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Life at Work Column
Finding a Job Without Experience: Six Strategies to Consider
It's the old adage, everyone has heard it, "you can't find a job without experience and you can't get experience without a job". The good news it's not true, So, how do you find a job without that elusive "experience"? And, how do you obtain the experience that you need for that special job?How do you obtain a job without "experience"?
Many people, particularly those new to the work force or those reentering after a hiatus, claim that they have "no experience". But, of course, everyone has some experience, at something, except for perhaps, a day old infant. People who discount their own experience tend to neglect to tell prospective employers about it. And, so the prospective employers discount them, too. It's a vicious cycle. The prospective employer represents themselves as having, "no experience" and little to offer -- but, a willingness, perhaps to work hard and learn. And the prospective employer, sensing their lack of certainty, gets "cold feet" and goes on to the next candidate. The prospective employee in turn, "never hears anything" or at least nothing useful. Frustrated and self-doubting, the prospective employee goes to the next interview a bit more frustrated and a bit less confident. And, so the cycle repeats itself, with the prospective employee becoming just a little more bitter and a little less confident each time.Ask these individuals what kind of job they are seeking and they reply, " I am just looking for a job, any job, with decent pay". This leaves the listener not knowing how to be helpful. In general, people want to be helpful -- but, they are uncertain how to do so. So, they do nothing. The prospective employee feels bereft of support.
So, how does the prospective employee "break the cycle"? Consider six possible steps.
(1) Define your ideal job
First, it is important to define, in explicit detail, your ideal job. What would you be doing? Where would you being doing it? Last month's column focused on this. An electronic version can be found at: http://www.dcwebwomen.org/lifeatwork/(2) Be well aware of your professional talents and skills
A second step is to define the experience that you can bring to any work setting. Starting tomorrow, catalogue exactly how you spend your time for the next two or three days, from morning to night. List each activity in which you engage. How are you spending your time? Next to your list draw three columns; place a check in one of the three categories: (1) I love doing this, (2) I don't mind doing this, (3) I'd rather not do this. Now, you have a list of things with which you have experience.If you are a stay at home Mom, the chances are that some of the following things have shown up on your list: organizing things and people, scheduling, collaborating with others, working with children, working with parents, working with schools, seeking information, reading and other related experience. If you are a student, your list may include: organizing tasks, reading, memorizing, researching, web-based research, writing and interacting with others. Don't forget to consider your hobbies or other interests. For example, if you are active in your fraternity or sorority, you may have developed excellent leadership and administrative skills.
(3) Incorporate all of your skills into your resume in a way that enhances them -- not diminishes them.--
These are not skills to be dismissed. The question is: how do you go about incorporating them into your resume. Many people differentiate between their volunteer and paid experience, this is a mistake. Employers care most about what you can do for them -- not where you acquired the skill or whether you were paid to learn it. Describing experience, as a volunteer one, for some people, is a way of minimizing it, especially in a society where some measure self-worth by the size of their paychecks. Instead, create a heading such as: "professional experience" or "professional and academic experience" and place your relevant experience below it. For example, a student who has written numerous research papers could use the heading, "research and writing experience". And, then, describe the experience: "conducted extensive literature reviews in the social sciences, summarized literature".(4) Acquire experience through internships and volunteer activities.
But, what if you want a job that requires experience that you do not have. That is, what if you want to be a web page designer or a public relations writer. But, you have never done it. Here's where volunteering or interning is an excellent idea. Do your best to seek out an experience in which you can develop useful skills and hopefully, useful contacts. Ideally, volunteer or intern in a place where you would like to be hired. Then, do a great job.(5) Create work samples.
What if you are self-taught? For reasons that elude me, in this credential-oriented society, we value those with certificates. This is unfortunate inasmuch as the ideal employee is a "quick study", not a person who needs the "paint-by-number" course. So, if you want to do something in which you have no formal training, create some work samples. Let your portfolio speak for itself.(6) Network informally with those in a position to hire you.
In this day and age, it is easy to network informally with those in a position to hire you. Join their listservs. Just be sure to lurk before you post. Learn about the community. Give yourself a few weeks to learn from other people's successes and failures. After learning the lay of the land, post something that displays your skills. For example, offer the solution to someone's problem. Bosses love people who can solve their problems! Maintain a presence by posting helpful information, periodically. Initially, don't be overt about asking for a job. Just use your skills to be helpful. After you have established a positive presence, you can network with fellow subscribers online and off.A final note. When taking these steps be sure to incorporate a thoughtful networking strategy. October's column, Landing a job in Your Ideal Setting: A Systematic Networking Strategy addressed this challenge. An electronic version can be found at: http://www.dcwebwomen.org/lifeatwork/ described such a strategy.
