Trade Apprenticeship CV Example UK: What to Put on Your First Trade CV

Employers may only scan your CV for a few seconds. Put the useful facts at the top: where you live, whether you can travel, the apprenticeship you want, your phone number, and any relevant tickets or courses. If you bury the basics, you make the employer work too hard.

Here is a profile you can adapt: "School leaver based in Leeds applying for an electrical apprenticeship. 96% attendance, Saturday job at Screwfix for 14 months, comfortable with early starts and travel. Looking for a long-term route into the trade, not a stopgap." That is stronger than saying you are hardworking with a passion for success.

Most first apprenticeship CVs are not full of trade experience. That is normal. Use evidence from other parts of life. A Saturday job proves punctuality and dealing with customers. Football or boxing can prove discipline. Caring responsibilities can prove maturity. Warehouse or hospitality work can prove long shifts, pressure and teamwork.

Be specific. Instead of writing "good team player", write that you worked weekend shifts in a busy café, opened on time, handled customer queues and helped clean down safely. That sounds real.

Any hands-on evidence helps. Mention if you helped with decorating, repaired bikes, built furniture, volunteered on a community project, completed a college taster, used basic hand tools, shadowed a relative, helped on a site, or completed health and safety training. Do not exaggerate. Employers can spot fake confidence quickly.

If you have no practical evidence yet, create some. Visit a college open day, do a short taster, volunteer, ask for work experience, or complete a recognised health and safety course. Then update the CV.

Use this order: name and contact details; short trade-focused profile; key strengths; education; work experience; practical evidence; certificates and tickets; references. Keep formatting plain. A clean one-page CV beats a flashy template that hides the facts.

Use the same language as the job advert. If the advert mentions punctuality, manual work, maths, customer service, driving or willingness to learn, reflect those points with honest evidence.

The biggest mistakes are being too vague, spelling the employer name wrong, hiding your location, forgetting your phone number, using a generic profile, claiming skills you cannot prove, and sending the same CV for every trade.

Before sending, read it out loud. Would an employer know what apprenticeship you want, why you want it, how you will get there, and why you can be trusted? If not, tighten it. Then compare trade CV template UK, construction apprenticeship interview questions, and how to get a trade apprenticeship.