CV Ladder

Remote work experience · UK

Real work experience, not another certificate.

A remote, part-time placement: a defined role, a supervisor who reads your work, and dates for your CV.

Check eligibility · 1 min See how it works

No experience or degree needed. Six questions, one minute, no payment.

£99 or £149 6 or 12 weeks Next cohort starts 6 October Applications close 22 September

What you’ll add to your CV

Work experience

Junior Data Analyst

CV Ladder · Remote · Data & Analytics Oct – Nov 2026

  • Cleaned and documented a messy dataset in Excel and SQL
  • Built a weekly reporting view that refreshed straight from source
  • Presented findings to a supervisor and revised on feedback
  • Junior Data Analyst
  • Marketing Assistant
  • Junior Developer
  • Finance Assistant
  • Junior Machine Learning Engineer
  • Junior Security Analyst
  • Junior Project Coordinator
  • Operations Assistant
  • Social Media Assistant
  • Expert supervisionSupervised by practising professionals in your field
  • Clear from day oneRole, deliverables and dates agreed in writing before you start
  • Proof of your workWritten completion record at the end of every programme
  • Earned referenceReference eligibility on satisfactory performance

Software you’ll work with

Six to eight of these per role, the ones its job adverts ask for. Each role below shows its set.

Listed because the briefs use them. None of these companies is involved in the programme.

The gap

Everyone wants experience. Almost nobody hands it out.

You're not competing with anyone for a place here.

6 or 12 weeks, part-time: a set role and dates, a supervisor, written feedback, and work you can show.

We don't rank applicants and we don't screen on experience; having none is the point. The call fits the programme to you. Cohorts are capped by how many people a supervisor can read properly, and close when full.

Check eligibility See what it costs

How it works

Around five hours a week, remote, for six or twelve weeks.

The same shape on both programmes. What changes is who supervises you, and for how long.

  1. Eligibility check

    Six questions about your stage, your field and the hours you have. You get a recommended programme and its price on the spot.

    1 minute · no payment

  2. Application and a short call

    A written application, then a 20-minute video call. We’re checking that the programme is right for you and that the hours are realistic. Nobody is testing your experience. Not having any is why you’re here.

    Within a week of applying

  3. Your brief, in writing

    Before you start, you receive your brief: your role title, your supervisor’s name, your deliverables, your review dates and the criteria your work is assessed against. It confirms in writing that this is a training placement, not employment.

    Week 0

  4. The work, read every week

    You work to the brief, at hours you choose, with a weekly check-in. Everything you submit comes back with written feedback until it meets the standard your brief sets out. What you produce is for your own development, and no business uses it.

    Weeks 1–5, or 1–11 on Partner Placement · around five hours a week, fitted around you

  5. Final review and your record

    You present the finished work and get a written performance review. Then your completion record: your role, your dates and what you delivered, set out so it goes straight onto your CV. Subject to satisfactory performance, your supervisor can then act as a reference.

    Week 6, or week 12 on Partner Placement

Outcomes

What you leave with.

Five things, none of them a certificate.

Programmes

In-house for six weeks, or with a partner company for twelve weeks.

The structure is the same on both: a written brief, a supervisor, review dates, a record. Partner Placement runs twice as long, with a supervisor at the partner company, a brief drawn from the work that company actually does and, subject to satisfactory performance, a reference on its letterhead.

Work Experience

A defined project role, set and supervised in-house by CV Ladder.

£99 one-off · six weeks

Total price, no additional fees. No VAT is charged on these prices. Paid in full before the cohort starts. You have 14 days to cancel for a full refund, as the law requires, and nothing is taken until your application is accepted.

  • A defined project role, and the title that goes on your CV
  • Realistic professional tasks, reviewed on set dates
  • A weekly check-in, and written feedback on everything you submit
  • A finished deliverable for your portfolio
  • A signed completion record: role, dates and what you delivered
  • Reference eligibility, subject to satisfactory performance
Check eligibility

No payment until your application is accepted.

Hosted by a partner company

Partner Placement

The same structure over twice the time, hosted by a partner company and supervised by someone who works there.

£149 one-off · twelve weeks

Total price, no additional fees. No VAT is charged on these prices. Paid in full before the cohort starts. You have 14 days to cancel for a full refund, as the law requires; if we cannot match you to a placement, you get everything back.

  • Everything in Work Experience, plus:
  • Twice as long: twelve weeks rather than six, with a longer brief and double the review cycles
  • A remote placement with a partner company, named to you before you pay
  • A supervisor employed by that company
  • A project brief modelled on the company’s real work, run alongside it, never inside it
  • Written confirmation of your placement dates from the company
  • Partner-company reference eligibility, subject to satisfactory performance
Check eligibility

We name the company hosting you before you pay. Placements depend on that company having a supervisor free for your cohort.

