7 Ways to gain work experience for the entry-level professional
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Are you worried your lack of work experience will keep you from securing the entry-level job of your dreams?
There are multiple ways to show an employer you have what it takes in the creative industry that has little to do with actual job experience.
The best piece of advice I received when it came to writing my cover letter was to tell a story that showed how you developed your set of skills. Now, if you don’t have much experience on the job, you might feel as if you were grasping at straws.
That being said, not everything you do has to be associated with a job or internship. There are many ways you can get you the job and have a resume and cover letter worthy story.
As a graphic designer, I tend to rely on projects and portfolio pieces for my livelihood and my career. That being said, if you’re a creative entrepreneur, you might find yourself in a similar situation, but not nearly one identical to many of your peers.
Having job experience is one of the many hindering factors to many employable candidates in today’s market. Many entry-level job seekers tend to find that they need more experience than they have received before entering into a new job or post-graduation.
That being the case, it’s important to remember and identify where and how you can find experience to fill your resume when you don’t have solid-work experience from a company regularly.
Here are 7 areas that will help you find and utilize your talents for your job search.
Organizations/Club Projects
Getting involved isn’t subject to your college or high school study hall. Find interesting organizations in your community to get involved with to gain experience.
Working on events or attending events related to your hobbies or interests allows you to gain soft skills for the workplace. Even if you aren’t working on aspects that are needed for your industry or position, learning communication and leadership skills can help you learn more about working in various positions across various industries.
One of my first experiences working as a graphic designer was with a Make a Wish collegiate affiliate. Working my way through the organization helped me determine how to manage a team and projects for various events connected with the organization. To this day, I am still able to use that experience to secure employers I know how to do various tasks that are expected in my position.
Volunteering
Whether you're volunteering your time with your local soup kitchen or tutoring kids for their schoolwork, volunteering is a great way to gain experience that many jobs ask for.
Many volunteering opportunities allow you the chance to show how you connect to your community and how you approach problems. There are many ways to include industry-specific ways your volunteer experiences have impacted your work.
Learn how you can gain soft and hard skills related to your professional aspirations through volunteering at local non-profits and government offices to get your career started.
Related Content: A beginner’s list of professional soft skills for your resume
Work for yourself or friends and family
If you’ve ever heard of the connection of weak ties, this could be the way you get noticed in your job market.
Ask around your friends and family if they know of anyone looking for part-time or project-based work. If you have a little experience, you might also try Facebook groups, UpWork or Fiverr for projects that might be of interest to you. Not only will this allow you to build your experience, but it’s also helpful when learning how to network and reach out about your expertise.
Plus, you can always start and grow your own business while you look for more experience, whether you grow with something you know how to do or start learning more about what you want to do.
Related Content: Why I started my small creative business and blog and how to start your own
Create a project or campaign
While you would prefer to get paid for your work if you’re lacking technical experience to get the position you want, try orchestrating a project or campaign.
These projects are usually best to run in a series or across platforms to showcase your range. You might develop a campaign for a fictitious company or rebrand an existing campaign to work on your skillset. Make your skills known with your work, even if it’s all made up or based on someone else’s imagination.
You might think of some ridiculous business ideas but that doesn’t mean each idea doesn’t have a unique sense of creativity and imagination to make a great marketing and branding initiative.
Related Content: Best graphic design books for how to start your creative business start-up
Recreate
Rebranding is a great way to start learning new skills and refining the skills that you’ve started to learn. It doesn’t matter if this is a technical skill or a soft skill. Many hiring teams love to know that you’ve been proactive about learning skills to improve your experience and expertise when you previously haven’t had the chance to prove it in the work setting.
Whether you routinely go to seminars about leadership in the workplace or trace or redesign drawings or graphics that inspire you, it’s great to showcase your work ethic to your potential employers.
Recreating something might feel as if you are copying, or stealing in some cases, original work. What I encourage you to do is to recreate and then create original work in a similar style once you feel confident that you’ve learned what you’ve set out to learn.
Classwork
I tend to take education very seriously. Classes and educational programming can be very expensive and difficult for some people to achieve.
Classwork is a great way to showcase your experience, when you have little else to show for it. Not only are projects given to you for this purpose, but they also showcase real-life scenarios you might encounter. Even if you don’t encounter all the scenarios you’re shown, you still have transferable skills because of that experience.
Plus, if you’re looking for projects that fit your interests, classwork is a great way to narrow down your search criteria.
Related Content: 7 Examples on how to create a unique portfolio design
Start a blog
I know many people are considering the blogging industry is dead or hard to get into. I’m not supporting that you start a profit-based business blog.
Rather, start a blog about how you are gaining experience. Blog about your projects, networking opportunities, industry trends, and current events. Knowing that you’re knowledgeable and passionate about a career is helpful to employers. They may not want to read every article, but they can see that you can learn and communicate about your industry and skillsets.
Learn more about creating a blog and gain more soft, transferrable skills that are also greatly needed throughout various industries.
Related Content: What makes a successful blogger?
Work experience can be difficult to obtain, whether that means through paid or unpaid work. It’s important to have on a resume, but can be found in various ways.
A few of my recommendations to vary, start or enable your work experience would be to learn from these books:
Not only is this book great for starting your own creative business, but it also allows you to find creative projects that will help your technique and soft skills.
This book offers many new entry-level job seekers the chance to perfect their resume and build their portfolio through various project ideas.
This book offers so many different creative projects, you’re sure to find various ways to integrate your creative process to many types of work.
Learn how to create your own business and make a full-proof plan to help you succeed in your creative business.
If you’re in need of more entry-level ideas to gain work experience, join my e-newsletter to receive tips and advice for your resume’s next go-around.
