18-year-old with engineering diploma (DDM predicted) can’t get an apprenticeship or even entry-level work – what are we missing?
Looking for some honest advice from people in engineering / apprenticeships because we’re a bit stuck.
My son (18) is finishing a Level 3 Extended Diploma in Electrical & Electronic Engineering at Wigan & Leigh College and is predicted DDM. He’s also done a placement with local engineering Design company, so has some exposure to CAD, documentation, and engineering processes. (They told him to apply, then declined him due to gcse results).
Since the start of the year he’s applied to ~30+ engineering apprenticeships:
Big companies (Babcock, Sellafield, Royal Mail, United Utilities, Electricity North West, Tetra Tech, Atkins, MBDA, etc.)
Smaller firms
Level 3 and Level 4 & Level 6 roles
Result:
Mostly rejections
About a dozen no responses
Some filtered out purely on GCSEs (Maths 4), even though he’s clearly progressed since
What’s more frustrating is the complete lack of feedback—just generic rejections.
He’s even applied for basic jobs (supermarkets etc.) just to get something going and hasn’t had much luck there either.
He’s motivated, practical, has a car, and genuinely wants to get into engineering. Right now we’re looking at HNC as a fallback, but that comes with a student loan for the next 21 years and doesn’t guarantee a job either.
Questions:
Is GCSE Maths 4 really a hard blocker for most apprenticeships?
Are we targeting the wrong types of roles?
Would HNC → job → reapply next year be the smarter route?
What roles should he realistically be aiming for right now?
Appreciate any honest advice—feels like there’s a gap in the system for people who develop later but are clearly capable.