Skills for Work: Applying for Jobs
Applying for jobs teaches learners to match their own skills to suitable jobs, search for vacancies, read job adverts, complete application forms or CVs and use sources of advice such as Careers Wales. It is one 20 hour Skills for Work unit that learners combine with other units into a Skills for Work, or Skills for Life and Work, Award, Certificate or Diploma. Literacy runs through every learning outcome: describing their own skills, reading and analysing job adverts, writing accurate forms and a tailored CV, and explaining or evaluating advice. Numeracy is light, mainly reading pay, hours and closing dates in job information.
- Awarding body
- WJEC
- Level
- Entry Level 1 to Level 2
- Guided learning hours
- 20
- First taught
- September 2027
- Amount of literacy work
- High
- Amount of numeracy work
- Low
How this unit is assessed
- Entry Level (Entry 1, Entry 2, Entry 3): Four learning outcomes with assessment criteria at Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3. Evidence is compiled into a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours, Skills for Work group.
- Level 1 and Level 2: Four learning outcomes with assessment criteria at Level 1 and Level 2. Evidence is compiled into a portfolio, internally assessed by the centre and externally quality assured by WJEC. 20 guided learning hours, Skills for Work group.
Skills that use Vocabulary, spelling, grammar
-
Writing accurate applications and a tailored CV
Learners use a simple job application form at Entry 3, complete a form accurately with relevant information at Level 1 and create an application or CV suited to a specific job at Level 2. These are required by the assessment criteria, and the amplification asks for clear and appropriate language and accurate, well presented applications; covering letters and peer review are suggested only.
Literacy: Planning and organising for different purposes, audiences and context, Vocabulary, spelling, grammar, Proofreading, editing and improving
Getting pupils ready
- Year 7
- Pupils complete a printed application form for a school role such as library helper, using full sentences in the box about why they want the role.
- Year 8
- Pupils write a short formal letter applying for a work experience place, then check it against a list of formal language rules and redraft one paragraph.
- Year 9
- Pupils write a personal statement for a CV aimed at a specific advert, using the advert's key words, then improve it after feedback from a partner.
Show the specification wording and the LNF statements
Where it is in the specification: Entry Level, learning outcome 3, assessment criterion 3.2, page 5; Level 1 and Level 2, learning outcome 3, assessment criteria 3.2, page 6; amplification of LO3, page 8
“use clear and appropriate language in applications”
Progression step 3
I can adapt my writing style and structure to suit the audience, purpose and context, e.g. suitable balance between facts and viewpoints, a precise conclusion.
I can make appropriate choices about vocabulary, idiomatic language and syntax in order to express myself with fluency and clarity for different audiences and purposes.
I can reflect on, edit and redraft to improve the quality of my expression, and use a range of strategies to ensure greater clarity.
Progression step 4
I can select and use appropriate strategies to plan and develop my writing for different purposes and audiences.
I can improve writing through independent review and redrafting.
Progression step 5
I can summarise confidently, adapting style and form for the reader or intended audience and purpose for writing.
Good to know
- Unit codes are S651E1, S651E2, S651E3, S651L1 and S651L2, and the unit is "GLH 20" in the Skills for Work suite (Unit overview, page 3).
- Evidence does not have to be long writing: "evidence may be verbal, written, practical, or visual, extended written work is not required unless appropriate" (Sources of evidence, page 9).
- Spelling and layout are not judged unless a criterion asks: "Assessor judgements should focus on meeting the standard, not spelling or presentation unless specifically assessed." (Sources of evidence, page 9). Level 1 criterion 3.2 does ask for a form completed "accurately" (page 6).
- Spoken work counts: the specification lists "video/audio recordings" and "teacher/assessor questioning" as evidence types (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.1, page 18), and the pack suggests role play with a careers adviser (page 9).
- Suggested assessment tasks are optional: "These tasks are not mandatory." Teachers may adapt them or write their own (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.1, page 18).
- AI tools must be acknowledged. Misuse includes "Copying or paraphrasing whole responses of AI-generated content" (Skills for Life and Work specification, section 4.6, page 21), which matters for CVs and personal statements written with chatbots.
- Appendix A of the specification ticks Literacy and Numeracy for this unit (page 29), and the pack says learners use numeracy "when interpreting job information such as pay, hours and scheduling" (Unit overview, page 4).
Links with other qualifications
The pack names VCSE Retail and Customer Service and GCSE Business as related WJEC qualifications, and both cover recruitment and what employers look for in applicants. Writing a CV, a covering letter and a formal application builds directly on the formal and transactional writing in GCSE English Language and Literature, and the same tasks in Welsh link with GCSE Core Cymraeg and GCSE Cymraeg Language and Literature. Reading pay and hours links with the money work in GCSE Mathematics and Numeracy. Within the Skills Suite the pack names Interview and confidence techniques, Exploring career pathways, Personal development planning, Jobs of the future, Work experience, Career creativity and Working in Wales as units to deliver alongside it.
Source: WJEC Applying for jobs unit delivery and assessment pack, read with the WJEC Entry 1 to Level 2 Skills for Life and Skills for Work specification, approved by Qualifications Wales, teaching from September 2027 (© WJEC CBAC Ltd 2026).