You are participating today in the opening lesson of Engaging with the Workplace. Before anyone teaches you how to write a CV or fill a form, you need to see something most people skip: employers do not all want the same thing from you.

A café may want you to walk in. A grocery chain may want twenty minutes online. An apprenticeship may want the national route on apprenticeship.ie. A scheme may test you before a human reads a word. Same person, different doors. Today you match real-style vacancies to the method each door actually uses, then record three roles you could honestly try this month.

Three terms you will keep using in this strand. Each one shows up in the Application Methods document you build today.

First, sort the vacancy cards into the method each employer is actually asking for. Some cards sit near a line; place them where you can defend the call and be ready to argue in the class discussion after the sort.

If you do not already have a Strand 2.2 folder in your Digital Portfolio, create one now, then open a new document called Application Methods (or .md if that is your usual format).

Use a simple table or four clear bullets per vacancy:

• Job + employer type
• Method (exactly how you must apply)
• Time and prep (documents, accounts, travel, practice tasks)
• Feasible this month? (yes/no and why)

Model row (project or copy the shape, not the content):

• Job + employer type: Weekend barista, independent high-street café
• Method: Walk-in any weekday afternoon with a printed CV; ask for the named manager
• Time and prep: Print CV (5 mins if already drafted); travel to the street (15–30 mins); one short self-introduction ready. Rough total once you leave home: 30–45 mins.
• Feasible this month?: Yes, if CV is print-ready by tomorrow morning.

Using the three vacancies printed below (or three live ones from a school-approved jobs board if your teacher allows a search), record all four fields for each. Finish with one line naming which of the three you could complete first, and what you would need ready tomorrow morning.

Vacancy 1: Independent high-street café

Weekend barista, Saturdays and one weekday evening. Notice in the window: “No online applications. Call in any weekday afternoon with your CV and ask for the manager.”

Vacancy 2: Large Irish grocery chain

Customer assistant, 16 hours. Careers page pattern typical of Irish multiples: create an account, complete a multi-step online form (often around twenty minutes), upload a CV, answer situational questions. Closing date this Friday.

Vacancy 3: Year-1 electrical craft apprenticeship

Electrical craft apprenticeship with employers across the region. Apply through the national apprenticeship application route on apprenticeship.ie (SOLAS-supported intakes). Leaving Certificate results and a short personal statement required. Paper CVs are not accepted on that route.

This document is the baseline for how you will approach real applications in the lessons ahead.

Talk these through with the person beside you.

• Looking at your time estimates, which method cost more than you expected, and what does that change about how you will start an application this month?
• Networking has no public closing date and no form. What still has to be ready the day someone says, “Send me your details”?

If you underrated a method, add one sentence under your Application Methods entry naming it. Otherwise leave the three vacancy rows as they are.

Today you participated in the first workplace-application lesson of this strand. You now have:

• the main application methods employers actually use (walk-in CV, paper form, letter or email, online form or portal, online tasks, networking)
• practice matching realistic vacancies to the method each employer demands
• Application Methods in your Strand 2.2 folder: three vacancies, how to apply, time and preparation cost, and which you could complete this month

Next lessons build the documents those methods ask for, starting with a CV and cover letter.