If you are just starting in your career or want to change to another career, the fear of how to get a job with no experience may freak you out, but it’s not as difficult as you may have imagined. In fact, at one point in time, every professional you see today had had this same challenge at some point in their career.
When searching for how to get a job with no experience, the simple truth is that you need the experience to get a job, but you also need a job to get experience.
So, how do you then get your foot up the career ladder? Whether you’re newly graduated or looking for a career change, feeling like you don’t have the required experiences to land your first job can be frustrating.
Notwithstanding, if you can approach the job searching with the right and proven strategy that works, you can utilize your relevant educational background, skills, and your other capabilities to prove to the hiring manager that you’re a good fit for their job.
Don’t want to hesitate to get hold of the key steps to take on how to get a job with no experience? Keep reading as we walk you through the proven and effective methods on how to get a job with no experience quickly.
How to Ger a Job With No Work Experience
Below are some of the ways you can accomplish the (seemingly) impossible by getting a job with no experience
1. Make use of your educational background and qualifications
If you are a fresher in the workplace you should endeavour to make use of your educational background and qualifications, because they can stand in as your work experience in entry-level roles.
Think back about the internships, presentations, assignments, and some of the other work you embarked upon personally that can stand as your educational background.
Once you’re able to figure those out, you can then it’s like them on your resume or CV.
Prove to employers that you are a perfect candidate for their jobs. From your academic experiences, you can highlight those job-related skills like accounting, programming, data analysis, making use of algorithms to solve complex problems, etc., and also soft skills like leadership skills, good communication, delegation, and more.
And most importantly, consider placing the “Education’ section at the topmost part of your CV or resume if you don’t have any work experience to highlight.
To make your content catchier, use specific accomplishments and bullets starting with convincing verbs like “Led”, “Organized, “Implemented”, etc.
2. Highlight your transferable experience
Unlike fresh graduates, if you are changing to another career, consider highlighting the transferable work experience you already have to show that you have the potentials to succeed in the new job.
To best achieve this, you need to frame that work experience in such a way that is more relevant to the requirements of what you want to do.
Reflect on the transferable skills you have acquired in your previous roles or experiences and emphasize them on your CV or resume.
For example, if you currently work as an engineer but desire to switch to software development, you already have a lot of transferable skills. These skills include teamwork, analytical thinking, and solving problems using algorithms.
Even in some cases where your current job is not directly related to the work you want to apply for, there will always be a few duties or skills that overlap.
3. Throw more emphasis on your soft skills
For freshers in the workplace as well as individuals changing careers, your soft skills will almost likely be the skills you can rely on as your transferable skills for the new job.
Soft skills are transferable skills but are not industry-specific skills, yet, they are essential for doing well in the workplace.
Examples of some of the common soft skills include:
• Communication skills
• Organizational skills
• Problem-solving skills
• Creativity
• Adaptability or flexibility
• Teamwork
• Leadership
• Delegation
• Work ethics
• Attention to detail
• Time management
• Interpersonal skills
For individuals that don’t possess any work experience at all, think about other ways you might have demonstrated or illustrated some of the mentioned soft skills above.
Additionally, you can look at any volunteer experience and extracurricular activities you participated in for examples of those soft skills. Use them as a replacement for your work experience in your CV or resume.
Moreso, you can do me background research into your desired industry to find out which soft skills are highly soft after in candidates for the job you’re vying for.
And remember, try to focus on examples and past experiences that demonstrate those specific skills.
4. Build a professional network
In terms of getting a job, networking has ways been one of the fast ways to land a job.
The effectiveness of utilizing a professional network can never be overemphasized, no matter the field you desire to work in.
Search and arrange meeting appointments with professionals in your industry via email, social media, or even phone calls and ask them out for a one-on-one meeting or phone discussion if they are busy.
Inquire from them about the industry and the advice and suggestions that they can give you to help you land the job.
Such a process of knowledge acquisition is also referred to as an informational interview. It is a good way through which you can learn more about a field you’re interested in while developing your network by getting contacts of friends in the field.
When building s mutual connection with these new connections, it’s always advisable not to request a job too early, rather discuss with them your strengths and weaknesses and how you can improve to be a part of the industry.
Also, take note that you may not have a mutual conversation with everyone you talk to but the more informational interview you do, the more likely you will build reliable connections that in due time may assist you with job recommendations.
