“I want a job but can’t have it because of no previous experience.” ☹ Ever found yourself in such a fix? You can always put your best foot forward and achieve the unachievable smartly!
But wait! Have you really got no work experience at all? Think about it deeply. Not getting paid for something does not make you unqualified or inexperienced for a job.
Think about your skill sets and how you gathered them. Did you do a certification? Were you a volunteer at an NGO? Or have you done quite a few unpaid internships?
Mention all of them (at least the relevant ones) in your resume. Also, talk about your part time jobs and freelance projects to add more mass to your CV.
We figured out some tried and tested techniques which can actually help you gain work experience without really doing a full-time job. Amazing, right? Skim through these easy breezy techniques below!
Get some internship experience
Relevant internship experience is generally counted as real experience by most companies. But this will depend on the company’s policy and also on what exactly your internship profile entails.
If your internship lasted for a substantial 3-month to 1-year period, and it offered hands on exposure to real world projects (within a particular domain), it can be counted as ‘official’ work experience.
As an intern, you also get to work on real projects which exposes you to the pressures and management workflows.
Add some freelance project experience
If you are a fresher or a first-time jobseeker, you must start freelancing right away. It is the best way to acquire industry knowledge.
College students can also take up freelance projects to earn some pocket money as well as get acquainted with project experience beforehand.
Write about all the services you offered and also share company reviews about the place that you worked for in brief. Don’t forget to mention the skills and experience you gained from freelancing.
Some great websites where you can find freelance work instantly are Naukri, Freelancer, Upwork, Craigslist.
Show your academic experience
Write about the new perspective you gained out of your academic experience. If you were a TA (teaching assistant), you can always flaunt about how you assisted your professor in his/her instructional responsibilities.
Don’t forget to mention about the international relationships you developed during your course work. Talk about the clubs that you were a part of, events that you organized (if any) and even the papers which you got published.
Flaunt your certification knowledge
In order to get through technical interview questions, you need to possess prior certification knowledge. It is a valuable way of demonstrating your skill set in the field if IT today.
Wannabe professionals from other fields like finance, management, hospitality etc. need to complete certifications to stand out from the crowd as well, but they need not have prior experience to crack a job.
Become a volunteer
Not getting a job? Don’t worry! Become a volunteer in a position that is related to your dream job. For instance, if you are into marketing, become a volunteer at an event management company so that you learn the trick-of-the-trade behind event marketing.
Make connections and reach out to people who are doing it already. Trust me, you will get to learn a lot from them.
If nobody is giving you a chance, start your own venture!
Publicize your website or app (if you have one) to show that you know how to build, host and maintain a website/app. If you are a developer, this will give you a lot of brownie points.
But make sure that your website has a decent traffic, or the app has a substantial number of total downloads.
Finally, create a kick ass resume
There are a lot of websites online that help candidates create superstar resumes. If you have ZERO work experience in your desired field, you have to check out this cool CV sample here.
Hunt for and customize more such samples online to suit your needs and domain, while building a curriculum vitae. Besides, there’s no dearth of opportunities out there for landing a job.
But a dream position will never be offered to you on a platter. Hence, you have to craft a catchy resume to stand out from the rest, and also make a mark in the hiring manager’s eyes.
So, the basic idea is this – “The only way to get better at something is to do it anyway.” That reminds me of a question, which I came across on Quora. It went like this– “I have an idea for several novels or stories in some form, but am not experienced in writing. What should I do? Should I write them anyway?” and over 50 people had responded with the same answer – “You have to start writing first!”
Do not be afraid of failure. If you don’t try something, you will never ever know whether you could do it or not for real. So, try your hand at all kinds of opportunities that come your way, be it freelancing, volunteering or even a part time job!
All of them will add up and show a remarkable result on ‘your resume’. Finally, you will get hired by a company for your dream job.
All the best!
