
Aim to fill no more than one side of A4 paper. Jot down your ideas in rough first. The following tips will help you to get started:

Where are you now? – what are you doing in relation to education, qualifications and training. What do you enjoy and why.
What are your goals for the future? – think about what you plan to do in the long term – think about what job do you want to do – where would you like to work – where do you see yourself in the next 5 years.
What steps are you planning to take to reach that goal? – what will you do between now and then to help you get there. It doesn’t matter if it isn’t exactly what ends up happening, but it’s really important to have a plan.
What are your skills? – this is were you really need to sell yourself – what are you good at? What are the best bits about you? It can feel ‘wrong’ to say loads of stuff that you are good at, but people want you to be able to identify what your strengths are!
What are your hobbies and interests? – this is a bit more about you and what you do. What do you like to do in your spare time? What do you do outside of school? Only put what you are happy sharing with strangers, but it’s good to show that you have other things going on outside of school.
Name two things you have done that you are most proud of – again this can be hard to do .This can be ANYTHING that you are proud of, it doesn’t have to be connected with school. It could be a sports team, a friendship, help you have given to someone, babysitting you do – anything that you are proud of (again consider that you will be sharing this with strangers on application forms etc. You need to be happy for them to know what you put down.)
What experience have you had that will come on useful for what you want to do? – What experience have you had that relates to where you want to get to? Do you have a job? Even if you think it doesn’t directly relate, it could be used to show that you have committed to something and done other things outside of school. If in doubt write it down – you can always come and ask for help when writing it up on an application form or CV and it’s better to have too much than too little.