you need work experience to get a job
you need a job to get work experience
Dopers’ collective wisdom, unite!
How do you solve the seemingly unsolvable paradox that is the modern employment market.
(edit: let’s skip the discussions about “transferable skills”, shall we? Employment type requires “Experience X”. nothing you have ever done in your past life can fairly be read on its face to include “Experience X”. Sure, you can probably twist and turn your experience into it somehow but seeing as there are probably 40 people lining up for that job with “Experience X” already…)
lets assume that you don’t want to commit fraud. and let’s also assume that your prior employment can’t ever be understood to include “Experience X” (meaning that you can’t claim you have great marketing experience working as a medical lab stockroom clerk)
Go volunteer at your local Legal Services program. Get some experience. Or apply for a child support enforcement attorney gig. Those things have high turnover, so there’s likely an opening, or will be before too terribly long.
Or get on the local public defender list, if available. You’ll get a few cases, the county will eventually pay a little something per case, and you get experience.
In the real world, employers will list all of the characteristics their ideal candidate would have, but are usually more than willing to interview and hire people who don’t have all of those characteristics. I’ll give you that it’s unlikely they will interview someone with NONE of the characteristics.
So, school experience can count as work experience for entry-level jobs. Work experience that doesn’t correlate to the work experience they’re seeking might also count as work experience. You might not need a degree in the field they’ve cited, or a degree at all. The most important thing for an employer is that a candidate can demonstrate a willingness to learn, and articulate how they solve problems in unfamiliar situations.
Frankly, a well-written cover letter, a personal introduction or reference, or a pleasant interview do worlds more to get you hired than exactly matching their listed qualifications.
Sometimes temping can land you a job that would, if you were hired off the street, require “experience”. There’s no substitute for just being able to go in and prove yourself!
That’s how I got my first job out of college, even though I had no experience- I got a temp job filling in for someone on maternity leave. She had 15 years of experience. I did a fine job filling in and, when she came back, the company offered me a lateral move to full-time.
When I was fresh out of college, we were shown how to write a functional resume to highlight our expertise rather then work experience, as most of us had little to none.
Back when I got my first job in the field I’m currently in (clinical data management) I was told later on that the fact that I strove to teach myself what I thought might be part of the job (SAS programming) was what got me the thumbs up. I did have some related experience that I suppose got my resume on my boss’s desk, but it was pretty thin. I had a lot of honest enthusiasm that might have been charming.
Interestingly, 10 years later after my department in another company had been dissolved, I was back at this same company interviewing for a contractor position but didn’t have the exact technical experience they were seeking. The first woman I interviewed with couldn’t leave the room fast enough but the second woman I interviewed with stayed for a bit, we had a nice chat/low-key interview, and I was hired. Leaving the interview that day I thought I was toast.
Typically, the sort of experience we look for in recent college grads are:
-Summer internships, temp jobs or other relevant experience
-Work-study programs
-Extraciricular activities related to your target industry
-Any activities that demonstrate leadership, responsibility and ability to work with others
-Group projects
-Volunteer work
It’s like this. You typically have 4 years once you start college. Most of the time, you have summers off. You should be able to find SOMETHING relevant to your chosen field in those 4 years.
Basically what you want to demonstrate that you are a smart, hardworking person who actively seeks to get involved in stuff (even if you aren’t).
In the job market right now, the experience hurdle is very high. There are two main reasons that I can see:
A lot of people are out of work, including very experienced workers and managers. Every employer is getting a ton of résumés for every job posting, more than enough to fill the interview schedule with thoroughly qualified candidates.
Money is tight, and people are expensive. Employers are taking fewer risks, and are seeking “perfect employees,” often leaving jobs unfilled for months rather than hiring (or even interviewing) candidates who don’t don’t fulfill every requirement, or whose résumés or phone manners just don’t click.
Temporary jobs and entry-level jobs still exist, but they’re being filled by people who would normally be doing something a little higher up.
Older peeps often have the opposite problem. Too experienced and therefore you “won’t be happy here.” Or they feel they won’t be able to pay you enough.
I think it depends in large part on what field you want to go into, and what level you’re looking to start at. Most fields have at least a few entry-level positions that don’t really require any experience beyond your education (although these are certainly more rare in the current economy). If you don’t have any relevant education, either, though, you’re SOL. And I’d have to wonder what you’re doing applying for jobs in that field. If you don’t have both, you need to have a heapin’ helpin’ of one or the other.
And I second the thought about getting the experience on your own, whether it be through volunteer positions, freelance work, or self-teaching of skills. I have a ton of experience doing things I’ve never been paid for, and it’s actually helped me get related jobs.
