Ask Vicki: How do I make myself look good on a job application without any prior job experience?
In this answer on Quora, Monster career expert Vicki Salemi tells workforce newcomers how to land their first job.
Vicki Salemi
Each week, Monster’s career expert Vicki Salemi—a former recruiter who utilizes 15-plus years of experience in recruiting and human resources to empower job seekers—answers user questions on Quora. We’ll be republishing the answers here. If you have a question for Vicki, send it to socialmedia@monster.com.
Q. How do I make myself look good on a job application without any prior job experience?
A. If you don’t have any job experience, it doesn’t mean it’s automatically a game-over scenario. But you definitely need to gain professional skills.
Remove the word “job” from your thinking, and instead focus on how you can bolster your arsenal to become more marketable. Take an unpaid internship or volunteer in your community on an ongoing basis in a part-time role.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t get paid, or if the job is filing papers at your Uncle Joe’s accounting firm—information like that isn’t relevant on a job application. What’s important is the fact that you’ve assumed some responsibilities and gained work experience.
Other job candidates will likely have experience, even in terms of internships—especially if they’re still in school and haven’t held full-time jobs yet—so the sooner you start amassing some workplace skills, the better your odds will be when you apply for jobs.
Read Vicki Salemi's answer to "How do I make myself look good on a job application without any prior job experience?" on Quora.
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