You have a lot of talents and skills but you are not quite sure what you want to do with your life. How can you figure it out? Pursuing your Work-life without a plan is like taking a trip to the grocery store without a shopping list. We all know what ends up in the cart! (And, it isn't pretty.)
You might try an exercise developed by Dick Bolles, the author of "What Color is Your Parachute?" Pretend you are writing to a close friend who you haven't seen in five years. (I know in this era, it's hard to imagine.) You have achieved your ideal life. What is it like? What are you doing? Be specific with respect to the professional, personal, spiritual, physical, social, relationship and financial aspects of your life. Describe it to your friend in great detail. Exactly what is your life like? What do you do everyday?
If you find this exercise difficult, try any of a number of exercises, designed for the same purpose in Barbara Sher's book, Wishcraft. One of her best is: describe your ideal day, a day that you could repeat again and again. Where do you wake up? With whom do you wake up? When do you wake up? How do you go about beginning your day? What do you do? Again, don't give yourself a job title. Describe in detail exactly what you are doing. If this exercise doesn't work for you, there are a number of other helpful exercises in both of their books and you may want to check out June's column for helpful suggestions. (An electronic version of it can be found at: http://www.dcwebwomen.org/lifeatwork/)
Converting your Ideal Life into Concrete Goals
You have described your ideal life. Now it's time do some "backward planning". Make a plan, with a time-line, going back from the achievement of the goal to where you are now. Break your goals down to small, measurable, discrete steps. For example, if you have decided that you would like to be an information architect, what steps do you need to take in order to become one? What do you need to learn? How can you learn it? Can you be an apprentice? Do you need to take courses? Can you learn it from books? What experiences do you need? How can you acquire them. Once you are prepared to be an information architect, how can you get this type of job? What kinds of people and places hire information architects? How can you begin networking with them from the very outset?Similarly, if you are searching for that special person, describe in detail what that person is like. Then ask yourself, where might you find such a person? What steps can you take to meet such a person? The key again is to break your goals down into manageable steps. Complete this exercise for each of your goals.
Monitoring the Pursuit of Your Goals
For many people setting the goals is easy, persisting in following the steps that they have outlined is more difficult. Articulate a five year plan as to what you want to accomplish each year. Of course, these plans are subject to revision as you learn more about yourself and your goals. After setting yearly goals, establish monthly goals, weekly goals and daily goals. The key here is to make each building block small and achievable.Finding Ongoing Support for Achieving Your Goals
Many people are surprised to learn that the biggest factor that differentiates those who achieve their career goals and those who do not intelligence, personality or education. Rather, it is the extent to which they have ongoing, focused, support. Many people find that they are quite able to articulate their goals and codify a plan for pursuing them. But, they have difficulty staying on task. This is where having ongoing, regular, focused, support is crucial.Focused support can take many forms. It can entail "reporting in" or talking about your Work-life goals on a weekly basis with a spouse or friend. It can entail gathering a group of friends together who are willing to make a commitment to meet on a weekly basis to provide support, monitor each other's progress and brainstorm solutions to the challenges that one encounters. The most effective groups meet at a regular time and place and have a procedure for ensuring that every group member has an opportunity to seek input from a group. In my experience leading these types of groups, I have found that the most effective ones are diverse with respect to age, background and Work-life goals. There can be advantages to putting together a group of people who did not know each other previously.
For those who are less comfortable with the idea of setting up a group, another alternative is to join a professionally led Work-life group. Such a group allows you to work with a leader who has successfully led similar groups in the past and to benefit from that experience. Some people prefer working on these issues with a career coach or a psychologist who specializes in these areas. No matter what your method it's a good idea to make New Year's resolutions in the Work-life arena. If you relegate them to the back burner, that's where they'll remain.
If you have a question or want to suggest a topic, contact Dr. Friedman at drlynn@dcwebwomen.org.
Copyright © 2000 by Dr. Lynn Friedman, Ph.D. All rights reserved.
The advice and suggestions in this column are solely those of the author. DC Web Women assumes no responsibility for its content. The site does not provide psychological or work-life advice to any specific individual. Rather, the content is intended to be for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional psychological advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns regarding a psychological or work-life difficulty, seek professional evaluation. Do not disregard professional advice or delay in seeking it because of anything that you have read on this web site.
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