Complete City & Guilds Limited Other Vocational Qualification Employability & Work Skills specification revision resources. Tailored syllabus coverage with topic breakdowns, quizzes, and practice questions.
Specification Topics
- Alternatives to paid work
- Applying for a job
- Apply finishing material to wood-based surfaces
- Alternatives to Paid Work
- Alcohol awareness
- Understanding Employment Rights and Responsibilities
- Collect kerbside waste materials
- Behaviour in a business administration environment
- Effective speaking for the workplace
- Conduct at work
- Business and customer awareness
- Introduction to ICT
- Dealing with problems in daily life
- Behaviour at work
- Characteristics and breeds of poultry
- Contributing to a team
- Developing personal confidence
- Healthy living
- Career progression
- Career planning and making applications
- Make a familiar journey safely
- Community project
- Building Working Relationships with Customers
- Candidate project
- Dealing with problems in daily life
- Effective written communication for the workplace
- Improving practical skills and techniques
- Check and maintain levels of fluids in a motor car or van
- Coping with change
- Bend metal to shape
- Effective communication
- Developing skills in caring for young children
- Building working relationships in the workplace
- Contribute to own healthy living
- Enterprise activity
- Feed farm animals
- Check and maintain lights on a motor car or van
- Candidate project for learning and work
- Personal finance
- Dealing with problems
- Introduction to career progression
- Build a straight section of wall
- Introduction to continued professional development
- Personal skills
- Fill plant containers
- Check that a small animal is healthy
- Environmental awareness
- Glass bottle processing
- Cast a pot
- Planning for progression
- Family relationships
- Health and safety in places of work
- Business and Customer Awareness
- Check that poultry are healthy
- Introduction to leadership
- Introduction to sustainable development and global citizenship
- Clean farm animal housing
- Catch and lead a horse
- Enterprise activity - producing a product or service
- Glaze a pot
- Interpersonal relationships
- Recognise outside parts of a motor car or van
- Clean horse tack
- Interview skills
- Repair a puncture
- Create a positive impression on customers
- Groom a horse
- Introduction to the benefits of coaching
- Communicating with others in the workplace
- Developing performance improvisation techniques
- Career Development
- Hand model a shape in clay
- Introducing bench joinery skills
- Condition floristry plant material
- Searching for a job
- Introduction to alcohol awareness
- Introduction to the benefits of mentoring
- Introduction to drug awareness
- Introduction to the principles of setting up a business
- Wash the outside of a motor car or van
- Introducing brickwork skills
- Career Progression
- Effective skills, qualities and attitudes for learning and work
- Working as part of a group
- Managing personal finance
- Construct a composter
- Identify floristry plant material
- Introducing finishing skills
- Introduction to health and safety awareness in the workplace
- Assist in catching poultry
- Attitudes and values for personal development
- Workplace safety and emergency procedures
- Clean the inside of a motor car or van
- Identify hazards in familiar settings
- Control weeds in a planted area
- Introducing paint finishing skills
- Introduction to decision-making
- Managing time in the workplace
- Introduction to safeguarding in health care, adult care and child care
- Improve personal manner and conduct
- Disclosure of information
- Create a textured finish
- Introduction to understanding growth, social and emotional development in children
- Coaching skills for the workplace
- Managing yourself
- Introducing pipework skills
- Customer service in the hospitality industry
- Introduction to the Hospitality Industry
- Preparing for an interview
- Communicating Solutions to Others
- Introducing site carpentry skills
- Introduction to working in a person-centred way in health and adult care
- Dealing with challenges
- Introduction to working in health care, adult care and child care
- Cut building materials
- Teamworking skills
- Investigating rights and responsibilities at work
- Maintain a fence
- Introducing Tiling Skills
- Clean poultry accommodation by hand
- Understanding conflict at work
- Introduction to developing parenting skills
- Maintain a footpath
- Keeping safe
- Decorate greenware
- Communication in the Workplace
- Disinfect poultry accommodation
- Using tools and equipment
- Introduction to customer service
- Introduction to drug and alcohol awareness
- Collect and sort poultry eggs
- Make a round posy arrangement
- Valuing customers
- Drill holes in metal
- Contributing to Meetings
- Make a slab-built box
- Create a good impression on customers
- Drill holes in wood-based materials
- Introduction to the hospitality industry
- Parenting Awareness
- Preparing for work
- Drug awareness
- Edge and repair a footpath
- Recognise the benefits of having a work/life balance
- Mix and lay concrete
- Recognising employment opportunities
- Edge up an amenity area
- Rights and responsibilities in the workplace
- Mix cement bonding materials by hand
- Introduction to retail
- Lift and handle safely
- Applying for a Job
- Assist with catching and restraining a small animal
- Assist with cleaning housing for small animals
- Assertive living
- Safe learning in the workplace
- Move a farm animal
- Dealing with conflict
- Introduction to retail
- Paint a plastered wall to an acceptable emulsion finish
- Developing confidence for work
- Introduction to working with vulnerable adults
- Sex and relationship Education
- Developing Enterprise Skills
- Understanding assertive behaviour
- Personal presentation and hygiene
- Developing Group and Teamwork Communication Skills
