• Interview Skills

• Employer Expectations

• Work Dress Code

• Communication

• Listening Skills

• Attendance and Punctuality

• Time Management

• Inter-personal Skills

• Intra-personal Skills

• Professionalism

• Work Ethic

• Enthusiasm

• Integrity

• Self Motivation

• Self Management

• Resilience

• Digital Skills

• Support for Digital Skills

• Support for Online Meetings

• Hybrid Working / Working from Home (WFH)

• Workplace Culture

• Getting Started at Work

• Contracts and Probationary Periods

There are also sections where you can hear from real employers and Human Resources professionals to see what they look for when recruiting new members of staff.

All of these skills are highly valued by employers, and displaying these skills and behaviours might be what makes the difference between you and someone else.

They are also skills and behaviours which are likely to keep you in employment.

• Their enthusiasm more than compensates for their lack of experience.
• Nothing you can say will dampen their enthusiasm.
• They have boundless energy and enthusiasm.
• It's strange, but I can't work up any enthusiasm for going on this trip.

Punctuality and attendance are important in the workplace because they uphold the success and productivity of an organisation. 

People at work rely on one another to be punctual so they can work together and meet the needs of their customers.

Employer expectations can have many benefits, such as keeping people focused and motivated to stay on task. 

This will also include Attendance and Punctuality, which are covered in more detail later in this Padlet.

• the workplace
• remote working

Qualities we look for:

• Happy and smiling with a positive attitude

• Have strong verbal, non-verbal communication skills

• Warm, caring and approachable

• Flexible and practical

• Enthusiastic, innovative and energetic

• Motivated 

• Be creative and imaginative

• Enjoy being with children

• Be open to constructive criticism and developing your skills

• High standards of personal hygiene

  
  

The Deputy Manager said "I'm aware that once the learner starts, they may not have all of these qualities, but hopefully they are willing to learn". "The main ones we are looking for are; Happy, Enthusiastic, Happy being with children and motivated". 

Human Resources (HR) is the department that look after staff recruitment. They may be called something different in each employer but there will be an individual or department that you would deal with.

He focussed on two key areas:

• Curriculum Vitae (CV)

• The Candidate

Chris said, "For anyone looking to apply for a job in the future, I hope this helps".

• Make it clear and concise, no more than 2 pages. 

  Any employment gaps justified e.g. travelling, maternity leave, looking after a relative, looking for next opportunity.

  
  

• Ensure that any previous experience which is relevant to the role being applied for is clear. 

  
  

• There is seldom point taking up much of the 2-page CV, talking about tasks and responsibilities that are irrelevant to the role being applied for.

  The "sifter" (person reading the CV) will simply lose interest.

• Personable

• Resilient

• Self-driven; able to work on own initiative

• Able to work as a team and a willingness to help out when required (doesn’t shy away from a “all hands on deck” situation)

• A willingness to listen and learn if there are any elements of the role applied for that the candidate would need to develop on if successful

• Subordinate; ability to be tasked with something / be easily delegated to (may not be as relevant for higher level positions)

Essential Digital Skills:

• Email and instant messaging

• Word processing

• Social media for business

• Web-based research and problem solving

• Data entry and handling

• Behaving safely and legally online

*source highspeedtraining.co.uk

Your contract should explain all of the terms and conditions that your employer expects you to follow.

It will also contain details of your pay / wages, holiday entitlement and the duration of the contract.

Some contracts are for a fixed period of time, such as 12 or 24 months, whilst others are open ended with no fixed end date. It's important for you to know what type of contract you have.

For your apprenticeship it is a requirement for you to have a contract in place which covers the full duration of your apprenticeship.

A probationary period is a period at the beginning of an employment contract which allows your employer to determine if they made the right choice in employing you. It also allows you the employee to decide if you made the right choice too.

It is expected that you receive guidance and support from your employer during this period to help you get settled in.

Typically a probationary period is set at an appropriate length to your contract. Commonly this could be between 1 to 6 months.

Usually you will have an appraisal or review with your employer at the end of your probationary period. This is where a decision will be made on whether your employment will become permanent or not.

If any set targets or objectives have not been met during your probationary period, the period can be extended to allow more time for objectives to be met or in the worst cases your employment could be terminated.

So your probationary period is critical to you remaining in employment and being able to complete your apprenticeship.

For some apprentices this could be your first job after leaving education, which is a big step.

An employer will record the number of absences and missed days that you have had and what the reasons for the missed days were. This will be recorded on your staff record.

An employer will usually allow a certain number of absences for reasons such as ill health and dependency.

If you exceed the number of allowed absences in a year, it is likely that your employer will speak to you about this, and whether or not there are good enough reasons for your absences.

If your level of attendance and punctuality do not meet the required standard, you may face disciplinary proceedings with your employer, which could (in the worst case) lead to you being dismissed from your job.

You are expected to inform your employer well before your work start time to give them as much notice as possible and enough time to make any alternative arrangements.

No employer would be happy with someone calling in sick, 5 minutes before they are due to start!

You will see these marked with the "Important" stamp as above.

A full-time employee might work 40 hours per week and work 48 weeks per year.

Question - If you were 10 minutes late each day, how many hours does that add up to over the course of a year?

Answer - The total amount of missed work would be a staggering 5 whole days!

See how that is calculated below:

10 minutes per day

50 minutes per week (10mins x 5 days)

2400 minutes per year (50 mins x 48 weeks)

40 hours per year (2400 mins / 60 mins)

1 week or 5 days (equivalent to 40 hours)