How to Answer Your Apprenticeship Interview Questions Part 2

“Apprenticeships mean working full time alongside studying for a qualification. How will you prioritise your workload?”

Related: How to Answer Your Apprenticeship Interview Questions Part 1

The core of completing an Apprenticeship is that you will work and learn at the same time – the typical format being that you spend 4 days with your employer and 1 day at college studying for your qualification. Alongside this you will have an Assessor visit you in your workplace to assess your work-based learning and observe you putting your college theory work into practice in the work you do every day.

It’s this combination of work and learning that makes apprenticeships so unique and exciting – your employment gives you the perfect platform to really engage with your qualification and relate the theory work back to your practical work tasks.

It also means you need to be highly organised! While your employer will allow you time to attend college and complete work as needed in the workplace you will also have to complete your day to day tasks and ensure you don’t fall behind with your workload.

Why do Employers ask this question?

First and foremost they want to make sure you understand what is involved with completing an apprenticeship – and that you will have two, sometimes competing, demands on your time and priorities in work. It’s also looking at your commitment towards the apprenticeship.

They also want to know that you have thought about this before applying and are sure you will be able to cope with this – and as this is the case, how you will cope with this. Within your answer they may be looking for:

• An understanding of this and you are aware of everything involved
• Examples of you prioritising your time
• An idea of how you cope with pressure
• What should your answer look like?

As I mentioned above, employers are looking for your understanding, and in some ways, reassurance from this question that you have carefully considered all aspects of completing the apprenticeship and are fully prepared to take this on.

Your answer doesn’t need to have reams of detail and experience, but a wishy-washy short answer won’t go down well. Think of at least one example of prioritising your time that you can use and don’t underestimate your abilities! You will have at least completed GCSEs or A-Levels – No easy task! Within this you will have juggled revising for several different exams on different topics, alongside completing coursework AND attending lessons! Not to mention keeping up with other commitments – sports teams, part time jobs or family commitments. These are all excellent examples of prioritising your time!
Examples:

1. “I’m fully aware that I will juggling different tasks from yourself as my employer and work required for my qualification and I’m actually excited for the opportunity to challenge myself! I’m used to prioritising myself from my making sure I keep up to date with all my school work and course projects alongside working part time at the weekend. With my school work I have often juggled at least 2 or 3 different pieces of work with different deadlines and have had to ensure I dedicate appropriate time to each to get them complete on time. As I worked at the weekend, I needed to ensure I stuck to my weekly schedule and by doing this I never missed a deadline and kept myself very organised. I think this will transfer well to the apprenticeship role.”

2. “Although I don’t have any previous work experience, I’m confident of my ability to get on and meet the demands of my apprenticeship. I’m used to juggling school work and different projects and have never missed a deadline. I’ve just completed my GCSEs which meant I had to revise for my 8 different subjects, alongside finalising coursework and attending class. I think this apprenticeship will be an opportunity for me to start building on my current organisation skills and apply them to the workplace.”

photo by: poupetta