- Feed young farm animals
- Understanding child development
- Plan and make a journey using public transport
- Prepare for and attend an interview
- Understanding children's social and emotional development
- Finish wood-based surfaces
- Plant an area to attract wildlife
- Developing Meeting Skills
- Understanding personal finance for employment
- Exploring equality and diversity
- Fit and remove a rug
- Developing own Interpersonal Skills
- Prepare a container for a flower arrangement
- Undertaking work placement
- Using materials and equipment for a practical activity
- Recognise and use hand tools and materials used in construction
- Gift wrap a single flower
- Prepare a plastered surface for painting
- Understanding crime and its effects
- Grading poultry eggs
- Developing Personal Confidence and Self Awareness
- Recognise the benefits of leisure time
- Understanding eating disorders
- Valuing equality and diversity
- Prepare a surface for decorating
- Groom a small animal
- Prepare a work area ready to commence decorating
- Work-based experience
- Remove, check and replace a wheel on a motor car or van
- Replace spark plugs
- Guest services in the hospitality industry
- Developing Personal Development Skills
- Prepare and plant an area
- Working as part of a team
- Understanding the physical and psychological needs of children
- Basic cooking
- Awareness of equality and diversity
- Bed down farm animals
- Prepare pottery clay for use
- Using cooking skills in a domestic kitchen
- Handling stock in a retail environment
- Rights, responsibilities and citizenship
- Hang wall coverings
- Developing Personal Skills For Leadership
- Press-mould clay
- Harvest a crop
- Provide food and water for horses
- Self assessment and development
- Developing Practical Skills and Techniques
- Provide food and water for poultry
Top Exam Board Tips
- When completing assignments, always provide clear examples of local organisations that offer volunteering or placements in care settings (e.g., local care homes, nurseries, hospitals) to demonstrate practical understanding.
- Use the language of transferable skills explicitly: mention how activities like 'supporting elderly residents' build patience and communication, linking these directly to care job requirements.
- Research the Ofqual-regulated qualifications' emphasis on holistic assessment, and ensure that your portfolio includes a log or reflection on the skills developed from an unpaid work experience.
- Always read the entire application form and any instructions carefully before starting to write, ensuring you understand what is required in each section.
- Keep a personal information sheet with key dates, qualifications, and previous job details to ensure consistency and accuracy across all applications.
- For online applications, regularly save your progress to avoid losing work, and check for any character limits or formatting rules before submitting.
- Always read the job advert carefully to understand what the employer is looking for, and highlight your relevant skills and experiences.
- Practice completing sample application forms to build confidence and accuracy, ensuring you have all necessary personal information to hand.
- If applying in person or over the phone, have a brief script or key points prepared to help you present yourself clearly and professionally.
- When completing an application form, always read the entire form first and check all sections before writing.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Confusing volunteering with paid employment by assuming volunteers receive wages or are in permanent roles.
- Failing to recognise that supported internships or traineeships can still be alternatives to immediate paid work, often mistakenly classifying them as standard jobs.
- Limited awareness of where to find volunteering or placement opportunities, often relying solely on family and friends rather than formal avenues like local volunteer centres or college career services.
- Undervaluing the professional relevance of skills gained in unpaid work, treating it as irrelevant to future job applications in the care sector.
- Leaving mandatory fields blank or providing incomplete information, particularly in the work history or education sections.
- Using informal language, slang, or text-speak in written applications, which is inappropriate for professional contexts.
- Failing to tailor the personal statement or answers to the specific job role, instead using generic statements that show no understanding of the employer’s requirements.
- Learners may think that all job applications are done the same way, failing to recognize the importance of tailoring their approach to the specific job and employer.
Key Terminology & Definitions
- be able to recognise the different types of alternatives to paid work, know how to access information about alternatives to paid work, understand that skills and qualities gained from alternatives to paid work may be used in other areas of life
- know different methods of applying for jobs, be able to apply for a job
- Know different ways of applying for jobs, Be able to apply for a job
- Surface preparation and abrasion
- Health and safety in finishing tasks
- Application techniques and tool use
- Material selection and compatibility
- Workshop cleanliness and tool maintenance
- Quality inspection and rectification
- Understand different beneficial alternatives to paid work, Understand the role of organisations associated with beneficial alternatives to paid work, Understand the skills, qualities and knowledge that can be gained from beneficial alternatives to paid work, Understand how to transfer the skills, qualities and knowledge gained from beneficial alternatives to paid work to other areas of life
- Methods of job application
- Completing application forms
- Personal details for applications
- Simple job search techniques
- Accuracy in applications