School, college or university is behind you and you cannot put off the moment any longer – you need to get a job.
The problem is that every application form you see asks you about your previous experience. What can you say if you don’t have any? Without it your form looks very ‘naked’ and uninspiring and that’s just to you – what will a potential employer think about it? Why should they bother to give you the job when you don’t have any experience and there are plenty of other candidates who do?
So, do you:
- Leave the space blank?
- Make up a career history?
- Give up altogether?
- Try and find another job that doesn’t ask you about your previous employment?
… if you answered ‘yes’ to any of those, you are heading into deep water. The answer lies in some lateral thinking.
See things from the employer’s point of view
Perhaps it’s because I’m biased, but you should always try to see things from the employer’s point of view. There’s nothing mysterious in doing so – he or she is just an ordinary person the same as you are. You’re perfectly qualified to do this.
Let’s look at some of the popular phrases employers use. For example, you will see:
- Junior
- Trainee
- Assistant
- Deputy
- Senior
‘Deputy’ and, more so, ‘Senior’ will expect you to have lots of experience. Those jobs are ‘out’ for the next 5 years at least. The first three on the list, though, expect little to no experience and are paid accordingly. Any employer advertising such positions will anticipate that most applicants are going to come from full-time education or, at most, a very junior post in another company.
Thus, not only are you not expected to write much (if anything) in those boxes, all the other applicants will be in the same boat, too, so don’t worry!
Employers want someone who has an established work ethic
The next thing you need to realise is that most employers are a bit apprehensive about taking on anyone from full-time education because he or she will not have had time to grasp the work ethic. Having a job is rarely wall-to-wall fun. Most times you have to drag yourself out of bed in the morning, commute to work, and do things that, given a choice, you would not bother with. It takes commitment to do that.
Somehow you need to get the message across to the employer that, even though you have no experience of employed work, you do know all about putting your back into doing something.
Before we deal with that, there is one other thing we need to look at.
If you are to be successful in job-hunting, then there is a skill which is well worth the time to acquire and develop. It is the art of answering a question truthfully but to your advantage.
Let’s consider a simple example from ‘real life’ that will show you what I mean.
Imagine you were being asked by an elderly relative how you got on in a recent football/hockey/rugby etc match. You could proudly say how you scored or nearly scored but you might choose to leave out the bit about being sent off ten minutes later. See what I mean? There’s the truth and then there’s the whole truth.
On your application form always tell the truth but don’t spill your guts.
Now, putting this all together, why not do the following?
Admin jobs
Write about how you structured your timetables, sorted out a filing system, labelled, classified and organised your study notes.
Customer Services jobs
Tell the employer about committees you have helped out on, voluntary work you have done and generally describe about your interactions with others (of all ages).
Hands-on, practical type jobs
Describe things you have made, your skills in arts and crafts, work you have done on your parents’ car, motorbike or any mechanical device, anything you have repaired, DIY stuff and so on.
You can extend this list. The point (which you should by now be seeing) is that a) you do have something to say, b) you are demonstrating relevant skills and initiative and c) you are giving the employer the message that you have thought about this application and not just churned it out.
A good employer will really appreciate this. Candidates who demonstrate enthusiasm are hard to come by and you should find yourself being snapped up.
If you really don’t feel that this is going to help (and it should), then why not sign up for some voluntary work? This will truly prove that you know how to get out of bed every morning and go off and do something useful. Not only that but an interviewer will enjoy asking you questions about it – far more interesting than the usual, “what was your favourite subject at college?”
By now you should have some good ideas for what you can write on your application form when you don’t have any experience.
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