I’m spilling all of the corporate tea in this “Ask Breakroom Buddha” series.
If you have a career question that you’d like me to answer send your question here! You might be featured on the next Ask Breakroom Buddha post!
Question: How do I create a resume with no work experience?
Short Answer: There is no such thing as a resume with no work experience. You 100% have some form of work experience. There’s no way you’ve made it this far in life without gaining some sort of skillset. If you don’t believe me, play my quick “Work Experience Game” below.
The Work Experience Game by Breakroom Buddha
But wait there’s more. You have natural skills and natural talents that you are born with. With those skills, I’m 99.99% sure you have:
- Worked on a large group project with multiple people
- Given advice to someone about something work-related
- Volunteered on a project using skills that have come naturally to you.
All of the above is considered professional “work experience.”
Most of the time, you just really have to take the time to tailor your resume to fit the job description, so that the company can easily see that you are “the perfect” candidate for them. You can check out this post to learn how to do that!
In this post, however, I’m going to instead answer, “How do I take the natural skills and current experience that I have, and make them work for the job that I want?”
What to do if you actually have a resume with no work experience
If you truly have a blank resume with no work experience, then the simplest answer is to get some work experience! I’ve written a few posts about where & how you can get work experience. Read those first:
- College students: If you have some time before you graduate, do these things.
- If you don’t mind unpaid work, do these things.
- If you like meeting a lot of people, and have the ability to talk your way into a job, do these things.
- If you don’t mind learning new skills, and getting your hands dirty, do these things.
- If you want to jump in and create your own projects, you don’t need permission to start. Just do it!
How to make your work experience look better on your resume
Secondly, if you’re “stuck” with a set of skills or experience that you deem useless for where you want to go, you need to:
- Change your mindset.
- Learn to work with what you got.
- Do good work and practice your story over and over again.
- BYOP: Bring Your Own Project.
And here’s how you do it!
1 | Change your mindset.
Michael Jung, a self-proclaimed professional side hustler, once said, “Success isn’t linear. Everything you learn will play a part in your next side hustle, or career move.” Listen to Mr. Jung. You may not be where you want to be but trust the process.
I want to start off by reiterating that every single person on this earth has a unique talent. There is something that you do better than someone else. Even if you’ve never made any money doing those things, it’s still a skill that you have. So let’s start there!
Skillset Reflection Questions
To help you figure out your unique skillset, think about these questions:
- What can you do all day without getting paid for it?
- What are you normally doing when time is flying by?
- What are you always giving people advice about?
- What kind of projects do you always find yourself doing?
- What’s something that still intrigues you?
Take Notes: Need to think about it a bit more? Take notes in the space below. Hit submit, and I’ll send you a copy of your notes to your email address. 🙂
Breakroom Buddha Notepad
2 | Learn to work with what you got.
Have you done any of the following:
- Worked/Led a class project
- Created case studies
- Worked as a brand ambassador (on-campus, off-campus, virtual, volunteer, etc.)
- Done volunteer work or projects
- Completed a quick project for a friend, co-worker, or family member
- Worked for a small business
- Worked at a local store
If you’ve answered yes to any of the above, that’s AH-MAZING. Because that means you have work experience.
Take stock of everything that you’ve done, whether it was paid or unpaid. These should be the work experiences that you put on your resume, in your cover letter, and what you talk about in your job interviews.
Remember, job searching is also about strategy! So if your goal is to get a specific type of job, make sure you ONLY include work experiences that will help you land an interview for that specific job.
Take Notes: Need to think about it a bit more? Take notes in the space below. Hit submit, and I’ll send you a copy of your notes to your email address. 🙂
Breakroom Buddha Notepad
3 | Do good work and practice your story over and over again.
Most of the time you need to be able to do 4 things to land a job:
- Do good work (aka your work experience): There’s no substitute for actual work. As I mentioned before, class projects, volunteer work, and personal projects all count as real work experience. You got it, so don’t doubt your skills!
If you do find your inner critic doubting your skills, then start doing more work! The more work you do, the more comfortable you’ll become telling your story. You’ll also have loads of examples to show off in your job interviews.
- Tell a good story on paper (aka your resume): The structure of your resume matters. The bulk of your resume–the bullet points–is what really makes or breaks you.
Once you learn how to craft better resume bullet points, you will start to land more interviews. If you have clear and detailed bullet points, they will also help the conversation move more naturally during your interview.
- Tell a good story in person (aka your job interview): So you’ve made it to the finale, but this is where your storytelling skills are really put to the test. Communication is key during your job interview.
The most important thing to make known during a job interview is how you will alleviate any pain that the team is currently feeling or stressing out about. This is also the first time you’ll come face to face with your team, so you will need to start imagining (and asking) what it will truly be like to work alongside this team and in this company.
- Make new friends (aka networking): These friends or mentors will encourage you during your job search, cheer you up when you receive a rejection letter, AND might even be the reason you land your dream job.
Some people are talented writers, others are effective communicators, some let their hard work do all the talking, and others are great at making new friends. It’s extremely tough to be good at all 4, but keep practicing!
4 | BYOP: Bring Your Own Project.
You should also be practicing your craft while you are actively practicing your storytelling skills. I tell people all of the time to start a project. It doesn’t matter what it is, just do something. How will people know that you can do what you said that you can do if they don’t have any proof?
Start something, anything. Right now!
Check out the Breakroom Buddha Portfolio Builder Workbook below for inspiration. The workbook will give you:
- A project
- An industry
- A major challenge (because nothing is perfect)
- Extra credit to help you add some personal flare to your project!
- A timeline, because in the real world time is always a factor.
You’ll basically be a creative consultant by doing one of these projects! I’d love to see what you create. Send me your final projects!
TL;DR / Conclusion
First of all, if you didn’t read this post… shame on you. haha. There are lots of nuggets, so scroll back up and read it. For those who did, here’s your conclusion:
- There’s no such thing as a resume with no work experience. Everyone has experience. You just have to know how to tell your story on your resume and change it to fit your audience.
- Take stock of the skills & experiences that you do have and apply that to your resume, on your cover letters, and in your interview. Bonus tip: If you really don’t know, ask your friends and family what you’re good at or take a few career or personality quizzes.
- Remember: If you are running into roadblocks, and getting lots of rejection letters, YOU still have the power. You have the power to create your own experience at any time. You have the power to become that thing that you are actively applying to become. (i.e. if you want to be a journalist. Call yourself a journalist, and then start writing!)
- Connect with like-minded individuals. Networking is key! Connect with all the people who are doing what you want to do or be.
- Rinse and Repeat.
Ask Breakroom Buddha
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