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Have you been scouring the internet for job listings, but find yourself struggling to find a company that is open to hiring fresh graduates with little to no experience? You are definitely not alone. Landing your first job as a fresh graduate can be tricky since you will not have much professional experience and companies generally prefer hiring candidates who have dipped their toes in a relevant industry.
While it can be tough to get a job when you don’t have any relevant experience, it is not impossible - there are plenty of other ways to get your foot in the door. Read on to find out some tips that can help you get hired even if you do not have any experience.
1. Use Transferable Experiences
While you might not have relevant work experience as a fresh graduate, the project work you have done in school or even the several part-time jobs you had could translate to relevant skills and experiences.
If you have not had any work experience prior graduation, you can also build up your knowledge of your preferred industry by participating in voluntary projects or research to keep yourself up to date on industrial trends, critical skillsets and qualifications relevant to the industry.
What you can do is highlight these experiences and why they are relevant to the job you are applying for in your resume or cover letter. You should also mention them again during the interview process if you manage to clinch one.
2. Focus on Your Soft Skills
Without the presence of relevant experience, you will definitely have to highlight existing soft skills that are also applicable for the position that you are applying for. Transferable soft skills include:
- Organisational skills
- Problem-solving skills
- Time management
- Attention to detail
- Interpersonal skills
- Adaptability
- Ability to work in teams
- Ability to work independently or under pressure
- Leadership
In your application, you can place focus on your soft skills that are sought after in your ideal industry and mention anecdotes or examples that demonstrate these specific qualities. For example, as a student, you definitely had to manage several assignments and group projects while attending your tutorials and lectures. Juggling all these and being able to graduate successfully is a big deal. It requires you to have good time management skills and not crumble under the pressure of multiple deadlines.
3. Create Your Own Portfolio
Without any relevant experience, having a portfolio ready will demonstrate your skills even if you haven’t worked on any paid projects. If you are a budding writer, what is stopping you from setting up your own website to post your written work? You can even post your side projects or passion projects to showcase your work.
Be it a 3D model, a marketing proposal or a 1-min video; you can display the school projects you worked on in your portfolio. All these will let potential employers know that you are passionate about your craft and makes you a better candidate for a job or position.
4. Network
Regardless of which industry you wish to work in, having meaningful connections with professionals in these industries would definitely be helpful in your job hunt. Broadening your professional network can be as easy as making conversations and connections with the relevant people on LinkedIn or making the effort to join networking events as an undergraduate. Selected diplomas at PSB Academy offers student memberships with industry bodies that connects you with professionals in the industry.
Networking opens you up to more opportunities in the workforce and is a great way to learn about the career you are interested in through informational interviews. Informational interviews are conversations that you can have with an industry professional to ask them questions about the industry or work and what advice they might have for someone like you, who is looking to start a career in the same field. These informational interviews can lead to professional recommendations later.
Gear Up Your Job Search with PSB Academy
Still having trouble getting an interview for your dream job? Find out how you can ready yourself for the corporate world by attending the workshops hosted by our Career Services Engagement Team.
