No work experience? How to apply for degree apprenticeships anyway
You don't need work experience to get a degree apprenticeship. Here's what firms actually look for at 17, what counts as experience, and how to turn school, clubs and part time jobs into strong answers.
The short answer
You don't need work experience to get a degree apprenticeship. Firms hiring 17 and 18 year olds are testing potential, not a track record. Anything where you did something real counts: school projects, clubs, sport, a part time job, volunteering, caring for family, a side project or a free virtual work experience programme. What matters is picking one specific example per question and explaining what you did, how and what changed.
"I've got nothing to write about" is probably the most common worry about applying for degree apprenticeships. It's also almost never true.
Do you need work experience?
No. Degree apprenticeships are built for school leavers. The people reading your application know you're 17. They're not checking whether you've worked in an office. They're checking whether you can:
- work with other people
- deal with things going wrong
- take initiative without being told
- learn fast
- explain why you want this
You can show all of that without ever having had a job.
What actually counts
If you did something real and can explain your part in it, it counts.
| What you've done | What it can show |
|---|---|
| A group project at school | Teamwork, handling disagreement, deadlines |
| Captain, prefect, club lead | Leadership, organising people |
| A part time job (shop, café, tutoring) | Reliability, customers, working under pressure |
| Sport or music | Commitment, practice, bouncing back from losses |
| Looking after a sibling or relative | Responsibility, juggling priorities |
| Something you built (app, website, YouTube channel, small business) | Initiative, learning on your own |
| A volunteering shift | Communication, working with strangers |
| An EPQ or a hard A level project | Research, independent work |
| A free virtual work experience programme | Interest in the industry, a taste of the actual work |
| Failing at something and fixing it | Resilience. Firms ask about setbacks every time |
Caring responsibilities and part time jobs are underrated. Running a till on a busy Saturday is real work experience. So is getting your little brother to school every day while doing three A levels.
How to turn small things into strong answers
Small examples work if you're specific. Compare:
Weak: "I'm a good team player and I've worked in many teams at school."
Strong: "In our Year 12 business project, two of the five people in my group stopped replying a week before the deadline. I split their sections between the three of us, set up a shared doc with a checklist, and did a short call each evening. We submitted on time and got the second highest mark in the year."
Same level of experience. Completely different answer. The strong one has a situation, what you did, and a result.
Use this shape (it's called STAR):
- Situation. One sentence of context.
- Task. What needed to happen.
- Action. What you did. Most of your answer goes here.
- Result. What changed. A number if you have one. What you learned.
Build five stories now
Before applications open, write down five real moments:
- A time you worked in a team on something hard
- A time something went wrong and you fixed it or learned from it
- A time you started something nobody asked you to
- A time you led or organised people
- A time you learned something difficult quickly
Five stories cover nearly every competency question you'll get in applications and interviews. Our list of degree apprenticeship interview questions shows how often these come up.
Fill the gaps fast (and for free)
If you want something more relevant to the job, these take weeks, not years:
- Virtual work experience. Many big firms run free online programmes that walk you through real tasks. They're quick and give you something specific to talk about in "why this firm".
- Insight days and open days. Firms run these for Year 12s. Even a virtual one gives you names, teams and details to mention.
- A tiny project. Tech route? Build something small and put it on GitHub. Finance route? Follow one company's results for a month and write down what changed. Audit or tax? Read what the firm says about those teams and note what surprised you.
- Talk to an apprentice. LinkedIn messages to current apprentices get replies more often than you'd think. Ask one question, keep it short.
What not to do
- Don't invent experience. Interviewers ask follow up questions like "What was your part, specifically?" Made up stories fall apart in seconds.
- Don't list everything. One example done properly beats five mentioned in passing.
- Don't apologise. Never write "I don't have much experience, but...". Just tell the story.
How Intake helps
When you set up Intake, you add your school, clubs, jobs and projects once. When you apply, it drafts answers only from those real things and shows which experience each line came from. If you've got gaps, ask Ivy which kind of story you're missing before an interview finds it for you.
Frequently asked questions
Can you get a degree apprenticeship with no work experience?
Yes. Degree apprenticeships are designed for school leavers, and most applicants haven't had an office job. Firms judge potential through examples from school, clubs, sport, part time work, volunteering and personal projects.
What counts as work experience for an apprenticeship application?
Anything where you did something real and can explain your part: part time jobs, volunteering, caring responsibilities, school projects, leadership roles, sport, personal projects and virtual work experience programmes all count.
What should I write if I have no experience?
Pick one specific moment per question and use the STAR structure: situation, task, action and result. A detailed example from a school project is stronger than a vague claim about lots of experience.
Do virtual work experience programmes help?
They help with motivation questions. They show you've looked at the actual work, and they give you specific details to mention when explaining why you want that firm or industry.