South Africans considering applying for learnerships in the coming year can increase their chances of making it past the initial screening when it comes to the presentation of a clear CV which specifies their education, relevant skills and eagerness to gain workplace experience.
Many learnership applicants will be school leavers, students, graduates or jobless applicants who do not have formal work experience, but that does not mean that there is nothing to list. Academics, volunteer work, community engagement, leadership and even basic workplace skills can be relevant.
Place basic personal information at the beginning of the CV
The first section should enable someone to easily recognise and identify you, and to contact you.
Include your:
Full name
Active cell phone number
Email address
Current city or town of residence
Do not include unnecessary information such as your identity number, marital status or other factors which do not relate to the application.
Your email address should also be professional. While it is not unheard of for jobseekers to list an email address which incorporates humour or nicknames, a professional email which incorporates your name is more appropriate for applying for learnerships.
Include a brief professional summary or profile
A professional summary or profile allows the recruiter or learner assessor to gain a sense of who you are and what are are looking for.
In terms of a learnership application, the profile can briefly explain your educational background, relevant interests and eagerness to gain experience in the workplace.
The profile should be tailored to the specific learnership that is being applied for, rather than a generalised statement.
For instance, an applicant interested in an administration learnership can briefly speak about their computer literacy, organisational skills or communicative abilities, while someone applying for a learnership which falls under the engineering umbrella would be wise to mention relevant fields of study.
Prioritise education, if applicable
Education can be one of the most relevant areas to highlight for someone with little or no work experience.
List your latest or highest qualification first and then provide:
Qualification or certificate
Institution
Year of completion or expected year of completion
Relevant subjects, if applicable
Noteworthy achievements, if applicable
A school leaver can provide their Grade 12 details and relevant subjects, while a graduate or tertiary student would include the qualification, the institution and the relevant field of study. Do not list all of the subjects if that causes the CV to become too lengthy or irrelevant.
List relevant skills rather than simply naming them
A section dedicated to skills can help the employer or assessor to recognise skills which are directly relevant to the position.
Where applicable, separate practical or technical skills from soft or interpersonal skills.
Skills which can be listed may include:
Computer literacy
Microsoft Office skills
Data capturing
Basic clerical skills
Customer service
Relevant technical skills
Skills such as:
Communication
Teamwork
Time management
Organisation
Problem-solving
Willingness to learn
The most effective CVs will not necessarily be the skill-saturated ones, but the ones which list only the skills which the applicant actually has.
Do not leave the work experience section blank
Lack of formal work experience does not necessarily mean that the applicant has no experience at all.
Applicants should consider including voluntary work, part-time work, school activities or other relevant experience.
They should briefly list what they did and the level of responsibility, if any. For example, an applicant who has helped out in a family business might be able to list computer skills, customer service or even inventory management, depending on what they did. Family business experience does not carry the same weight as formal experience, but it still counts.
The important thing is for the applicant to explain what they did honestly, rather than making up experience.
References can bolster a first CV
Those without any experience can consider reaching out to people who can speak to their work ethic, conduct or abilities and ask them to be a referee.
Depending on the circumstances, that may include teachers, lecturers, mentors, former supervisors or even community leaders.
If there is insufficient space in the CV, the applicant can state that references are available on request and keep the contact details close at hand.
Always ask for permission before using someone as a referee.
Keep the CV brief
A CV for a learnership application should not be needlessly lengthy.
One or two pages of relevant experience, skills and qualifications are sufficient if the applicant has little or no experience. It is better to make relevant information easy to find than to fill up the CV with unnecessary information. Make use of clear headings and readable formatting.
Avoid:
Large blocks of text
Graphics where they are not needed
Unnecessary personal details
Spelling mistakes
Multiple fonts
Irrelevant information
The recruiter or assessor should be able to find your contact details, qualifications and relevant skills with ease.
Save the CV as a PDF
A CV saved in PDF format will preserve the formatting when it is opened in another device.
Before sending it, the applicant should open it and ensure that:
Their name is spelt correctly
Their telephone number is correct
Their email address can be contacted
There are no spelling mistakes
All of the pages follow and are in the correct order
The headings and spacing look nice and professional
Nothing else seems wrong or out of place
A sensible way to name the file would be Firstname_Surname_CV.pdf, using the correct file type and avoiding something like CVfinalnew2.pdf
Keep supporting documents at hand
Depending on the specific learnership, additional supporting documents might be necessary for the submission.
Depending on the application process and advertised requirements, applicants might be expected to submit documents including:
Identity documents
Grade 12 results
Academic transcripts
Qualifications
Proof of residence
Only provide documents if they were requested by the application process, and always ensure that the application is legitimate before providing sensitive information.
It is also important to follow the instructions which come with the application. If an employer asks applicants to apply via their online careers portal, for instance, sending the CV to someone’s WhatsApp number is unlikely to be the correct way to do so.
Tailor the CV to the learnership which is being applied for
One of the best changes that an applicant can make to their CV is to stop thinking about it as something which should be used for every application.
Carefully read through the requirements of the learnership and highlight the qualification, subjects, skills and other factors which actually apply to you and then ensure that those details are easy to find.
An applicant applying for a learnership in the field of IT should ensure that relevant computer or software skills, technical experience or academic subjects are easy to find, for instance. Someone applying for an administration learnership, on the other hand, might want to highlight organisational skills, communication, computer literacy or relevant workplace experience.
This is not about embellishing the CV. Applicants should ensure that they only include relevant facts.
A learnership CV does not need to sound like years of workplace experience
Applicants should not try to make their CV sound like they have been working for years.
After all, a learnership is meant to provide experience, particularly for someone who has little or no experience to begin with.
Before submitting a 2027 learnership application, double-check the CV against the actual requirements, scratch out anything which does not apply and ensure that the statements made can actually be backed up if the assessor asks.
Editorial and fact-checking information
Author: SSETA Blog Editorial Team
Editorial approach: This article aims to provide realistic CV advice to South Africans applying for learnerships, graduates or jobseekers who want to learn how to make their CV stand out.
Fact-checking: Application requirements vary between employers, training providers and programmes. Always refer to the official advertisement for the specific learnership for the specific documents which need to be submitted and the method of submission.
Corrections: Readers who notice a factual inaccuracy can request a correction to ensure that the information provided is always correct.
