How to Get a Job With No Experience; An Ultimate Guide
Whether you’re at the start of your career journey and looking for a way to gain valuable experience and improve your skill-set, or changing careers and aiming to build your credibility, there are a number of methods you can use to leverage yourself up the proverbial food-chain.
Landing a job with no experience can feel like a never ending chicken and egg problem. You can’t get a job without any experience; yet, you can’t get experience without a job. Hopefully this blog will serve as some inspiration and motivation to help you get off the ground. The following 12 suggestions are not in an order that should necessarily be followed, although naturally some will happen as a result of others as you gain new skills, confidence and your personal brand generates momentum. This is your ultimate guide on how to get a job with no experience.
The best thing you can do; just start.
1.Take a Course
There really is no better way to learn or enhance a skill than taking a course. With the multitude of resources out there we’re spoilt for choice now more than ever before. The beauty of courses is that there is valuable content to be found regardless of your level of expertise.
What’s your Goal?
When taking a course they probably fall into one of three categories. The first is learning something entirely new. The second is deepening your expertise in an area that you are already familiar with. The third is learning something that is complementary to your existing skill-set but slightly tangential. The ideal skill-set is shaped like a ‘T’; you have deep domain expertise in one specific area (forming the vertical line of the T), complemented by a broad understanding of similar skills (forming the horizontal bar of the T). When choosing a course, it can help to work out how the skill you are acquiring fits into your overall pursuit of the T-shape.
Taking a course shows dedication and a willingness to learn. It’s evidence that you are putting yourself out there and learning skills that will contribute towards your career progression; all traits that employers are looking for.
Tangible or Intangible Skills?
Another variable to be aware of when choosing a course is just how directly valuable the content is going to be for gaining and demonstrating experience. Sometimes, just by the nature of the course, the skills and knowledge acquired might be intangible and only become valuable at some unknown point in the future. That’s ok and often these are the most valuable in helping to shape you as a person. On the contrary, courses that offer hard, actionable skills that have immediate and tangible value are likely to provide greater opportunities immediately post-completion. The final thing to bear in mind is whether the course offers any kind of accreditation or carries credibility within the industry. Essentially, if you said to an employer “I’ve taken X, Y and Z courses”, what weight does this carry?
Suggested Resources: Udemy | SkillShare | Coursera | Treehouse
2.Offer your skills for free
Once you have reached a certain threshold with your skill-set, by far and away the best route to improving further is to put them straight into action. Unfortunately it isn’t always possible to get paid for these skills, so offering them for free is often the best route forward. This might be for a friend, family or a local business; anyone who is willing to let you put your skills to work and set you a tangible task of value to them or their business.
Build a Case-Study
When employers ask for ‘x years experience’, what they are really looking for is proof of your capability to do the job. In offering your services, you are ultimately looking to take on a project from inception to completion that enables you to utilise your skill-set. At the end of the project you will hopefully have a strong case study with quantifiable results, and in turn, have gained someone who can vouch for your expertise and act as a reference for the future.
Real Life Experience > Theory
The investment of time at this stage is worthwhile, knowing that in the long run, the net benefits will be greater than the time expended whilst working for free. Having the experience, a tangible case study of your work, and a reference will reap benefits down the line. After all, having the real-life experience always beats just learning the principles in theory.
Suggested Resources: Economy of Hours
3. Create your own website
80% of employers google you when reviewing your application. Having your own website with your name as the domain can help ensure they see what you want them to. By creating your own website you are giving yourself the opportunity to create a home for your personal brand online and all your content. Your personal website will act as the hub of your digital footprint, working in conjunction with your other social media profiles.
Take on the challenge and learn cross-functional skills
Building your first website can be a challenge. However, there are plenty of tools and resources out there to help you along the way. It can be as easy as throwing up a one page about.me profile, through to learning how to host your own wordpress.org site. If you have time, and are looking to learn, wordpress.org is the option I suggest. You will learn a plethora of skills including domain name registration, hosting, the basics of web design, wordpress development and internet marketing. Skills that in 2015, are only going to become more valuable; don’t underestimate the importance of being digitally literate.
Suggested Resources: Wordpress.org | SquareSpace | Wix | Weebly
4. Start Blogging
Blogging is one the best ways to demonstrate your expertise in a public forum. If you have created a website as suggested above, in most cases there will likely be functionality for blogging. The benefits of blogging are countless. Along with all of the personal, internal benefits such as helping you to structure your thoughts in a coherent manner, building discipline into your routine by writing regularly, it provides outsiders with a gateway into your thought processes and expertise. This insight and evidence is invaluable. Overtime, your blog will become a living organism, showcasing your knowledge and personal growth. This can also act as further proof to employers of your experience and expertise.
