A couple of days ago, I answered an interesting question on Quora and decided to share my insights with you. The question was – Is it harder to find a job with little experience – and here is how I approached it:
If you focus on the right positions for your education, talents, and little experience – it should not be that hard. Before applying, I suggest you do your homework as follows:
1. Clarify what you would like to do, professionally – based on your interests, passions, and talents. Take some personality and strengths tests. Talk to your family, college professors, and friends about it or to a career coach.
2. Make a list of all your achievements – in college, group work, volunteer work, and the little job experience you already have. Try not to limit the list – depending on your interests and future professional focus, everything might turn out to be useful.
3. Take out the matching skills and achievements and include them in your resume and letter of interest or hire a career consultant to do it for you.
4. Don’t limit your search to job postings. Make sure you research the companies you are interested in and try to apply – with a good motivation letter or a recommendation by a contact – even if they don’t have a suitable opening. This is a numbers game, so be patient.
5. Be creative and proactive – you can use LinkedIn to connect to some of the recruiters of the organizations you would like to work for. Approach them honestly and briefly tell them you are interested in their company, explain how you believe you can contribute and ask them for potential opportunities. You can do the same with the hiring managers in your field – for example, if you would like to get into marketing, you can write directly to a brand or marketing manager in the company you would like to work for.
6. Utilize your network –make a list of all your family, relatives, friends, college classmates, their job titles, and the organizations they work for. Review the list and see whether there are any matches between your interests and skills and their current occupations. If so, ask for advice and recommendation and send your application documents.
7. Get inspired – think about your college classmates and identify the ones you felt close to with regards to strengths and interests, i.e. same major, similar classes, similar extra-curricular and work study activities. Talk to them and see what fields have they gone into. What companies. What types of jobs are they after. You can get inspired by their approaches, check out whether they can recommend you to their bosses, or provide some insights into their job hunting process.
Тhe better your self-awareness and the more active and creative you get in your job search, the higher the chances of you finding a wonderful first real job, even with little experience.
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