The Experience Paradox

From recent college graduates to workers transitioning into different businesses and industries, the experience paradox is a longstanding predicament many job seekers face. Employers want to hire people with experience, but how do you get that experience when nobody wants to hire you because you don't have any? It’s the classic Catch-22, you need a job in order to get experience, but you need experience in order to get a job. Well, here’s how you can crack the job market for the very first time. I am sharing this with you because I am in the unique position where I meet with both job seekers and employers, and “experience” is a hot issue with both of them.

Employers say that they have lots of educated candidates to choose from, but they can’t find enough applicants with on-the-job experience. On the other side, candidates tell us that they have studied, earned degrees, certificates, and credentials, and still can’t land a job without real-world experience.

While getting your foot through the door can be difficult, it is not impossible. I will explain how to put your best self forward to convince employers that you should be the one that they hire.

What are your Strengths?

Not having experience does not mean that you are an undesirable candidate. It's much easier for companies to train their employees on technical skills versus core competencies like leadership abilities, analytical capabilities, motivation, ambition, grit, creative thinking and critical thinking skills. More than often, no experience means that you have the basic strengths that are needed and your arrival to their workforce without bad habits, preconceived notions or the dreaded, “ this is how I’ve always done it” attitude and you will allow them to mold you into the worker that respects their policies and procedures.

Life outside the of the workplace

Employment is not the only thing that shapes a candidate. Analyze the activities you take part in outside of work and list the skills you have used. Many of these activities offer some transferable skills that can showcase your work ethics. A client I coached had experience as a volunteer working with people with developmental disabilities. He was passionate about his efforts and helped to fundraise for a few events to support the organization. He was able to leverage that experience into a full-time job working with a well-known 501c (3) organization in the office of business development.

Create a functional resume

The ability to put into words what you bring to the table is something that many people cannot do. You must consider it a job unto itself to show a potential employer what you have to offer, not what you lack. Sometimes, a basic chronological resume dedicated to education and career history in favor of a functional resume that focuses on abilities may be helpful and you should attempt to write it out and see if it is visually stimulating without looking too out of the ordinary. Most importantly, the job seeker should outline how his skills will be beneficial to an employer as well as detail the ways in which he can apply these skills in the position he or she is seeking. Having a cover letter that includes a referral from a personal contact may go a long way. Having a recommendation from someone the employer respects will help to counteract any negatives he may see in your background.

I often hear from employers that many young people lack self-marketing skills. That means they don’t know how to produce a stand-out resume and conduct a professional job interview.

So practice. If you have to write ten resumes and do six interviews just to land a survival job, then look at it as great training in tailoring resumes and conducting interviews. Each one gets easier as you learn to articulate your skills, experiences and accomplishments. You’ll be that much more prepared to be the stand-out candidate who wins the role even as you apply for more and more competitive positions over the course of your career.

Sell yourself in the interview

Armed with a solid sense of what you bring to the table, the interview is the time to make the connection clear to the hiring manager. This involves not only knowing your strengths, but also how those abilities fit with the company’s goals and need. What you really need to do is spend time understanding company the culture and the role you are applying for before the interview takes place so that you can position yourself accordingly and be prepared for any questions that come up. You should have a well-rehearsed “go to answer” for any potential negative aspects of your history.

If the interviewer does bring up lack of experience, you should try to redirect the conversation back to skills you do possess. One thing you definitely should not do is lie!

It is critical to demonstrate to employers that your interest in their industry is more than a passing thought or an attempt to land any job. Ways to do this include:

• Researching a company before an interview.

• Consistently reading up on the field.

• Attending professional conferences.

• Talking (and networking) with appropriate people

Sometimes you must make your own rules to break through the incredibly fragile layer that separates you from the job you want. When you are on the outside of that thin wall, it seems to be cryptic and impenetrable, but once you get a foot inside you will see that it's not.

Although you may be busy working at a job right now that doesn’t fit your career goals, or perhaps you are very busy working two part-time jobs. You are going to add a very important new priority to your schedule, and that priority is your active job search. You are going to stop applying for jobs by filling out online job applications and waiting for a hopeful word. Hurling applications into recruiting portals is a degrading, depressing, low-yield job search approach. If you have been doing this so far, you have been following a job-search method called “Spray and Pray”. There was no compelling reason for the vetting staff of those employer recruiting systems to pull your application out of the file.

Target your goals

It's time for you to take a more targeted approach. Go to networking events whenever you get a chance and give out your business cards there. Start to form relationships with people in your industry in your area. Most of them did the exact same thing you are doing to get their first jobs years ago. You are stepping into your new, post-college identity. You may have credentials and education, but you do not have the ID card that says you work for the company yet. You don't have a title conferred on you by an institution yet, but you do have a job, and its title is CEO of your business and your career! Your confidence will grow as you step out of passive job-search mode (completing online applications and hoping for the best) into active job-search mode.

Here’s the thing. It’s that first, often unrelated, job experience that employers really want to see on a resume. They may not actually care about your ability to serve a macchiato or your retail experience, but the real-world job skills that you develop while working are quite different from what you learn in school, and that may matter to a hiring manager.

The demonstrated ability to show up on time, work hard throughout a shift, team work, customer service, problem solving and communications, these are learned and developed right from your very first job, and will be valuable for getting hired and on the job for all of your others.

And if you can’t find work of any kind? Still stay busy. Volunteer, participate in community activities, and be social. You’ll achieve more, meet more people, and find more opportunities by being out in the world than by retreating into yourself.

Opportunities will present themselves if you keep a positive mindset, remain focused and put in the work. Your challenge is to make sure you’re ready to step into the doors when they open up.

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