5. Be clear about your interest in the job
Without any proof of work experience related to the job, employers will be inquisitive to know why you are interested in the career and not just looking for a job to only cater for your bills and other financial expenses.
Even if it is in a situation where the salary is what attracts you to the job, you should be ready to boldly explain to them why the particular career and job interests you and fits your career needs.
Your ability to quickly adapt and learn the skills and meet the demands of the role is heavily dependent on how interested you are in the job and to excel in the role.
Additionally, Tey to be very specific with your explanations when demonstrating how determined you are to work in the field.
You can talk about your connection with the job or a moment that inspired you to apply for the job.
And don’t forget, you can discuss your long-term career goals in your CV or resume, or your cover letter and also during your interview.
6 Work your way up
One of the best ways to attain the career position you desire is to work your way up from the ground root.
Start by finding an entry-level position or internship and build relevant experience from there.
Although such moves might not pay well as you’d want, they will give you some crucial work experience that can help you land a better job later.
However, if you can’t afford to take a pay cut or work full-time volunteering without getting paid, you can take up flexible part-time jobs which will earn you the income you need while the other provides you with the relevant work experience.
Although, working multiple jobs simultaneously can be a lot, taking extra workload now will eventually pay off over time
Read Also – 10 Most Profitable High Income Skills To Learn In 2022
7. Take Courses and Get Certifications
This is another effective way how to get a job with no experience. Enrol in vital courses and get certifications.
If you can find offline platforms that offer the adequate skills you need, many online platforms offer outstanding courses including. Udemy and SkillShare.
There is virtually every course you need available there, so take your time and fund out the best courses to enrol in.
Additionally, some courses offer certifications. For example, software development may require certifications which can be gotten from any of the courses you enrolled in or coding bootcamps.
The right course you take should depend on your situation and your career goals, but don’t neglect to check customer reviews on any courses you take too. This is very crucial in how to get a job with no experience.
Read Also – How to Ace a Job Interview Like a Pro
8. Find your way into the career
Not every career path you choose will be straightforward. In some cases, you may have to find your way into the career.
You can get a job at a company where you dream of working but in this case, you will be doing the work you currently do. This may be a good strategy for you to eventually land the job you want.
For example, if you are vying for a role in a fashion design industry but currently work as a Sales Representative, you can find a job as a receptionist or a Sales Representative in a clothing brand’s office. Once you get into the company, you can assist the fashion designers there with some projects and as time passes, you can then discuss with the employers about your interest in the fashion design role.
Read Also- 7 Best Job-Hunting Strategies To Get Jobs Faster (With Tips)
9. Consider relocating
Sometimes, the best step to take on how to get a job with no experience is to relocate to find other opportunities
Well, depending on the industry, you might realize that there aren’t enough opportunities in your area when compared to other areas.
Expanding your search area to other locations can increase the number of available job opportunities you can apply for and so increase your chances of landing a job.
Without any doubt, relocation may not be a viable option for everyone, and you should only consider changing your location where you are confident of living comfortably while working.
However, if you are flexible about where you live while working, you stand the chance of getting numerous job opportunities available to you, which is one of the key steps on how to get a job with no experience.
Read Also – How to Get a Job Fast (12 Proven Steps)
10. Do it on your own
Lastly, another vital step to take on how 5o bet a job with no experience is to do it on your own.
For most careers, especially careers that require creativity, you can mostly prove how prominent you are as a candidate when you have different side projects you have worked on.
For example, if you desire to be a writer, you can create your website or free blog using Wix or Blogger and publish your content.
If it’s a marketing role you are interested in, develop a strategy to use to promote yourself online on social media handles.
If it is graphic design, you can create a portfolio website or Instagram account where you can publish your design samples.
Therefore, whichever creative role you want to apply for, consider building a portfolio site or social media accounts where you can publish samples of your work.
In addition, coming up with your project samples prove that you possess the right skills for the job and that you can be a perfect candidate for the role.
It also tells your potential hiring manager that you are so interested in the work that you had to spend time working on sample projects without getting paid for them.
Final Thoughts
Starting a career takes a lot of time to build and gather work experience, so it’s always very difficult to secure a job during the early stage of your professional career.
However, the proven steps to take on how to get a job with no experience highlighted in this guide can help you land a job even when you have little to no relevant experience for any job you are applying for.
And most importantly, building a sustainable professional career takes time, so you need to exercise patience while you acquire various skills and work experience that will help you up the professional ladder in your career.