Help Your Audience And They’ll Help You
Your regular readers will grow overtime once they become accustomed to your regular writing. Engage with them and help them where possible and they in turn will become advocates for your career growth. The strength of your personal brand is what will lead to further opportunities.
Suggested Resources: Wordpress.org | Wordpress.com | Tumblr | Blogger
5. Join a community
Having a sense of belonging, or finding your tribe, is an important factor for your career development. They say that you are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. Well, when trying to boost your career, why not spend time interacting with like-minded people in a community. There are countless online communities and meetup groups covering every topic imaginable. Somewhere, there is a group perfect for you where you can learn from others, and others can learn from you.
Your Surroundings Matter
By actively listening, consuming the conversations and contributing to the discussions in such communities, you are boosting your credibility and soaking up the knowledge of others in the industry. Sometimes, it’s not your goals that you need to change in order to improve, it’s your surroundings. Involving yourself in a community is the quickest route towards feeling that sense of belonging and uncovering unfound opportunities.
Suggested Resources: Meetup | Eventbrite | Reddit
6. Freelance
Above, we mentioned the benefits of offering your services for free. Freelancing is the next logical progression to climb the ladder. Offering your skills and services in return for payment on the basis that you are able to provide value over and above your cost to the business. This is where having the previous case study and reference becomes so valuable.
It’s not as hard as you think to get started
Fortunately, freelancing is no longer as complicated as it perhaps once was. There is no longer the need to chase down clients as there are numerous platforms out there allowing the clients to find you. There are now a number of freelance platforms, offering a simple, flexible way of winning new work and managing clients. It’s a great way of earning additional cash whilst putting your skills to good use. Again this also gives you practical experience which can prove invaluable when looking for employment in the future.
Suggested resources: Upwork | PeoplePerHour | TalentCupboard (for students & graduates) | Freelancer
7. Write a report
Before I lose your attention on this one for the fear and dread that the word ‘report’ brings to many people (myself included), hear me out. A report is your opportunity to dig deep into a specific topic. It enables you to take the time to study something carefully, carry out in-depth analysis and structure your thoughts in long-form. A report is a great format for being able to demonstrate your detailed understanding of the subject matter, allowing you to clearly communicate the conclusions you have drawn from your analysis. Why not seek feedback on the report as you’re writing it and then send off the final copy to a range of interested stakeholders; it could springboard their interest in you.
An example could be an analysis on how a company of your choice is currently performing in a topic of your choice (marketing, sales, design etc) and how they could improve. You could then find a contact within the company to share your findings and suggestions with. This could open up a conversation, allowing you to communicate how you could provide value if you were to join the company.
Consider it an investment of your time
Researching, writing and editing a well composed report can be time consuming. However, it’s important to bear in mind that only exceptional content will generate the return on this investment of your time. If you’re going to try this one, it’s best to give it everything you’ve got. If it’s remarkably good work, you’ll see the results from your initial efforts.
8. Attend some conferences
Industry conferences can be a lot of fun. More than just fun, they can be extremely insightful and often have speakers that are world-leaders in the field; they’re an exceptional learning opportunity. Granted, many conferences can be pricey, but why not use this as an opportunity to use your hustle and try to find a route in at a discount?
There’s more value than just the speakers.
Whilst the speakers at any conference provide a ton of value, there is more value to be captured than just the keynotes. After all, most conferences will upload the keynotes to youtube after the event anyway, so what’s the real reason that it’s worth paying for a potentially high-priced ticket? Well, conferences are a collection of the most engaged people interested in a particular industry; the value lies in the rest of the audience. This is why you need to attend with the intention of networking and building meaningful relationships with other attendees. Go prepared with some business cards and remember that first impressions matter.
Keep extracting the value, even after the event
If you’ve played your (business) cards right at the event itself, you’ll have met and engaged with some interesting people. Don’t forget to follow up after the event and connect on LinkedIn. (You’re profile is up to date, right?)
Above, we mentioned the power of blogging. You guessed it, writing about your experiences and learnings is well worth the time. This way, you capture your experiences in a format that can provide value for years to come. Sending your blog to the people you met at the event or sharing it with the organisers and speakers is a great tactic to increase your visibility. And who knows, maybe someone in the future will discover you were at the same conference and you’ll have a topic for discussion.
