So you are leaving school - what now?

January is a time of year when some young people decide to leave school and enter either further education or try and secure employment or an apprenticeship.

Whether you’re applying for a higher apprenticeship, a sponsored degree or a school leaver programme, here are some top tips that will help you into employment.

Online application forms, assessment centres and interviews are typically designed to present you with questions that will find out whether you have the skills needed.

Even in technical jobs, good communication skills are vital, and not just because you need to be able to make yourself understood; to succeed in the world of work, you need to come across as professional. Your written and spoken communication skills will be assessed at different stages in the recruitment process. Employers will look out for decent spelling and grammar in your online application form, and at interview they’ll want to see that you are capable of expressing yourself. If you are invited to take part in an assessment centre, the group exercise is typically a test of how well you can communicate as a member of group: can you take what other people are saying on board and also offer your own contributions?

Here’s how to present your communication skills in the best possible light: Check out our advice on cracking the online application form. Work on your answers in a word processing programme, use the spellcheck and ask someone you trust to read through what you’ve written. If you know your spelling, grammar and punctuation can be a bit hit and miss, don’t take any chances.

Make the most of our interview tips and assessment centre advice. If you’re naturally shy or not especially confident, don’t despair. Fake it till you make it. It can actually be easier to compensate for shyness than to tone down arrogance.

Teamwork skills are a priority for most employers and play a part in most jobs. But what does it really mean to be a good team player? Teamwork is about pulling together with colleagues to achieve a shared goal. There are all sorts of different roles that people can play within a team while still making a vital contribution; some people might be good at supporting others or urging them on, while others come up with fresh ideas or monitor the team’s progress and alert everyone else to potential problems.

Can you take a logical, analytical approach to working through a problem, and can you see it from different angles? If you’re invited to an assessment centre, you may be set a group exercise that is intended to test your problem solving skills. For example, you and the other candidates might be invited to read a case study that sets out the problems facing a particular business before discussing a range of possible solutions.

Are you confident? Or can you look as if you are, even when you’re feeling nervous – which from an employer’s point of view is the same thing? Your confidence will come across in the way you express yourself on your application and in your body language at interview and at assessment centres. Remember, though, you shouldn’t overdo it – there is a difference between TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF

confidence and swagger.

You’ll feel more confident at interview if you’ve kept a copy of your application to read through beforehand and if you’ve thought ahead about the kind of questions that might come up. It will help if you’ve spent some time researching the employer and its competitors, too. It’s highly likely that at some point you’ll be asked why you have chosen to apply for the school leaver programme you are going for, and it will be much easier for you to come out with a convincing and self-assured answer if you’ve done a thorough job of finding out what the programme involves.