Being a 17 or 18-year-old applying for Apprenticeships while studying A Levels? It’s busy!! 📔 A Level / BTEC coursework 😬 Mock exams next week 🍔 Part-time job shifts to manage ⚽ Sports and hobbies for a bit of downtime 💻 And trying to apply for a bunch apprenticeships - without a fixed 'covers-all' deadline.

This was Dale's first visit to Chalk Hills Academy, kicking off some work with their Sixth Form students who are exploring Degree Apprenticeships. 🎓 It began with a presentation for Year 12, followed by a similar session with Year 13. A particular highlight was having two ‘live’ actual Degree Apprenticeship offer-holders in the room! Huge congratulations to those Chalk Hill students who have already secured places with Forvis Mazars and Grant Thornton 👏👏

But what is Project 13? Project 13 is a Higher and Degree Apprenticeship 🎓 Application Mentoring Programme running in 20 schools across Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire….with support from Uni Connect organisation Aspire Higher.

Dale had a fantastic visit to Bedford Modern School to run an 'Application 101' session on applying for Degree Apprenticeships - covering CV essentials, building a strong personal brand, and how to prepare for interviews.

Session 1 kicked off in the school’s stunning chapel with Personal Branding for Year 12 students. After lunch, we moved into 'Interview 101' for students exploring Degree Apprenticeships 🎓, before heading back to the Year 12s for an 'Introduction to LinkedIn.' We wrapped up the day with some dedicated 1-to-1 LinkedIn profile support, helping students put all the learning into action straight away.

This time of year, so much attention rightfully goes toward university applications… yet some Year 13 students pursuing Higher and Degree Apprenticeships can feel unseen. They need the same level of guidance, confidence-building, and practical tools – but budget constraints can make this difficult.

This was his third year running the session and the change has been incredible to see: Year 1: around 10 students 📈Year 2: about 25 students ⬆️ This year: approximately 75 students! That’s a huge increase and a clear sign of how Apprenticeships are capturing the attention and enthusiasm of A Level students more than ever before.

Dale had the pleasure of delivering two live virtual sessions for 6th Form students at Springwood High School in King’s Lynn. 😊

Dale had the pleasure of visiting Uppingham School in Rutland for the first time to talk all things Degree Apprenticeships. He delivered two sessions - one for Year 12, and one for Year 13, and both groups were really engaged.

It’s always a privilege to help young people think about their futures, but today at Queensbury Academy it came with something extra special… Because I met a World Champion! 🥋🌍 Oliwier Mizinski – 2024 ITF Taekwondo World Champion. Incredible! As students worked on their CVs, Oliwier asked me a question: “Should I even put that on my CV? It’s not really relevant to Cyber Security.”

Last week Dale had the privilege of returning to Woodbridge School in Suffolk for a packed day of talks and coaching sessions on Degree Apprenticeships and LinkedIn 🚀. He started with a session to the entire 6th Form on LinkedIn, showing students how to showcase their achievements, explore opportunities, and build meaningful connections. It’s been brilliant to see so many of them subsequently setting up profiles, and posting and engaging on the platform. 👏

Before starting his Technology Degree Apprenticeship, Dale met with Yanmi and he reflected on the support he’d received at The Duston School through the Apprenticeship Application Coaching Programme I'd delivered. We'd worked together to prepare for interviews and assessment centres, so Dale asked: “What made the biggest difference?”

Last Autumn Dale met James Braybrook at Bedford Modern School when he was running workshops on applying for Degree Apprenticeships. But actually, he'd first come across him months before as he’d been attending our free careers webinars throughout Year 12. ⏩ Fast forward to today, and Dale has just had this brilliant message from him! One of the big things we worked on together was decluttering his CV…..working to get it down to one page….and shaping his Personal Summary as a

Ask a room full of 15-year-olds what they think about Apprenticeships, and you’ll get everything from ‘pointless’ to ‘life-changing’ all in the space of 5 minutes. Earlier this Summer, as part of a residential organised by Villiers Park Educational Trust at University of Bath, Dale worked with high-achieving Year 10 students from areas of the UK where opportunities can be tougher to find. We were exploring the reality of Apprenticeships, and what they could mean for their fut

What great feedback from the last student session of the school year! Dale really enjoyed delivering his final 'in-school' student session of this academic year at St Thomas The Apostle College in Peckham....his first visit there. 3 workshops on LinkedIn, helping students optimise their profiles and start sharing the incredible achievements. All the students are now out on work experience placement, hopefully remembering to get some photos 📸 for their LinkedIn post....and ma

A busy day with over 100 new LinkedIn profiles set up! So that's.... 👍 100+ new alumni attached to their school account 👍 100+ easy-to-find relatable and inspirational future careers speakers. 👍 100+ contacts to help source future work experience opportunities 👍 100+ young people who can now start developing a network to guide, inspire and support them.

📸 Here’s a snapshot from last week at one of Dale's favourite sessions of the year - a LinkedIn workshop at Bishop's Stortford College. Around 100 students took part across two sessions, most of who had already set up a Linkedin account....so we were able to spend the majority of our time optimising their LinkedIn profiles, sharing content, and making meaningful connections, rather than starting from scratch. The engagement was fantastic!

Session on Personal Branding to Year 12 students at E-ACT Ousedale School School in Newport Pagnell. The focus? Helping students think about what they can do this summer to strengthen 💪 their university or degree apprenticeship applications. What really stood out for Dale was the number of students who stayed behind afterwards to chat about things that could help their applications stand out for specific careers. It’s was so encouraging to see that level of personal commitm

It was a super-busy half term….here’s what it looked like: Just under 1000 miles 🚙 + one train journey 🚆 = busy 6 weeks. One more half-term to go…….and I can’t wait to get started.

We're proud to share an inspiring success from Project 13, an initiative delivered by My Great First Job with funding from Aspire Higher. Running across 20 schools in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, Project 13 offers hands-on workshops and one-to-one coaching to help young people successfully apply for Higher and Degree Apprenticeships. 🌟 Meet Ruby, a student from Kingswood School in Corby, who has just secured a Degree Apprenticeship!