Suggested Resources: Eventbrite | Lanyrd
9. Speak at an event
Speaking at an event is one of the best methods to raise your profile. If there is already an audience gathered, all you have to do is provide them with engaging content. Whilst your blog is your online hub for sharing your thoughts, there really is nothing that beats the real life interaction of speaking face to face. It’s an opportunity to communicate and demonstrate your personality, your vision and skill-set.
You don’t have to be an expert
To speak at an event you don’t have to be an expert on the topic. It’s perfectly acceptable to speak about your experiences of learning a new skill from scratch, how you perceived a topic from the outside or something of that nature. Speaking at events is a great experience; you don’t need to be aiming for a large scale event, just your local meetup group of interest is perfect. Not only does it boost your personal brand but it’s an opportunity to develop your confidence, public speaking and presentation skills; all invaluable for your career. Remember to include your speaking engagements on your LinkedIn, website and to write a blog about it too!
Suggested Resources: Meetup | Eventbrite
10. Interview an expert
With all your newly gained knowledge, it’s time to extend this a step further. What better way to do so than have a one-to-one session with an expert. This might seem daunting but the reality is that most people are more than willing to help, schedule permitting. Don’t be afraid to reach out to your favourite expert and ask for their time. Of course, it goes without saying you need to be respectful and not pushy, but if you don’t hear back first time around then don’t feel bad about persevering. Make sure you’re prepared, researched and have well thought through questions and topics for discussion.
Share their advice with others
With the interviewee’s permission, you should aim to share their knowledge to your wider network. A recorded video interview, a podcast, a transcribed interview or even a review of your learnings are all possible media types that you could publish. This acts as great evidence of your industry knowledge, connections and overall commitment.
Suggested Resources: PodBean
11. Teach a class (or a friend)
You don’t truly understand something until you can teach it, or so the saying goes. Teaching a class can be a great way of cementing your knowledge. If you can relay back the information you have acquired, then it’s great evidence that you have genuinely learned the material.
Help others, it’s rewarding.
Helping others is genuinely rewarding. If you are teaching them a new skill that you have also recently acquired then you’re most likely better positioned to teach them material than an industry veteran or ‘expert’. You were in their position as a beginner not so long ago, therefore you have more empathy to their circumstances and learning challenges. This is a huge advantage.
Is it a revenue generator?
With online learning platforms such as SkillShare and Udemy offering the facility to become an instructor there is even the opportunity to turn your ability to teach into an additional revenue generator. Udemy boasts average instructor earnings of $7k. If you can turn your material into a structured course, you have the opportunity to reach a potentially huge audience. Alternatively you could create an email course, or write an e-book and charge a nominal fee for access through your website. Either way, if you can prove your commercial acumen, alongside your ability to teach and newly found domain expertise, it’s going to look great on your CV.
Suggested Resources: Udemy — Become an Instructor | SkillShare — Become a Teacher
12. Do the job without being asked
If you spot a need that a company has, and your skill set can fill it, then what’s holding you back; you don’t need permission to do something of use for them. This is the ultimate strategy for getting a company’s attention, and if you’re good, who knows where it could lead. Note of warning: do work that is non-invasive of the company. Do work that is complementary or something tangential to what they are currently working on. Perhaps writing a report is a good first option as suggested above?
Be creative and get hustling.
This is where your creativity is really going to be tested. What opportunities do you foresee for the company that they’re currently not exploring. If you’re a salesperson, can you drive referrals or help them onboard more customers? If you’re a developer, can you fix a bug that you have noticed in their product. If you’re a marketer, you could create a campaign raising the company’s brand awareness. Demonstrating your hustle for the good of a company is bound to lead to at least initial contact and adds another string to your bow of examples when you have provided tangible value.
Summary
So there you have it; 12 defined, actionable strategies to boost your CV, your credibility, your knowledge, and ultimately become more employable. With each tip, the crucial thing to remember is that you are aiming to acquire new skills, and collect evidence and proof points that you are capable and competent of performing. You’re looking for case-studies, references, testimonials and tangible examples of times you have generated a return on investment in a project. Ultimately; you’re building your repository of experience; even if this isn’t paid for, or employed experience per se.
No matter where you are at in your career journey, I hope this has provided food for thought and at the very least sparked an idea of how to move forward towards landing a great job of choice. From here on, gone are the days of wondering, ‘how can I get a job with no experience?’. Time to start executing.
What strategies have you used to overcome the challenge of trying to land a job without any experience? Did you find any particularly effective? Let me know in the comments below.
Note: This post was originally published on 26th May 2015.
