Hunting for a job is no easy business. Most of us don’t have the luxury of waiting for that amazing job opportunity to come and we often settle for the next best thing.
Other times, it is our lack of experience that makes our anxiety go through the roof and stress levels rise up to dramatic levels. Add a refusal or two to the mix and you might start feeling lost and disappointed after a while.
While these feelings are normal, try no to be too hard on yourself. Professional reconversion takes courage and a daring vision. So does looking for that first job. You are putting yourself in an unfamiliar situation, applying for a position that you don’t have experience for but that you are eager to learn more about and conquer. That takes courage and you should be proud of yourself for trying.
But confidence is not always enough. You need to show that you understand the nature of the job, its requirements, and that you are willing and ready to do your best as a newbie. Your resume will have to convince the HR specialists and your potential future managers that you have the qualities needed for the job.
With that in mind, here are a few tips on how you can write a powerful resume writing when your work experience is little or not relevant for the job.
Read the Job Description Thoroughly
It’s the standard rule for any job applicants, but when you don’t have a lot to work on, your resume will be as good as your ability to analyze that job description.
The job description and both your personal and professional experience will be the information you need to build a resume that is worth selecting from the big pile of applications.
Read carefully and write down the most relevant and powerful words they use. Use the same words in your resume to describe your experience, skills and personality.
Emphasize Your Skills
When you are missing professional experience, your skills are the next to recommend you for the job. Even if you have never been employed before, or if you worked in a totally unrelated domain, you still have certain skills, knowledge or talents that you could help you.
For example, if you are passionate about basketball and you played it since you were in junior high, you can say that you know a thing or two about teamwork, competition and personal development.
Think of relevant skills and talents and only write down what is relevant for the job. There’s no need to write down tens of exaggerated skills, but find one or two that actually help.
Prioritize and Order Your Past Work Experiences
Let’s say that you do have some past professional experience, but it’s all over the place, and not all related to what you’re applying for right now. So, you are probably wondering whether you should put every job you had on your resume or not.
Well, decide what goes in by asking yourself if it taught you something or if it required any relevant skills. Luckily, very few jobs can be utterly useless, so try to discover their contribution to your professional upbringing.
Don’t start listing every job you’ve had since high school. It will make your resume look cluttered and all over the place. Instead, split your past jobs in two categories: relevant experience and additional experience. Make the related job descriptions more detailed and be brief about the additional ones.
Ultimately, your resume is like an ad. You don’t want it to claim anything false, but you do want to make a good impression and address the needs of the ones that will read it. Be confident and use your resume to make an attractive introduction to what you can do, what you’re willing to learn and how excited you are about the job you applied for now.