Finding a job with little or no work experience presents a daunting challenge. It’s difficult to get hired, because no one wants to deal with the learning curve or take a chance on an untested talent. The circumstances create a Catch 22-type situation: how do you get experience when no one will hire you?
Building a career is like rolling a snowball downhill. As you get experience, you build up more momentum, which, in turn, lets you pick up additional experience. Once you get rolling, finding positions becomes increasingly easy.
That still leaves the basic question: How do you get started? How do you achieve the necessary experience if you can’t get your foot in the door in the first place?
Solving the problem requires finesse, but there are steps you can take. Here are four ways to get a job, even when you are lacking in the experience department:
Make the Best of What You Have
You might have more experience than you think. Even though your resume is short on traditional professional posts, that doesn’t mean you don’t have skills that an employer would value. Your goal is to show how much you’ve extracted from the experience you’ve had.
Look for non-professional roles you have exceled in. Think about clubs and volunteer organizations. Even your participation on a school sports team can display key attributes like discipline and teamwork.
Take What You Can Get
With limited experience, you aren’t going to get your choice of positions. You are going to have to pay your dues and start in entry-level situations. Embrace that fact.
Don’t waste your time on positions that require significant experience as a minimum qualification. Instead, seek out areas where you can get your foot in the door, and build towards a more substantial role down the road. This might include taking part-time assignments or looking into freelance work. Even a few of these lower end starting points can fill out your resume enough to make the next development stage possible.
Volunteer
You might not have the kind of experience necessary score of the professional roles you crave. However, you still have an option that allows you to earn the reps required to reach the next level. You should investigate volunteer work. After all, if you can’t find someone to pay you for a job, you can work around this limitation by being willing to work for free.
This process can involve volunteer positions at non-profit organizations, allowing you to pick up experience while making the world a better place. Or, you can look for no-pay corporate placements, opportunities like internships. These programs provide another avenue to build up your resume and scoring one of these positions can get you a foot in the door with a potential future employer.
Get Creative
Sometimes you must create your own opportunity. If no one else will hire you, you might need to take control on your own. Starting your own small business allows you to gain experience without requiring you to convince someone else to hire you (though you will still have to find clients).
You can also fill in your resume with self-started projects like blogs. These help you prove your knowledge and depth of understanding of a industry, all without having to work within a normal corporate structure.
Getting started in a career, or switching to a new field, can pose a seemingly insurmountable challenge. However, you don’t have to face the problem alone. A strong recruiting partner, like PrideStaff, will help you find positions that will set you up for your long-term career growth.
Contact PrideStaff Bend’s leading recruiters today to learn more.
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