Both programmes are training, not employment. You are not an employee or a worker of CV Ladder or of any partner company, you are not obliged to carry out work for either, you receive no wage, and what you produce is for your own development rather than for a business to use. We are not an employment agency and we do not find or seek to find you paid work. Neither programme guarantees a job, an interview or a reference. If we cannot match you to a partner before your cohort starts, you can move to Work Experience and we refund the difference, or take a full refund.

Sectors

The roles, and what a brief looks like.

One example per track, and the software a brief actually uses. Your own brief is written for your cohort and confirmed in writing before you start.

One minute to your programme and price.

Six questions. You get a recommended programme, its price, and how to apply for the October cohort. No payment, no obligation. Applications close 22 September.

Check eligibility

FAQ

The questions worth asking before you pay.

How is this different from a virtual internship or a course?
A course gives you material and a certificate. A simulation gives you a task nobody reviews. This gives you a named supervisor who reads your work, sends it back, and then puts an assessment of you in writing.
How do I apply?
Run the one-minute check and leave your email; we send you the application details for the next cohort. You apply in writing, then a 20-minute video call follows within a week. No payment until your application is accepted.
How much time does it take?
Around five hours a week: six weeks on Work Experience, twelve on Partner Placement. Check-ins are scheduled around your study or your job. If you have fewer hours than that, say so in the eligibility check and the brief is scaled to fit rather than you being turned away. It does not grow to fill spare time, either: five hours is the size of the brief, however much time you have.
Do I need prior experience or a degree?
No. The programme exists for people who have not been given professional experience yet, so asking for some would defeat the point. The eligibility check looks at your stage, your field and your hours, not your CV.
Is this a paid job?
No. It is a training programme, and you pay for it. You are not an employee or a worker of ours or of any partner company. You are under no obligation to carry out work for anyone, you set your own hours, you receive no wage, and everything you produce belongs to you and is not used by us or by any business. That is the line between training and unpaid work, and the programme is built to stay on the right side of it.
Does it guarantee a job or an interview?
No, and be wary of anyone who says theirs does. What you get is a defined role, dated experience, a piece of work you can show and, subject to satisfactory performance, a professional reference. Turning those into a job is your part.
Is the reference guaranteed?
No. Reference eligibility is subject to satisfactory performance, assessed against criteria written into your role brief and shared with you before you start. Supervisors write only what they can honestly say, and they can decline. If that happens you are told why at your final review, shown the completed assessment, and can appeal to a second assessor who did not mark your work. A reference you did not earn would be worth nothing to you anyway.
Is the partner placement guaranteed?
No. A placement depends on the partner company having a supervisor free for your cohort, and a role in your field. If we cannot place you before your cohort begins, the choice is yours: move to Work Experience and we refund the difference, or take a full refund. Nobody is held in a queue.
Who are the partner companies?
Small businesses with someone senior enough to supervise properly. We name the company hosting you before you pay, so you can look it up first. Two things we do not claim: that partners are vetted by anyone, or that every partner is a company we have no connection to. The programme runs with a small number of them, some closer to us than others. The reference, subject to satisfactory performance, is on the partner company’s letterhead and signed by the supervisor who actually read your work.
Does the partner company get free labour out of this?
No. Your brief is modelled on the work that company really does, but it runs alongside their live work, never inside it, and they do not use, sell or rely on anything you produce. Partners take part to develop their own people as supervisors, not for output and not to recruit. If a partner ever asked you to do production work, we would want to know that day.
Is it fully remote? Can I apply from outside the UK?
Both programmes are fully remote. From outside the UK you are welcome on Work Experience, provided you can make check-ins in UK working hours. Partner Placement from outside the UK depends on the individual partner, and we confirm it before taking any payment.
I'm 16 or 17. Can I take part?
Not yet. Both programmes are 18 and over, because supervising under-18s carries safeguarding duties we would rather meet properly than partly. At 16 or 17, your school or college can usually arrange work experience for nothing, which is a better route than paying us. Come back and run the check the day you turn 18; there is no list to join before then.
What if I change my mind?
You have 14 days from the date your place is confirmed to cancel, for a full refund and without giving a reason. If you ask us to start your cohort inside those 14 days and then cancel, you keep the right; we keep only a proportionate amount for the part of the programme already delivered. After the 14 days, refunds are considered case by case. Nothing here affects your statutory rights.

Next cohort

Apply for the October cohort.

Leave your email and we send the application details. Applications close 22 September; the next cohort starts 6 October.

We store your name and email only to send you cohort dates and application details, and pass them to no one else. The privacy notice explains how long we keep them.