For whatever reason, whether it be bad luck, lack of opportunity or personal reasons. It’s very hard to get a job when you don’t have much to go on. You’ve got good knowledge and work ethic, you know you can do the job as good as everyone else, but, you don’t have any evidence of those skills or any work experience to back up your claims. What do you do? Where do you go?
What do I do?
Well, there’s no easy way around this, you have to start at the bottom. But how? You might wonder. The best way to gain experience when you have none is through volunteering. This might not be ideal, as paid work would be preferable, but volunteering gives a good starting point. It gives you references and gets your working-hours up. But, most importantly, future employers can then see the skills you’ve gained, which can be showcased through examples experienced by volunteering.
Where do I go?
Volunteering can be done in charity shops or events etcetera. Your university will often give you plenty of opportunities as well. These roles can be Student Ambassador Roles, Halls Representative, Student Union Leader, Committee member of a university society and often lots more. They don’t necessarily have to be big roles, just as long as you pick up one or two during your studies and a couple more roles over the summer, then the ball will start to role. You will develop talents over time helping you onto the next step of your career.
Once you have volunteering experience, it will be easier to get a lower-paid job. Again, you might want to have something a little more advanced but everyone has to climb up the ladder to get to the top.
These little volunteering experiences, might not seem that significant, but they build character and skill which is very important and exactly what employers are looking for!
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