So, you’re coming to the end of your time in education and you’ve started that all important job search and you keep coming across that word ... ‘Experience’. Even the entry level jobs you’re looking at require relevant experience but what if you don’t have any? Is there anything that can help your case? 

Yes.

There are a few options listed and explained below that can assist you in gaining experience to enhance your CV and give you a helping hand in securing your dream job.  These will help whether you’re coming to the end of your university or school career but also if you’re in the early stages of your higher education. If you know which career path you are wanting to pursue you can actively look for opportunities alongside your studies and / or during the holiday periods. 

Keep reading to find out how to enhance your CV and experience. 

Transferable Skills

During your time at school or university you picked up a lot of transferable skills – the key is to draw upon these! 

Whether it be looking more closely at modules you’ve studied and their correlation to your desired career route or your positions of responsibility and the skills you’ve gained from your involvement.

You may have been a sports captain or held an important role in a university society, both have provided you with the opportunity to take on responsibilities which you can highlight in your CV. Explain what you did and why you can use those skills in your working life. 

Internships

Internships are a great way to get your foot in the door in your chosen career route and earn while you learn! Internships have a lot of advantages in getting you started in your career. Not only do you gain experience to include in your CV but you gain insight into your chosen field and the company you are interning for. You can use this opportunity as a ‘try before you buy’. 

This is a great opportunity for you to get to know the respective industries and insights from individuals that are fully fledged as well as those coming up through the ranks.

Internships often have the potential to lead to permanent careers if you and the employer both feel this is the right choice. Internships can be advantageous to those not yet finished study too as they can sometimes be undertaken on a part-time basis alongside study or during your academic breaks.

Unpaid Work Experience

The advantages of unpaid work experience are like an internship and could be an investment into your future. A work experience placement is typically shorter term than an internship and is often less hands on but still offering valuable insight.

You may find yourself shadowing employees of the company and learning from other professionals, to undertaking more general tasks as a means of getting yourself involved. This is great to gain short-term experience and like the internships you can gain valuable company and market insight.

The idea here is to take onboard the positives, these short works experiences can be valuable pieces to the jigsaw puzzle of finding a job you want.

Volunteering 

Another way to enhance your experience is to volunteer. When people think of volunteering many people think of charity shop work or helping at animal rescue centres. 

There are always needs for those willing to lend a hand & you’ll be surprised by the soft skills that can be gained &/or enhanced.

There may be opportunity for you to bring ideas, work on areas you feel need boosting, be it customer / people skills, communication, organisation or even time management. 

Not only can you work on shop floors but these places may require assistance in their office or with tasks that can be viewed as offering transferable skills. The great thing about volunteering is that you’re not only helping yourself but you’re helping your community too.  

Courses

If you don’t have any relevant experience and your education doesn’t really push you towards your chosen career you can always continue studying. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go to university or if you have been to university, to stay. You can study at home. 

There are various options available to us in the current day and age, whether that be on-line courses, distance learning or visiting a training centre and taking up evening classes.

In Guernsey and Jersey there are key providers of relevant courses so if you’re wanting to upskill or are looking for a specific area of knowledge, the options are there.

Employers are looking for the best fit, the right attributes and showing self-commitment towards your own plans and building blocks towards this can help you to shine through.

This need not necessarily be a long-term course but could be a shorter course, offering insight or understanding that could just bridge the gap, especially for once you get started in your first job!

If you would like assistance from the experts then full contact details for Firstcall and all of their recruitment specialists can be found on their feature page here at thebestof Guernsey.